Reports on part of a larger study that seeks to determine visual screening needs as they apply to reading, learning, and classroom environment. Concludes that, when carefully interpreted, an analysis of eye motion in the reading act can supply important information for teachers and parents. (MG)

Critiques an experiment by M. Arlin, M. Scott, and J. Webster (see EJ 206 153) in which their pictures as an aid to learning hypothesis contrasts with the focal attention hypothesis supported by research by H. Singer, S. J. Samuels, and J. Spiroff (see EJ 105 648). (MKM)

Presents an overview of research on using mental imagery to assist reading and listening comprehension, and provides practical suggestions for teaching students to use visual imagery to enhance comprehension. (SKC)

This report describes a series of studies of how children learn to operate on incoming information as it is transmitted by language or pictorial representations. Specifically, the studies examined (1) the relationship between what is known and the structure of incoming information and (2) the active operations children use in the process of…

Picture story techniques utilizing pictures about the reading process as described in this project can be of value to teachers and counselors, if only to stimulate children to disclose their concerns about reading. (Author)

Explains how computers can offer learners powerful assistance in their acquisition of certain visual thinking skills. Describes the limitations and potential of using computers as tools for visual thinking with links to creative writing activities in a fourth-grade class. (MM)

A random sample and a sample of retarded readers were selected from fourth- and sixth-grade students in the Grand Prairie Independent School District. All students were tested in the areas of auditory perception, visual perception, and phonics abilities. The tests administered were: two subtests from the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test; four…

Discusses links between visual literacy and print literacy in the following areas: graphic organizers; propaganda; video technologies; computer use; and children's drawing and writing. Describes a semiotic-theory model, depicting relationships among not only linguistic signs and visual signs, but other signs (musical, gestural, etc.) in…

Research indicates that using the manual alphabet in classes of non-deaf students is effective both for spelling and vocabulary instruction. Teachers appreciate the way signing physically involves the students, acts as a self-cueing system, is inexpensive, and helps with writing problems like "b" and "d" reversals. Other advantages are: (1) it is…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether children as young as second-graders could encode categorically within an abstract evaluative dimension. The study uses mode of stimulus presentation (auditory or visual) as an independent variable. The subjects were 40 white middle class children from grades 2, 4, and 6, who were randomly assigned…

Special equipment was used to record the eye movement patterns of 60 children enrolled in a reading clinic. There were 20 children in each of three groups: good readers, slow readers, and non-readers. The children were shown printed material on a screen accompanied by action sequences and voice recordings similar to what they might see on…

This end-of-project report disucsses the procedures that the Dubuque Community School District followed in conducting research on learning the styles and conditions under which elementary school-aged children learn best. The testing program that was developed consisted of administering the Tests of Modality Aptitudes in Reading (TOMAR), the…

A study examined variables that affect the acquisition of automaticity of verbal skills. Among the variables examined were practice, novelty or familiarity of a word or word category, the speed and efficiency with which persons acquire automaticity, reaction time, and number of tasks performed concurrently. Subjects, 30 sixth and seventh grade…

A study investigated the development of information processing as it relates to the development of reading skills by studying how good readers and poor readers utilized orthographic information. Subjects, 90 good and poor readers from grades 2, 4, and 6, participated in four 30-minute sessions in which they were required to make a same/different…

Focusing on research about children's acquisition of reading and spelling skills, this paper discusses the larger picture of reading acquisition, issues addressed by research, and results of this research. The paper cites numerous studies on the subject, including studies on whether environmental print experiences enable young children to process…