Research On Reading Ability Of Students With Mental Retardation In Graduating Classes Of Schools For The Mentally Retarded

Reading is not only a means of acquiring knowledge and developing ourselves, but also a crucial skill to adapt to and participate in social life. Having good reading skills is of great significance for students with mental retardation to integrate into society and participate in social life. With the purpose of understanding the reading ability of students with mental retardation after their complement of the compulsory education, and exploring factors which effect their reading ability, the study, which was based on the curriculum concept of life adjustment, investigated the capacity of students with mental retardation in graduating classes to read the common reading materials in daily life to provide guidance on the practice of reading instruction in schools for the mentally retarded.This study surveyed the reading ability of 53 students with mental retardation in graduating classes of 8 schools for the mentally retarded in Shanghai. The study mainly investigated the capability of students with mental retardation to read such common materials as signage, signboard, warnings, notification in community, recruiting advertisement, medication labels and so on. Based on the survey, the researcher interviewed Chinese teachers of the graduating classes to get a thorough understanding of the reading ability of students with mental retardation and investigated the current status of reading teaching in schools for the mentally retarded.The results showed that most of students with mental retardation in graduating classes of schools for the mentally retarded had certain ability to read common materials in daily life. Specifically, after nine years of practical Chinese education, mental retardation students'ability to read road signs and signboards was the best; the next was to read warnings, medication labels and recruiting advertisement, while their abiljty to read notification in community was relatively poor. Further analysis revealed that degree of mental retardation, interests in reading, level of literacy, life experiences, reading instruction and other factors had an important influence on the development of reading ability of students with mental retardation.Based on these results, the researcher believes schools should enhance the reading instruction of students with mental retardation for the needs of students with mental retardation to integrate into modern society. To ensure the timeliness of teaching, researchers should carry out researches on reading instruction to students with mental retardation on the base of basic learning. Finally, the researcher gave some advice on reading instmction in schools, which included refining objectives of reading instruction, scientifically selecting contents of reading instruction, enhancing the comprehensiveness and practicality of reading instmction, increasing students'social life experiences and improving their literacy skills and interest in reading, etc.