The Degrees of Reading Power Test was developed to address some existing problems in testing comprehension. The test design reflects the need to consider problems of passage dependency, difficulty of questions, tests for continuous text, and sensitivity to gains. It emphasizes a set of response options controlled for familiarity, a text that is…

Four experiments examined the effect of input sequence on memory for simple stories. After reading stories written in either chronological or flashback sequence, subjects made a decision about the underlying order of occurrence of two events. Responses were consistently faster and more accurate on chronological sequences under three conditions of…

A component skills model of reading is presented. On the basis of the model, five component factors are hypothesized: grapheme encoding, encoding multiletter units, phonemic translation, automaticity of articulation, and depth of processing in word recognition. The fit of the hypothesized component factor model is tested using covariance data for…

This study investigated the effects of prefatory statements (advance organizers) on the listening comprehension of 310 Cliffside Park, New Jersey, fourth and fifth graders. Six null hypotheses were tested: two examining the differences in listening comprehension between students of both grade levels who used and did not use prefatory statements;…

Thematization, the relative frequency of a discourse referent, and topicalization are conceptualized as related discourse functions. In a probe recall experiment, a word with a thematized referent was a better recall probe than a word with a nonthematized referent. Also, an agent noun was a better prompt than a recipient, and this semantic…

This study examined children's preferences for three qualitative levels of thinking--abstract, functional, and concrete--in vocabulary. It was hypothesized that whereas older, more mature readers would choose abstract meaning, younger readers would choose concrete meaning regardless of the nature of the material, and also that a dominant cognitive…

The acquisition of thinking skills is being stressed today by educators in all fields. There are, however, no clear and concise concepts of the different faces of comprehension which deal with higher mental processes. If the thinking skills are to be implemented, certain objectives must first be met: more research must be conducted in regard to…

To explore the possibility that the tendency to cluster during free recall reflects organizational processes that are central to the attainment of certain reading skills, 32 mentally handicapped subjects were asked to recall 20 words from four conceptual categories on four consecutive trials. For one group the words were presented in random order…

This book is a compilation of selected papers on comprehension and critical reading that have appeared in the annual "Proceedings in Invitational Addresses, 1965," or have been published in the journals of the International Reading Association. The articles have been grouped under several headings: (1) the nature of comprehension in reading; (2)…

Reading comprehension questions selected from readers, teacher manuals, and workbooks of three current, widely used and representative basal reading series were analyzed according to the Barrett Taxonomy to determine cognitive objectives. The taxonomy has five major divisions and thirty-three levels within, claimed to be cumulative and sequenced…

Reports on research concerning cloze techniques; shows how a technique termed the "Interactive Cloze Procedure" was used to help eighth grade students study the use of imagery in a literary selection. (MAI)

Conventional paragraph structure requires that the topic sentence be presented first, followed by connected, coherent sentences. The processing role of these rules was investigated by comparing performance on reading simple passages that conformed to or violated conventional paragraph organization. (Author/SW)

Discusses a preliminary and sketchy hypothesis of second language comprehension based on empirical investigations into strategies and processes specific to second language comprehension. (Author/CB)

A vocabulary instruction program for intermediate grades is described. The program improves comprehension through use of such features as multiple exposures to words in various contexts and engaging students in active thinking about word meanings. This method of instruction is compared with instruction that offers only definitional information.…

A major focus in reading difficulty is lack of automaticity in decoding, which overloads the attentional system, leads to the use of small, meaningless visual processing units such as the individual letter, places heavy demands on short-term memory, and interferes with comprehension. Techniques for diagnosis and remediation are noted. (Author/JW)