This year long case study examined: (a) how a seventh-grade struggling reader transacted with the reading task demands of her mathematics classroom and (b) how her teacher responded to her in regards to these reading task demands. The results suggest that struggling readers may engage in behaviors that are designed to help others construct…

Presents open-ended and semistructured interviews to assess reading comprehension. Highlights the potential value of interviews in aligning assessment practices with instruction and learning theory. (MG)

Investigates the effects of purpose for reading and frequency of encounters with unknown words in written context on learning from context tasks performed by 119 sixth grade good and poor reading comprehenders. Finds no significant interactions, resulting at least partial support for Robert Sternberg's model of verbal comprehension. (MG)

Finds that, in making "good reader" judgments, upper-elementary children mentioned 15 separate criterial categories, clustered into four major category groupings, most frequently referencing the "public performance/fluency" category (word recognition, word analysis, and reading rate), but also mentioning "teacher practices,""affect," and…

Examines the reading and writing concepts of two groups of low literate adults (prisoners and adults in mainstream society). Finds that both groups possess a restricted view of literacy, viewing reading as a decoding task and writing as a handwriting and spelling activity. (MM)

Study compares the use of vocabulary instruction in a traditional basal reader format with that of two other lesson frameworks--Reconciled Reading Lesson and List-Group-Label--as a means for improving comprehension of basal stories. (MM)

Examines basic literature on the various methods of establishing reading groups. Proposes a new method using curriculum-based measurement. Suggests that this method can be potentially effective and efficient in establishing reading groups. (MG)

Examines fifth grade students' metacognitive response to ambiguous literacy tasks and explores the relationship between that response and academic achievement. Finds that a relationship exists between the depth and functionality dimensions: the greater the depth of metacognitive plans, the more likely they are to lead to academic success. (MG)

Assesses the influence of two self-regulated learning strategies (organizing/transforming and task-information seeking) and two other variables (reading ability and self-efficacy for writing) on undergraduate students' compare/contrast essays. Finds that essay quality was correlated with each of the variables, but only reading ability and…

Examines differences in eighth graders' vocabulary learning from two history text passages with two versions of contextual information. Finds that the "considerate" text characteristics of proximity, connectivity, explicitness, and completeness were important in increasing comprehension. (MM)

Surveys reading attitudes, habits, and perceptions about reading of 84 adults in a wide variety of occupations. Finds more positive attitudes toward reading, more time spent reading, and higher ratings of own reading ability among adults with more education and adults employed in higher status occupations. Finds no educational or occupational…

Investigates the effect of reading ability on graphically and contextually constrained oral reading errors of fourth grade readers at differing degrees of reading difficulty. Indicates that, at both low and high levels of difficulty, better readers relied on contextual information and poor readers relied more on graphic cues. (MS)

Investigates whether the Nelson-Denny Reading Test's time restrictions may bias the performances of marginal students. Finds that the Nelson-Denny scores alone may provide biased measures of reading ability. Recommends that test makers develop extended time norms. (MG)

Examines to what extent teacher and parent interaction styles during storybook reading predict emergent reading level. Finds that percentage of teacher high cognitive demand and age parent began reading to their child accounted for 30% of the variability in the emergent reading level. (SR)

Examines the effect of using a literature webbing strategy lesson and predictable books with 22 below-average first grade readers. Finds that the literature webbing strategy lesson was significantly more helpful in improving below-average readers' comprehension as measured by miscues in oral reading and answers to comprehension questions than was…