This study examined whether or not fourth-graders could fully demonstrate their writing skills on the computer and factors associated with their performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) computer-based writing assessment. The results suggest that high-performing fourth-graders (those who scored in the upper 20 percent…

We evaluated the narrative and expository writing samples of 12 adolescents with language-learning disabilities (LLD) in Grades 6 to 12 for elements of microstructure (e.g., productivity, grammatical complexity) and macrostructure (genre-specific text structure elements) using an experimental measure. Writing samples were elicited with…

The preferences of a group of 35 randomly selected undergraduate and graduate students for different text density on computer screens were examined in this study. The displays, which ranged from 53% to 22% density, were generated using the Apple IIe microcomputer. Students were shown a pair of screens of different densities and asked which screen…

This paper proposes a systematic method of measuring subjects' free recall from printed hard news stories, based on schema theories of cognition. Citing literature that demonstrates the role of text structures and text schemas in the recall of written text, the paper suggests incorporating these processes into the assessment of recall of news. In…

Curriculum-based measurement is a system for monitoring students' progress and formatively evaluating instruction backed by 25 years of validation research. Most of this research has been conducted in elementary schools. In middle and high school classrooms, where there is an emphasis on mastering content knowledge, elementary-level measurements…

A pilot study examined to what degree answers that students supply on basal reader workbook pages are integrated with understanding the words in the story or with understanding the story itself. The sample consisted of 27 workbook pages from 5 fourth-grade basal reading programs with a 1989 copyright date. Two simple content analyses were applied…

Describes three pilot projects carried out with a special version of a computer-assisted language-learning activity, known as SEQUITUR, that seeks to develop awareness of cohesive devices and coherence features by displaying the start of a text and offering possible continuations. Usage logs of responses given by native and nonnative speakers of…