Background: Syntax is a language skill purported to support children's reading comprehension. However, researchers who have examined whether children with average and below-average reading comprehension score significantly different on spoken-syntax assessments report inconsistent results. Aims: To determine if differences in how syntax is…

This systematic literature review was undertaken primarily to examine the role that print and digitally mediums play in text comprehension. Overall, results suggest that medium plays an influential role under certain text or task conditions or for certain readers. Additional goals were to identify how researchers defined and measured…

This is a comprehensive review of the salient key features of the actual English instructional practices in Saudi Arabia. The goal of this work is to gain insights into the practices and pedagogic approaches to English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching currently employed in this country. In particular, we identify the following central features…

A meta-analysis of 22 studies evaluating the relation of different assessments of IQ and intervention response did not support the hypothesis that IQ is an important predictor of response to instruction. We found an R[superscript 2] of 0.03 in models with IQ and the autoregressor as predictors and a unique lower estimated R[superscript 2] of 0.006…

Evaluation of reading performance is influenced by perceptions of what constitutes reading. Both product (testing of discrete thinking skills) and process (metacomprehension) information is needed to understand and improve reading comprehension. (SK)

Data from a study on second-language reading comprehension show that assessment task type, language of assessment, and target language experience uniformly affect learners' ability to demonstrate their reading comprehension. A literature review is included. (Contains 57 references.) (LB)

Presents an analysis of prose narratives that allows content to be identified as central and provides a priori rationale for why the content is central. Investigates which content is supportive of, or distracting to, the central content. (FL)

Begins by using the traditional psycholinguistic view of comprehension as a framework to compare the processes involved in listening and reading comprehension. Two other views of comprehension are then discussed. Finally, ways in which these different views of comprehension affect approaches to assessment and treatment are reviewed. (Author/CR)

Proposes a new measure of individual differences in reading comprehension ability. Components of the task predict performance on a test of global reading comprehension and on a range of specific comprehension tests. Asserts that the task is better at predicting reading comprehension than is a typical working memory span task. (Contains 76…

The issue of identifying reading difficulties and disabilities in English language learners (ELLs) is a complex one. It is an area that draws on the diverse disciplines of first- and second-language acquisition, literacy, English language learning, and reading, including differences and disabilities research. This literature review aims to…

Assessment of second language reading comprehension has evolved from a relatively narrow conceptualization of reading as a process of mastering hierarchically ordered subskills, with the author as primary creator of meaning, to reading as an interaction among reader, author, and text. Reading assessment has several purposes: sorting students;…

Contends that comprehension is the specific result of a reader's interaction with the text and the context in which the interaction occurs. Offers four features that might form the context of comprehension: methods of measurement, instructional environment, the text, and individual differences within the reader. (FL)

This paper is a reaction to the "Standards for Evaluations of Educational Programs, Projects and Materials," focusing on the applicability of these standards. The evaluation of programs almost without exception deals with the evaluation of change of programs, taking the form of comparative studies, and being valued according to how the…

The failure of readability formulas can be attributed to three weaknesses in the formulas. First, they ignore or violate current knowledge about the reading process. Most formulas affect only sentence length and word difficulty while ignoring factors that influence text comprehensibility, such as cohesion, the number of inferences required, the…

Describes the Reading Comprehension Interview, an individual interview procedure for gathering information about students' perceptions of classroom reading activities. Explains how it can help teachers gain insights into students' actual reading strategies. Contains a copy of the interview. (FL)