Abstract:
The purposes of the research were to study word comprehension of Prathom Suksa One pupils in Kasetsart University laboratory school and to find out (1) the relationship between the level of word comprehension and the level of word frequency, (2) the differences of word comprehension between sexes and between ages, (3) word comprehension of the children in different ability-grouping classrooms. Subjects were one hundred and ninety five Prathom Suksa One pupils in Kasetsart University laboratory school. One hundred and one of them were boys and ninety four were girls. Among all of the subjects, ninety three were older children (ages:6to 6/11 years) and one hundred and two were younger children(ages:5/2to 5/11years). The study analysed the words from seven elementary readers and randomly selected words which were compiled to make four word comprehension sub-tests. All of the subjects had to take the four sub-tests. The results were as follows: 1. The analysis showed that there were 1,520 words, out of 18,584 words that appeared in the class readers. 2. The word comprehension test was fairly easy. The average, score was 106.12 out of 125. The K-R 20 reliability coefficient was .84. 3. There was no significant relationship between the level of word comprehension and the level of word frequency. 4. There was no significant difference in word comprehension between boys and girls. 5. There was no significant difference in word comprehension between older and younger children. 6. The levels of word comprehension of the children among different classrooms were significantly different.