Assesses the effects of headings on text processing behaviors during immediate and delayed testing of 65 undergraduate students. Finds that headings did not appear to affect overall comprehension or overall answer location accuracy. (MG)

Examines the effects of two types of comparison-contrast discourse structures on the initial learning and retention of unfamiliar scientific information by mature readers. Finds a demonstration of the mature reader's versatility in accommodating unfamiliar information, especially when it is presented in well-structured patterned texts. (MS)

Determines whether mental imagery could be used as a metacognitive reading comprehension strategy by deaf elementary-level children. Finds that when encouraged to engage in mental imagery, students exhibited four qualities of thinking (recollection, representation, inference, and evaluation) during and after reading that revealed how they were…

Presents open-ended and semistructured interviews to assess reading comprehension. Highlights the potential value of interviews in aligning assessment practices with instruction and learning theory. (MG)

Tests hypotheses that reading styles of good spellers and dysgraphic spellers differs. Concludes that an underlying source of difficulty for dysgraphic spellers, one that may be related to the reading style they exhibit, is a more limited working memory capacity. (MS)

Investigates the effects which thematic preorganizers might have on secondary students' comprehension of prose fiction. Finds that the thematic preorganizers did not significantly affect secondary students' comprehension of narrative prose materials as measured over time by equivalent tests. (MG)

Examines whether "social reading" can facilitate literary engagement. Indicates that social readers made a greater attempt to convey meaning than did nonsocial readers, but were less engaged with the text as literary discourse. (SKC)

Examines selected research showing how the components of human information processing limit reading rates. Suggests that speed reading is impossible when the intent is to understand the message communicated by the text. Discusses limiting factors in processes of word recognition, working memory, and comprehension. Discusses evaluative and…

Presents annotations of 15 documents in the ERIC database concerning reports on research findings that highlight practices and procedures that "work" in reading and literacy education. (RS)

Examines two readers' images of literary characters as a basis for studying text meaning construction. Finds greater variation than commonality between the text and readers, as well as between the readers. Suggests using dialogue and rereadings in instruction to aid in developing and monitoring text understanding. (SR)

Compares the effect on beginning readers' main idea comprehension of a direct instruction model, basal reader main idea comprehension lessons, and language extension lessons for group-dictated experience charts. Reports that the direct instruction group outperformed basal and control groups in determining main ideas across a variety of tasks. (MM)

Outlines procedures used in an investigation of college students' thinking aloud protocols and discusses the framework developed for differentiating student-text interactions and identifying the common problems of less able comprehenders. Suggests ways to use protocols to look into the ways students comprehend texts, to identify comprehension…

Describes a study of the effect of incongruent prior knowledge on fifth- and sixth-graders' text comprehension, indicating that text structures that explicitly contrasted the reader's misconception with the correct information were more effective than those that simply gave correct information. (HTH)

Investigates how readers use schemata and purpose in learning vocabulary from context. Examines Sternberg's model of verbal comprehension acquisition as well as the interaction among vocabulary acquisition and components of the reading process. Finds the effects of comprehension ability and purpose are significant, while the effect of schemata is…

Describes a content analysis of the journal entries of six college freshmen in developmental reading courses, which indicated that students' metacognitive awareness of both reading and learning processes increased over time. (HTH)