Though adult students have rich and varied backgrounds which enhance their reading, too often teaching methods have focused on the print on the page rather than the ideas presented. There is a range of strategies for teaching reading comprehension which is applicable to any material. (JOW)

How successful are speed reading courses for adults? Author, who teaches speed reading and improvement of reading comprehension, backs up his assertion of their effectiveness with test result tables showing businessmen in particular benefit from such training. (PD)

This document offers "reciprocal questioning" as a technique that promotes active learning and that is a practical and powerful way to help students improve their reading comprehension. First, the technique is described in detail. Steps include selection of four to five paragraphs of text; preparation of 10-12 questions over the material,…

Extensive reading is an approach to teaching reading that has been utilized with English as a Second Language (ESL) learners, but not widely used in the adult literacy classroom. This article investigates whether this approach can be utilized in a classroom for adults who have difficulty with reading. A description of our implementation of…

A study was conducted to determine if visualization could be used as an organizational tool to help adult education students improve their reading comprehension by helping them to see the structure of what they are reading in a sort of verbal picture of organized ideas. Following a review of research, which identified five areas in which…

This paper offers a description of the Ball-Stick-Bird reading system which has been used successfully to teach students with IQs as low as 20 to read with comprehension. A summary of research findings on this approach is presented as well as a discussion of these findings within a neurological/behavioral/evolutionary framework. A new theory of…

Government survey results reveal that large numbers of adults in the United States do not possess the minimal survival and life-coping skills necessary to function successfully in daily living. Since reading is the most basic of all life survival skills, a thematic reading that emphasized consumer survival was developed in the fall of 1977 at…

The computer-based reading and study skills curriculum which is described was developed to meet the need for a more efficient and effective means of increasing the reading and study skills of Navy recruits. The parameters specified by the Navy led to the development of a curriculum composed of a modified version of an existing reading curriculum…

This guide gives new tutors who are not professional teachers some techniques for teaching others to read and write. A comprehension-based approach to literacy training is used. Part 1 presents a variety of background information on illiteracy. It also gives some guidelines useful for the new tutor. Part 2 is composed of two diagnostic…

This book describes the teaching of reading in Denmark. Topics discussed are the holistic educational approach to reading (essentially an eclectic reading method), reading instruction techniques used from kindergarten through high school, remedial instruction, individualization, and speed reading. An individualized speed reading method for adults…

A discussion of adult learners and a description of instructional reading strategies--based on thinking--for adult learners are presented in this paper. A definition of adulthood and the nontraditional learner in the paper highlights adults' cognitive skills, interests, and literacy levels, while the metacognitive awareness of disabled and good…

Semantic mapping, which involves the application of vocabulary meanings, increases cognitive processing, and develops the cognitive structure, is recommended for use with literacy students in adult learning centers. Semantic mapping can be used as a prereading or prewriting stimulus, or as a postreading check of comprehension. Also, developing…

Many adult poor readers do not organize what they read in a way that best facilitates good comprehension. To help students overcome this problem, the Adult Day and Evening School in Oakland, California, organized a reading laboratory for their mostly low-income, educationally disadvantaged students with a diverse range of needs. Instruction in the…

Focusing on research and evaluation in college reading, the papers in this volume were drawn from the ninth annual meeting of the National Reading Conference held in 1959. Among the topics discussed in the 19 papers are the following: a proposed model of reading comprehension, factors affecting reading test performance, student attitudes toward…

The instructional concept guide is part of a system developed for tutor training and support. It is primarily designed for volunteers, but it can also be adapted to the training of paraprofessional tutors for any type of adult literacy program. A key component in the system is the Tutor Support Library, consisting of Instructional Concept Guides…