Describes how news magazines were used successfully as supplements to teach civic literacy, vocabulary, and writing to college level reluctant readers. Contains two sample exercises. (HOD)

Reviews earlier studies of the effect of student background knowledge on reading comprehension and then reports on a third investigation into the same effect. Concludes that the test results obtained in the study can be accounted for in terms of an interaction between background knowledge and linguistic proficiency. (Author/SED)

Investigates second grade children's ability to understand the use of deictic terms (devices in language that convey information about the communicative situation) in three types of tasks: oral language, written language, and picture selection, and concludes that the difficulty of a word with deictic content depends largely upon the discourse…

An additive model is developed to account for reading times for two different reading tasks: reading for retention and reading for comprehension. The model is concerned with the reading strategies of adults and fifth graders, and with individual differences between fast and slow readers. (Author/LMO)

Reports the methodology used to measure the reading ability of third and fourth grade pupils in Finnish "comprehensive" schools in 1964 and 1979. Notes that 1979 students had significantly higher abilities in all areas measured, despite decreases in standard deviations. Interprets results in the light of acceleration theory. (SB)

This article provides a description of a planning strategy for the involvement of the learning-disabled adult student. It examines the philosophical approach to planning; characteristics of the learning disabled adult; program planning strategies, involving diagnosis, goals and objectives, modalities and learning procedures; materials and…

Concludes that an integrated language-reading treatment approach was effective in improving the reading performance of second-grade children with possible listening comprehension problems and language deficiencies. (FL)

Discusses Michael Canale's paper, "Considerations in the Testing of Reading and Listening Proficiency," focusing on the third section, "Suggestions for improvements in receptive language testing." Considers such areas as: (1) level descriptions for academic use, (2) item and item types, and (3) validation. (SED)

The situation with regards to reading performance in Washington State is similar to that in many other states. Although student performance in reading has improved somewhat over the past four years, too many students continue to fall below state standards. In response to poor test scores and to the outpouring of research on early reading…

This book offers strategies to help both new teachers and seasoned veterans create dynamic classroom environments where students enjoy learning and teachers enjoy teaching. In addition to no-nonsense advice, checklists, and handouts, the book includes: (1) A step-by-step plan to make the first week of school a success; (2) Approaches for creating…

Literacy consultant Joan Groeber provides educators with a teacher-friendly, step-by-step guide for creating and using rubrics to assess a wide range of literacy skills. Groeber's approach helps ensure that students gain a clear understanding of teacher expectations and assume a greater responsibility for their own learning. Offering an overview…

This survey presents statistics on secondary school student culture by school district and race/ethnicity, using data from approximately forty thousand secondary school students in Minority Student Achievement Network districts. Information is presented in six areas: (1) "Family Background Resources and Living Arrangements (racial/ethnic…

This book focuses on a key component of literacy instruction: helping children become thoughtful, independent readers who are able to use a flexible repertoire of reading strategies for comprehension and word recognition. The book presents research-based explanations and guidelines that culminate in a comprehensive strategy instruction model. It…

This guide was developed with the recognition of the growing need for school districts to provide access to the general education curriculum for students with special needs and to align assistive technology (AT) with performance requirements of the curriculum. The AT solutions presented represent changes in materials and instructional strategies…

This paper investigated if prior context was used by readers to resolve temporarily ambiguous prepositional phrases. The paper addresses two issues, referring to two competing approaches to sentence processing and testing the predictability of each approach in two online reading experiments. The issues focus on the Human Sentence Processing…