Summarizes the benefits and limitations of the use of story grammars in the elementary reading classroom. Provides suggestions for implementation in the classroom. (ARH)

Discusses the history of the development of the measurement of reading levels and current criticism of the use of reading levels. Also discusses the relationship between a teacher's effectiveness as a reading instructor and the teacher's understanding about the concept of reading levels. Includes suggestions for change and a list of references.…

Reading comprehension is often tested by teachers through verbal questioning of students on a literal, interpretive, or evaluative level. The drawbacks of this method are that it often doesn't develop understanding or require interpretation. Presents an example of how to develop thinking and comprehension through a questioning strategy focused on…

This study examined the relationship between self-assessed understanding of lesson content and student performance on factual and inferential test questions among college undergraduate students. Analysis of the results showed little or no correlation between student ratings of their understanding and their subsequent performance on both embedded…

Explores responses to fiction reading by students who record these responses in journals. (NKA)

The article details on three classroom projects using computers and synthesized speech software to foster expressive language and facilitate language comprehension in severely visually handicapped preschoolers and in preschool- and school-age Downs syndrome children. Computer use with a cerebral palsied child for story comprehension and…

Indicates that membership in pausing and skimming clusters appears to relate to text comprehension, grade level, and rated academic ability, but that these relationships are not all simple or direct. Finds that the cluster-analytic approach provides a useful empirical adjunct to current theoretical perspectives on text analysis and reading…

Outlines the steps taken in developing and using computer-based instruction with interactive videodisc material in a language class. The goal of this particular project was to develop a series of listening comprehension activities in Spanish using 30 minutes of Level 2 Interagency Language Roundtable videodisc material. (Author/SED)

This study examined the summarizing skills of university students and developed from their protocols a scale for coding replications and distortions of the original. Findings indicate that underprepared students omit more main ideas and include more sentence-level reproductions than mainstreamed students. Data indicated no other significant…

Describes research done to determine whether there is a statistical relationship between an English as a second language learner's ability to determine a word's morphemes or structural units and his/her ability to comprehend written English text. (SED)

The effects of four major types of expository text on the comprehension performance of 69 third and 69 sixth graders were investigated. Results suggest that knowledge of discourse types underlies effective expository comprehension and that this ability increases as children reach the upper elementary grades. (BS)

Children in first, second, and third grades were subjects in a study that investigated how well they drew inferences after reading their own dictated stories, peer-dictated stories, and adult-written stories. Results showed they inferred better if they dictated the story themselves or if they were accurate decoders. (HOD)

Describes a study which examined the relationship between age and achievement of adults in an instructional setting. Older (25 to 41) and younger (17 to 24) French-speaking students were compared with respect to short-term development in aural comprehension. Results suggest that achievement rate decreases with increasing age. (SED)

Demonstrates how readers' use of cohesive ties can be examined as part of a miscue analysis. Suggests types of differences in miscue patterns between third grade students of different reading proficiency. (EL)

Offers a dozen concrete suggestions for using paraphrase writing to teach content, better reading, and interpretive thinking. (HOD)