Reading efficiently in a second language (L2) is a crucial skill, but it is not universally achieved. Here we ask whether L2 reading efficiency is better captured as a language specific skill or whether it is mostly shared across L1 and L2, relying on general language abilities. To this end, we examined word frequency and predictability effects in…

A study of 65 seventh grade students indicates that existing readability formulas should be used in combination with measures of syntactic complexity to assess levels of passage difficulty for students who appear to have difficulty in reading comprehension. (JD)

In order to assess the relationship between knowledge of language structure and reading comprehension, the English Language Structure Test was constructed. In this test, students had to reconstruct scrambled sentences of controlled complexity. The English Language Structure Test and the Stanford Reading Test were administered to 202 junior high…

If in reading a sentence a reader finds something unfamiliar in lexical meaning or grammatical structures, the meaning of the written material may be ambiguous to him. Sometimes the context will help to clarify the meaning of an unfamiliar element, but often it won't. Understanding what is read involves not only the process of reasoning, but also…

Two passages were written, one on the topic of graphs and one on the topic of sonnets. Sixteen versions of each passage were constructed. Each version contained identical content but different textual manipulations. One hundred twelve community college students and 48 Cornell students participated in the experiment. Each read a single version of…

This study investigated the possibility of training or improving intrasentence organizational skills (i.e., those that enable the reader to encode and process verbal information in higher-order units) and explored the effects that training had on reading comprehension. The subjects were 31 third graders, 16 experimental students and 15 control…

Designed to provide specific instructional suggestions for integrating basic reading and writing instruction in the elementary school, the lesson ideas presented in this booklet are applicable across grade levels and can be used with any basic reading and language arts textbook series. The 30 ideas cover a variety of areas, including the…

This research explored the fundamental processes involved in comprehending linguistic material: the duration of the process, the sequence of processes, and the sources of errors. One project examined the comprehension of affirmative and negative sentences that are read and verified with respect to a picture. A model developed to account for the…

Using third, sixth, and ninth grade students of Anglo, Black, and Hispanic ethnicity, a study examined their use of the conjunctions "and,""but,""because," and "even though." Results indicated that for all groups, correct use of conjunctions was correlated with reading comprehension. (HOD)

Performance data on the Descriptive Tests of Language Skills (DTLS) for entering college students were collected through a pilot study of 4,234 students in 16 colleges. This study was also designed to permit several checks on the validity of the DTLS by examining the relationship of DTLS scores to the following criteria: English course grades,…

Designed for bilingual Spanish-English supplemental reading instruction for second grade students, this workbook is intended to be used with the reader of the same title. There is also a teacher's guide. The workbook provides about five pages of reinforcing exercises for each of the eight stories in the reader. The exercises are in the form of…

Information on the Ontario Test of English Achievement is presented. Attention is directed to the background and objectives of the test, test development, subtest characteristics and properties, validity, and recommendations concerning test use. The objective of the test was to determine the language competence of incoming students to assist…

The exercises in the Spanish language workbook are intended to teach comprehension, interpretation, vocabulary, pronunciation, and study skills. The workbook provides one to five pages of reinforcement and follow-up work for each of the stories in the reader of the same title. Exercises stress sentence completion and construction, phonology,…

Most students of English as a Foreign Language at University level find it confusing to read professional material in their field of study. Their confusion stems not only from their lack of training in reading comprehension but also from their inability to recognize or to distinguish between certain grammatical constructions. It is suggested that…