Effects of Illustrations on Reading Performance: Implications for Further LD Research

Abstract

This article reviews available research findings on the influence of illustrations on the reading performance (i.e., word recognition and reading comprehension) of beginning readers in general and in specific subgroups of beginning readers (e.g., poor achievers, low-ability students). Findings suggest that the presence of illustrations interferes with poorly achieving and low-ability children's performance on word recognition tasks and that illustrations are of questionable value to such children's performance on reading comprehension tasks. The possibility that illustrations serve to distract the poor reader's attention from the printed word is discussed. The inability to filter out extraneous stimuli and focus selectively on a task frequently seen in learning disabled children is presented in terms of selective attention theory. Suggestions are offered for further research on the effect of illustrations on learning disabled youngsters' reading performance.