Psycholinguistic research aims to understand how people make sense of language in their everyday lives. However, most of this research studies language under experimental conditions in which people are instructed to specifically monitor (and indicate) when there is a breakdown in their understanding. Moreover, there is an assumption that people…

There is accumulating evidence that readers continually evaluate the consistency, congruence, and coherence of text by processes of validation. Validation is initiated immediately on stimulus presentation, may proceed nonstrategically, and serves as a criterion for representational updating. However, validation exhibits a variety of deficiencies.…

The research genre has specific communicative purposes which require students to understand the tone, generic and disciplinary conventions. The present study explored the potential of thematic progression (TP) to contribute to research argument readability. TP concerns how clauses encode information and how that information is carried forward.…

In an eye-tracking experiment we examined the risky reading hypothesis, in which long saccades and many regressions are considered to be indicative of a proactive reading style (Rayner et al. in "Psychol Aging" 21(3):448, 2006; "Psychol Aging" 24(3):755, 2009). We did so by presenting short texts--that confirmed or disconfirmed…

Although literacy achievement has improved in Chile, adolescents' underperformance in reading comprehension is still a serious concern. In English, core academic-language skills (CALS) have been found to significantly predict reading comprehension, even controlling for academic vocabulary knowledge. CALS are high-utility language skills that…

Graphic novels in the K-12 classroom are most often used to motivate marginalized readers because of the lower text load and assumption of easy reading. This assumption has thus far been unexplored by reading research. This qualitative multiple-case study utilized think-aloud protocols in a new attention-mapping activity to better understand how…

Despite the growing number of studies highlighting the complex process of acquiring second language (L2) word recognition skills, comparatively little research has examined the relationship between word recognition and passage-level reading ability in L2 learners; further, the existing results are inconclusive. This study aims to help fill the…

Describes a research study in which good readers were able to predict more successfully the outcomes of both concrete and abstract stories than were poor readers. (MKM)

Investigates the hypothesis that one of the processes used in situation model development is an inferential process in which the reader employs knowledge to form expectations when predictive text opportunities arise. Suggests that predictions are available to the reader at an abstract level of representation. (HB)

Discusses three uses of prediction: (1) as a purpose-setting process; (2) as a reading-critical thinking process; and (3) as a comprehension-controlling process. Provides an overview of the importance of prediction, identifying key concepts and practices spanning the late 1960s to the 1990s. (RS)

To investigate prediction as a strategy that can improve reading comprehension, 50 third grade students from Toledo, Ohio, were first divided into experimental and control groups. The 2 groups both read the same 5 basal stories for instruction, were given the same pretest passages, answered 10 comprehension questions, and then followed a 3-day…

Investigates the influence of four types of predictions on the story understanding of sixth graders. Asks prediction questions, prediction plus justification questions, prediction plus review questions, or no questions. Analyzes retellings to determine information percentage included from original story. Indicates that differences in what students…

Examines the use of prediction during the silent reading of short stories with surprise endings. Investigates the effects of instructional setting and content familiarity upon overall reading comprehension, literal comprehension, inferential comprehension, and interest. Finds that both inferential comprehension and interest were negatively…

Uses Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) to predict how much readers would learn from texts based on the estimated conceptual match between their topic knowledge and the text information. Shows a nonmonotonic relationship in which learning was greatest for texts that were neither too easy nor too difficult. Finds LSA was as effective at predicting…

In a study investigating the nature of questioning, a group of subjects with little relevant knowledge and a group with a great deal of relevant knowledge were asked to prepare a chocolate mousse. During the preparation, the subjects were allowed to ask any number of questions and each was answered immediately. Results showed that the number of…