Presents results of a study comparing standard automobile insurance policies which are difficult to understand with passages from new readable insurance policies, using the cloze procedure with 150 college and high school students in three reading-ability groups. (JM)

The reading storage test and the paraphrase test were compared to determine the extent to which each test was sensitive to the comprehension of prose passages as opposed to word memorization. (HOD)

Evaluates the merits of item transformations and the cloze procedure in terms of (1) the extent to which literal comprehension skills are validly measured; (2) the extent to which the issue of passage dependency is addressed; and (3) utility for educational practitioners. (HOD)

Reports on a study stemming from schema theory that assessed the role that background knowledge plays in determining young children's ability to process relationships that are explicitly and fully specified in a text, in comparison to those that are only partially specified by the same text. (Author/HOD)

Seven passages of a published reading comprehension test were administered to college students to compare the regular multiple choice test scores with scores on two forms of a cloze test and with readability formula values. (HOD)

Third grade students' comprehension scores suggest that there is a significant difference between three modes of reception (oral reading, silent reading, and listening), with oral reading significantly more effective than silent reading in promoting comprehension. (HOD)

Two studies (1) examined the comprehension skills of good and poor readers with several different measures of comprehension monitoring; (2) provided measures of perceived strategy utility; and (3) provided comparisons between good and poor readers on traditional comprehension and memory tests. (HOD)

A study assessed and compared the syntax in the oral language of six-, seven-, and eight-year-olds with the syntax in the written language of reading instruction textbooks prepared for children of the same age. (HOD)

Reports on a study that used a research design to evaluate three indices of context dependence (CD) and thereby obtain both absolute and comparative evaluations of the discriminant validity of high versus low CD as defined by the constructs that underlie the respective indices. (HOD)

Uses videotapes of children reading stories to examine good and poor readers' comprehension evaluation and regulation while reading inconsistent stories. Finds good readers are more likely to look back at inconsistencies during reading, to give accurate verbal reports of passage inconsistency following reading, and to recall text inconsistencies.…

Investigates retrieval and reporting of superordinate and subordinate concepts in oral or written recollections. Finds no differences in total number of superordinate, subordinate, or reader-generated ideas recalled; however, does find differences between oral and written recall, depending on initial or ending position of text information. (RS)

Investigates the effectiveness of instruction in story mapping as a means to promote first-grade students' comprehension of central story elements in children's literature. Concludes that instruction in story mapping is an effective instructional strategy for promoting first-grade students' ability to identify central narrative elements in…

Concludes that an age change in the differential retention of relevant and irrelevant information, when questions are known beforehand, is not necessarily contingent upon a similar age change in attention allocation, as measured by the recorded viewing time. (FL)

Examines narrative and expository text from four basal reader series for the occurrence of anaphora. Finds an abundance of anaphora in both. Notes that beginning and developing readers have difficulty in resolving them, and that instructional strategies are needed to help teachers and students deal with this element of cohesion. (RS/JAD)

Examines cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational factors as predictors of individual differences in the reading comprehension abilities of good and poor readers. Finds that regression analyses within subgroups indicated word recognition was the most important predictor variable for poor readers, whereas perceived competence predicted the…