The main purpose of vocabulary instruction is to enhance and support reading comprehension. This goal spans across the grade levels and different disciplines and is supported by a plethora of research. In recent years, a great deal of needed attention has been finally given to academic vocabulary and disciplinary literacy. To contribute to this…

Because of the importance of teaching reading comprehension to struggling young readers and the infrequency with which it has been implemented and evaluated, we designed a comprehensive first-grade reading comprehension program. We conducted a component analysis of the program's decoding/fluency and reading comprehension dimensions (DF and COMP),…

Concludes that not all functions of oral language develop to the same extent in readers and nonreaders and that this is not related solely to IQ. (FL)

Concludes that poor comprehenders may lack the awareness and the ability to use strategies that involve higher order, more complex thinking skills. Offers suggestions for teaching students to become aware of and engage in thinking skills. (FL)

Reports on a survey of third grade children concerning their criteria for good reading. (FL)

Reviews training experiments where the strategies trained had a significant effect on poor readers' comprehension of text. Describes the training procedures that enhanced poor readers' comprehension of text and offers instructional implications for each. (FL)

Reviews the literature on the nature of processes within reading groups of different ability levels and the effects of these processes on children's reading development. Presents a perspective on instructional-social contexts for reading instruction. (AEA)

Concludes that insertion and omission miscues made by either good or poor readers at instructional or frustration levels cause little syntactic and semantic distortion, and that, consequently, time spent coding and interpreting such miscues is probably wasted. (FL)

Details a study showing that for young children, proactive semantic cues were the most helpful in reading. Reveals also that the children made miscues displaying semantic associations across cue types. (FL)

A study investigated the attitudes normal and disabled readers have toward reading to determine if differences existed between the two groups. Subjects, 40 normal readers and 40 students from remedial classes in grades 3 through 6, each completed the Estes Attitude scale. The results indicated a significant difference in attitudes toward reading…

Concludes that not only does context facilitate the ascertainment of word meaning, but that it does so for poor readers and good ones alike. (FL)

Concludes that good comprehenders are far more likely to use lookbacks (rereadings) than are poor comprehenders and that training improves performance of both groups. (FL)

Two experiments were conducted to determine the emergent reading levels of elementary school students. In the first experiment, 27 third grade and 27 sixth grade students of average reading ability from rural schools in central Florida were given pretest and posttest cloze passages on science materials two readability levels above their grade…

Indicates that passivity in poor readers seems to be tied to several interrelated factors, including frustrating materials, repeated failures, and differences in teacher treatment of good and poor reading groups. Suggests that direct training can mitigate these problems. (FL)

Examines how both good and poor spellers approach a spelling task. Concludes that good spellers use more spelling strategies and more visual imagery than do poor spellers. (FL)