The new editions of basal readers differ in significant ways from their predecessors: they are longer, more attractive, linguistically sounder, use larger vocabularies. (JH)

Describes an informal test for determining a student's ability to use context clues in decoding unfamiliar words. (TO)

This report contains three papers discussing skill hierarchy approaches to reading instruction. Jana Mason presents an historical and theoretical review of the notion of a reading skills hierarchy, relates it to three major types of reading programs currently in use, and argues that it is instructionally advantageous to construct a decoding…

Two experiments examined proofreading errors to test whether reading is mediated by a phonological recoding stage. In the first experiment, 162 undergraduates circled the misspelled words in a text as the experimenter read the passage aloud. In the second experiment, 165 undergraduates corrected misspellings as they read the same passage silently,…

This study develops an information model based on the processes involved in reading and listening as a step toward constructing a single framework for understanding both these skills. Assuming that analogous structures and processes occur in reading and listening, similar experimental questions are asked in both areas. The model incorporates data…

Arguing that skilled reading is the result of the successful acquisition of a number of highly automatic component processes that operate together in an integrated manner, this paper describes a series of studies of good and poor high school readers representing three general domains of processing: decoding, analyzing and comprehending text, and…

Ninety-three first grade children participated in a study that examined the relationship among instructional materials, other factors such as test scores, and the growth and application of letter-sound correspondence knowledge. The study also sought to determine the importance of letter-sound correspondence knowledge in the acquisition and…

This study of 96 high school biology students investigates the effectiveness of visual instruction composed of simple line drawings and printed words as compared to printed-words-only instruction, visual tests, and the interaction between visual or non-visual mode of instruction and mode of testing. The subjects were randomly assigned to be given…

This report describes a computer drill called the Corrective Feedback Paradigm (CFP) and summarizes a research study which examines the effects of the CFP on posttest and time to mastery achievement. The CFP, which embodies the use of such principles as mastery learning, increasing ratio review, and discrimination training, is capable of being…

In silent reading, short-memory tasks, such as semantic and syntactic processing, require a stage of phonetic encoding between visual representation and the actual extraction of meaning, and this encoding includes prosodic as well as segmental features. To test for this suprasegmental coding, an experiment was conducted in which subjects were…

Assessment of school aged youngsters is an omnipresent decision making activity; intervention planning is an important component of this decision making. A child's strengths and weaknesses may be useful indicators on which to plan instructional programs; unfortunately, they often are not identified as a result of general assessment practices.…

The relationship between speech and print is essentially asymmetrical and changes as the reading ability of the child improves. For the child who has succeeded at decoding, the asymmetry implies that commonalities between speech and print are more important than their differences. Three hypothetical observation points illustrate the similarity…

Recent research in reading comprehension suggests that there are substantial differences between individuals in their patterns of resource allocation to text-based (bottom-up) and knowledge-based (top-down) reading processes. Less able readers tend to overrely on processes in one direction, producing deleterious effects on comprehension. Factors…

Data are presented on the use of the Monterey Reading program, a multilevel individualized approach to teaching basic reading skills and improving decoding skills, with 21 hearing impaired students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) school system. The Monterey program is further explained to provide built in reinforcement, measurable feedback for…

The paper describes an instructional program that teaches basic decoding skills to learning disabled children, presents the rationale for its development, and offers results of field trials designed to evaluate its effectiveness. The program "ABD's (analysis, blending, decoding) of Reading," initially focuses on auditory tasks and the…