The progress of several projects defining and measuring adult literacy is reported in this publication of the National Reading Center. A summary description of the basic approach of the project is given, rather than a digest of findings. Among the studies reported on are the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading, the Adult…

This study by Louis Harris and Associates was designed to determine the percentage of Americans lacking the functional or practical reading skills necessary to survive in this country. A test on reading and filling out application forms indicated that from 4.3 million to 18.5 million Americans are functionally illiterate. The average range of…

The use of readability formulae to estimate the difficulty levels of vocational reading materials, the determination of relationships of reading skills to job proficiency, and the relationship of general reading ability to performance on specially constructed job reading task tests (JRTT) are discussed to define the literacy skill demands (i.e.,…

Excerpts from "Teacher Education and Training" (the James' Report), issued in the United Kingdom early in 1972, comprise the bulk of this newsletter. James recommends that "all teachers should be entitled to release with pay for inservice education and training on a scale not less than the equivalent of one term in every seven…

An assessment of reading performance of a representative sample of students aged nine, thirteen, and seventeen years was conducted in Connecticut Public Schools to discover the percentage of students who could perform specific reading skills appropriate to their age and experience. Comparisons were made in the following categories: with national…

An extensive review of the literature on the relationship of speech articulation to reading and other language skills has revealed few studies in which relevant variables were clearly defined and carefully controlled. Results of past investigations fail to provide conclusive data due to the lack of consistency in defining disability groups, lack…

The purpose of this study was to compare the self-esteem inventory scores of third grade students with their scores from an informal reading inventory to determine whether there was a significant correlation between self-esteem and reading performance. The Self-Esteem Inventory, the Classroom Reading Inventory, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary…

During 1970 and 1971, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) conducted its first assessment of reading, measuring the achievement of specific reading objectives by individuals aged 9, 13, 17, and 26-35. In 1974, the Right to Read Effort directed that a Mini-Assessment of Functional Literacy (MAFL) be conducted to determine basic…

Four experiments investigated memory scanning rates of skilled and less skilled readers. In three experiments, reaction times of skilled readers were faster than those of less skilled readers with reading time partialled out (aloud and silent reading). Differences were not significant when the scan component in answering was minimized. (Author/RD)

Fourth-grade good and poor readers were given six different digit span tasks in which task structure (simultaneous vs sequential presentation of digits) and modality of presentation (visual vs auditory) were varied. Task structure was more powerful in predicting test performance than was modality of presentation. (Author/BH)

A highly reproducible scale of difficulty of word identification tasks was identified for both good and poor readers: consonant-vowel combinations and short vowel words were learned first. Long vowel words, special rule words, and nonsense words were more difficult. Reading instruction should parallel this sequence since it follows learning…

The Matching Familiar Figures Test and the Auditory Impulsivity Task were administered to 81 fourth-grade students. Fifty-five percent of the students maintained classifications as reflective, impulsive, fast-accurate, or slow-inaccurate across the two modalities, indicating that the two tasks measured different abilities. The authors suggest that…

Competent and low ability readers were tested in reading and listening comprehension. Seventh grade students were selected, assuming that reading and listening competency are comparable at this level. After reading or listening to a folk tale, subjects recalled the important ideas. Reading and listening performance were significantly correlated.…

Using norm-referenced reading achievement tests as both "criterion referenced" (through repeated administration of the same form at successively higher grade levels) and as norm-referenced (in the usual manner) helps to differentiate individual changes in learning how to read as well as individual differences in gaining information from textual…