Title :
The impact of passive voice on reading comprehension
Author :
LoMaglio, L.J. ; Robinson, V.J.
Author_Institution :
Rochester Inst. of Technol., NY, USA
Abstract :
Many classes of disadvantaged readers fail to correctly comprehend agentless passive voice sentences. Students in a physics class at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf were given the Test of Syntactic Abilities to ascertain whether they could comprehend the passive voice structures commonly found in technical texts and reports. The results showed that 50% of these prelingually deaf college freshmen failed to comprehend sentences with agentless passive.
Keywords :
handicapped aids; linguistics; National Technical Institute; agentless passive; agentless passive voice sentences; deaf students; disadvantaged readers; passive voice; physics class; reading comprehension; reports; technical texts; Auditory system; Educational institutions; Measurement; Physics; Voltmeters; Writing;
Journal_Title :
Professional Communication, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TPC.1985.6448844
