This study aimed to determine which types of context clues exist in children's texts and whether it is possible for experts to identify reliably those clues. Three experienced coders used Ames' clue set as a foundation for a system to classify context clues in children's text. Findings showed that the adjustments to Ames' system resulted in 15…

Research Findings: The current study examined preschoolers' processing of false belief situations presented in published picture books. Children were read one story with a plot that revolved around a single false belief occurrence and one story with multiple false belief occurrences. Children's narrative retellings of the stories were utilized as…

This highly regarded work brings together prominent authorities on vocabulary teaching and learning to provide a comprehensive yet concise guide to effective instruction. The book showcases practical ways to teach specific vocabulary words and word-learning strategies and create engaging, word-rich classrooms. Instructional activities and games…

Research Findings: This study compared the unique effects of training low-income mothers in dialogic reading versus elaborative reminiscing on children's oral language and emergent literacy. Thirty-three low-income parents of 4-year-old children attending Head Start were randomly assigned to either dialogic reading, elaborative reminiscing, or a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the response of kindergarten students at-risk for reading failure to a two-tiered vocabulary intervention delivered in the context of a shared storybook reading activity employing rich and robust vocabulary instruction. Rich vocabulary instruction is defined as explicit vocabulary instruction in which…

The ability to derive the meanings of words from supportive story contexts was studied in 45 7- to 8-year-olds. Children read short stories each containing a different novel word and defined the word at the end of each story. There were three intervention sessions. One group was asked to justify their definition and subsequently received feedback…

The researchers addressed two questions: (1) Does maternal reading mediation and family home literacy environment (HLE) relate to children's emergent literacy (EL) level? and (2) Do the relationships among these variables differ as a function of socioeconomic strata (SES) level. A total of 94 5-6-year-old children, 47 from low SES (LSES) and 47…

A study investigated the development of vocabulary knowledge in elementary school children as a function of story reading for partially known and unknown words. Subjects, 43 fourth-grade low-middle to middle-class children from a rural elementary school in the southeastern United States, participated in a vocabulary checklist in which they…

Suggests the need for a model of reading in which the use of text data and prior knowledge structures in story understanding varies according to the complexity of the comprehension task, the familiarity of the text, and the level of understanding required of the reader. (HOD)

Describes Stein and Glenn's research on story grammar and suggests classroom uses of the grammar. (SS)

Investigates the spontaneous use of imagery and its relationship to free verbal recall. Finds that separate categories of imagery and verbal recall reports are not highly correlated. Finds that imagery did not decline after 48 hours, but that verbal recall declined. Suggests that a strict levels-of-processing view may be untenable for ecologically…

Analyzes whether a combination of televised story and/or an illustrated storybook influence children's story comprehension. Finds no significant differences between groups. Suggests that the communication medium alone has little importance for reading comprehension. (RS)

A notation system for the representation of interacting plans of action is presented in this paper and applied in the analysis of a portion of "Hansel and Gretel." The notation system explicates interactions among plans: how cooperation takes place, how conflicts arise and are resolved, how beliefs about plans determine actions, and how…

Findings of two experiments involving young children at a reading level of six years to six years, nine months suggest that phonological priming is an insufficient explanation of the analogy effect at the single word level. Phonological priming plays no role in the use of analogies in story reading. (RH)

This paper reports a small-scale study of wider reading at Key Stage 3 in current English classrooms in secondary schools in the south of England. Six English teachers, three of whom were relatively new to teaching, were interviewed on what they thought about wider reading. The findings indicate that because of a lack of time and absence of demand…