This research investigated the relationship between reading maturity, reading strategy use, and gender with Iranian EFL undergraduates' reading comprehension. The results revealed that the most preferred strategies were cognitive in nature. Moreover, the Iranian EFL undergraduates were intellectually enriched by most of what they read and enjoy…

Reading ability is profoundly important, for individuals and for the societies of which they are a part. Research indicates that we should be successfully teaching 95% of children to read, yet, in reality, high rates of reading failure are common in western, industrialized nations. In large part, this reflects a failure to translate into practice…

Evaluates schema theory and presents dual coding theory as a theoretical alternative. Argues that schema theory is encumbered by lack of a consistent definition, its roots in idealist epistemology, and mixed empirical support. Argues that results of many empirical studies used to demonstrate the existence of schemata are more consistently…

Background: Many classrooms today have ESL students who do not speak English and are completely lost. How can teachers help these students comprehend what they are learning in English? Purpose: The purpose of this research is to identify effective reading strategies to build schema for English language learners (ELLs) to help them comprehend.…

This article provides an overview of a multicomponent comprehension strategy and graphic organizers designed for older readers to gain meaning from text. Practices designed to capitalize on the best research-based elements associated with improved outcomes in reading comprehension, particularly for expository texts, are described. The graphic…

Argues that metacognitive development should remain--or become--an aspect of instruction that aims to enhance students' reading comprehension. (HOD)

Discusses the results of a study that examined the relationship between comprehension ability and prior knowledge in children's recall of structurally equivalent text. (AEA)

Reviews the traditional concept of critical reading, and then reexamines critical reading by reviewing recent theory and research from three areas: schema theory, metacognition, and direct instruction. (MG)

Discusses the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension. Cites recent research supporting the utility of both direct and indirect vocabulary instruction. (MM)

Two experiments investigated to what extent schema activation is involved in any facilitative effect that headings may have on multiple-choice test performance following the reading of a passage. In the first experiment, 1,116 college students read a 1,760-word passage on human sexuality with headings either present or absent. An analysis of the…

Much of the current controversy in the area of story theory derives from a failure to make clear the distinctions among theories of (1) plan comprehension, (2) narrative comprehension, and (3) story schema. A theory of plan comprehension attempts to account for the ability of humans to interpret the observed actions of another person in terms of…

Defining schemas as higher order cognitive structures that serve a crucial role in providing an account of how old knowledge interacts with new in perception, language, thought, and memory, this paper offers an analytic account of the nature and functions of schemas in psychological theory and organizes some of the experimental evidence dealing…

Fifth-grade students (N=111) read a short, nonnarrative passage and wrote answers to a set of textually explicit (TE), textually implicit (TI), schema-based (SB), or text irrelevant (CONTROL) questions. Results indicate that TE and TI questions promote text-based question-answer interactions; SB questions promote both text-based and schema-based…

Examines the effect of headings on memory as a function of readers' preexisting knowledge of passage topic. Employs a multiple-choice retention test. Finds that headings facilitate recognition memory by activating schemas and that such organizational effects of headings benefit main-idea information more than detail information. (RS)

Argues that the use of visuals specifically designed to complement printed instruction can significantly improve student achievement of certain types of educational objectives, but that visualization itself represents only a mild rehearsal strategy which will not always optimize student achievement of the more complex levels of learning. (RS)