Mind maps are often used to help readers process texts, but their effectiveness is empirically under-investigated. This study explores whether the use of mind maps presented either before or after the text can prime successful selective processing strategies related to the text topic structure. Differences in performance outcomes (i.e., memory and…

This study investigated the effects of a mental simulation training targeted at improving children's reading comprehension. In a 4-week period, one group of third and fourth graders (n = 75) learned to draw upon their sensorimotor memories and experiences to mentally simulate text (experimental training group), whereas another group (n = 51)…

We investigated 7- to 10-year-old children's productive extension of semantic memory through self-generation of new factual knowledge derived through integration of separate yet related facts learned through instruction or through reading. In Experiment 1, an experimenter read the to-be-integrated facts. Children successfully learned and…

During reading acquisition children learn to recognize orthographic stimuli and link them to phonology and semantics. The present study investigated neurocognitive processes of learning to read after one year of schooling. We aimed to elucidate the cognitive processes underlying neural tuning for print that has been shown to play an important role…

This publication provides research-based guidance for intensifying instruction in reading and mathematics for students with significant learning difficulties, including students with disabilities, in kindergarten through grade 12. The guide gives technical assistance providers and states information reflecting "best practices" for implementing…

Teaching students the most frequent sounds of the alphabet letters is the first crucial step in good phonics instruction. But beginning letter and sound lessons, especially if poorly taught or too rapidly paced, can be overwhelming and confusing for some young children and struggling readers. How can we simplify the cognitive task for such…

Cognitive and instructional strategies were taught concurrently with a reading program emphasizing auditory skills for 34 mildly retarded elementary students. Participation resulted in no greater improvements in achievement scores for the Ss than for a control group which received no strategy training. (Author/CL)

The performance of two groups of elementary school children on a modified cloze test under two different conditions demonstrated that lexical information was retained in memory, thus supporting the claim that lexical information persists in memory representations of meaning. Includes extensive tables of data. (FL)

A reader's ability to recognize an author's top-level structure in a passage is a useful strategy for organizing textual information for memory purposes. Even without specialized training, many adults and some fifth grade children have this ability. Other children in fifth and ninth grades, and in classes for the mildly mentally handicapped, have…

A study assessed whether young readers might be induced to use a memory strategy. Subjects were an intact class of 25 fifth grade students taught to use text structure as an organizational strategy, and 29 students in a second class who received no instructional intervention. On three occasions, the 54 students were required to read a test…

Mentally retarded subjects who could read were tested on their ability to pronounce words and to produce meaningful associates. Analyses of their responses indicated an overuse of a strategy of memorizing words as a way to recognize words in print and an inability to consider word meanings in terms of abstract referents. A comparison of these…

Investigates the relationships among the speeds of word encoding, lexical access, semantic memory access processes, and reading achievement of college undergraduate students. Concludes that reading deficiencies may occur as a result of either slow semantic memory access speeds or a lack of organization of information in semantic memory. (FL)

To study the effects of Metacognitve Reading Program on Reading achievement and metacognitive strategies of students with cases of dyslexia, the author conducted a single-case quasi-experimental. The conceptual framework of the study was based on the theories of cognitive processes stating that metacognition helps regulate the flow of information…

A survey of the literature concerning the mental processes used in reading reveals a proliferation of molecular theories which explain only a small (and frequently neurological) component of the reading act. Enough information exists, however, to sketch an integrated, molar model of the reading process, which stresses the interrelationships…