Examined the effect of cross-cultural awareness training and explicit linguistic instruction on attitudes towards and comprehension of foreign-accented speech in three groups of students. Listening comprehension passages read in Vietnamese-accented speech before and after an 8-week instruction period revealed no cross-group differences. Attitude…

Studied the effects of Language 1-assisted (L1) reciprocal teaching (in this case, Mandarin) on the comprehension of English expository text by 12 year-7 and year-8 (grades 6 and 7) Taiwanese students. The use of reciprocal L1 and L2 (English) teaching appeared to increase comprehension when reading L1 and L2 texts. (SLD)

This study investigated use of the Reading Component Model to subgroup poor readers. Poor readers were identified in second grade and subgrouped into four significantly different groups on the basis of relative strengths and weaknesses in word recognition and listening comprehension. Further analysis found poor readers' abilities were foreshadowed…

Shares how the author designed reading activities to increase students' understanding of nonfiction by adhering to three principles: purpose, classification, and collaboration. Recounts how students responded to the reading materials and each other as they developed an understanding of the information available to them. (MG)

The Moss Point, Mississippi, school district uses a semantic mapping teaching approach called "Writing to Learn" that visually and graphically displays ideas and concepts. Students use computers to work on writing projects, and their achievement scores in the state's reading and writing examinations have increased remarkably. Outlines…

This article discusses the concept of world knowledge and its relevance to intervention processes. Roles of linguistic and physical context in interpretation and levels of speaker experience are discussed. Levels of involvement are related to communication goals, and these principles are extended to applications in the teaching of language skills.…

Investigates the usefulness of using grammatical cohesion to evaluate the macro- or discourse-level, and the micro-level reading comprehension of English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students. Finds a relationship between anaphora and coherence that contributes to reading difficulty. (MG)

The discriminant validity of two subscales of the Reynell Developmental Language Scales (RDLS) was investigated using data from 225 children given the RDLS at age 4 and the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities at age 5. Results support the hypothesis; the RDLS scales measure distinct but correlated language abilities. (SLD)

Compares skilled and unskilled adult readers' approaches to finding the main idea in text. Describes and tests Author's Intended Message (AIM), a holistic main idea strategy suitable for independent use by college study skills students. Investigates the effectiveness of this strategy. (RS)

Think cards, consisting of students' written verbalizations of reading comprehension strategies presented by the teacher, make students aware of the need for using strategies during the reading process and aid them in keeping track of alternative strategies. The paper illustrates incorporation of think cards into a reading lesson involving the…

Investigates readers' response patterns to informative documents. Finds that readers make direct confirmations and positive comprehension evaluations when information is conveyed clearly; when understanding is impaired, readers seek more clearly established relationships in the text. Concludes that readers make evaluative suggestions that…

Examines the source of poor readers' comprehension failures in spoken sentences containing complex syntactic structures. Although research literature indicates that the difficulties poor readers display are usually associated with some aspect of phonological processing, other components of language processing may be involved. (58 references)…

Explored the effect of giving novice foreign language readers information about the rhetorical structure of an expository text as a text adjunct. Results indicated that an expanded framework is an effective text adjunct for the comprehension of the expository prose. (27 references) (Author/CB)

Compares the reading performance of first grade readers of low, middle, and high abilities trained in listen-read, listen-alone, or read-alone procedures. Concludes that the listen-read procedure is an effective technique for low and middle ability readers in facilitating word recognition and reading comprehension. (RS)

Describes an investigation to determine whether junior high school students generate important meanings from their social studies textbooks, and to assess the kind of information students derive from text when they have tests in mind. Indicates that adolescents isolate and particularize their reading to meet perceived test demands. (MG)