A study examined the relationship between phonemic awareness and reading ability in 29 elementary children enrolled in a residential school for students with deafness. Reading ability was significantly correlated to language ability, but not to phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness did not contribute to any variance in reading ability. (Contains…

A study assessed the reading ability of 50 clients at a rural Midwest women's health center and the readability of 10 of the clinic's health information materials. One in six women could not read all of the patient information, which could limit their understanding and achievement of good health care. Discusses implications for practice. (Contains…

Analysis of reading tests (cloze and vocabulary) completed by first-year undergraduates at the Open University (Great Britain) demonstrated that many students in open-entry undergraduate programs have difficulty reading academic texts and that this difficulty has a negative impact on their success. (Contains 18 figures and six tables.) (PEN)

A study of 141 children (ages 4-5) with language impairments and a study of 120 children (ages 7-12) with oral language and/or reading problems, indicate a relationship between the processing of phonological and semantactic linguistic information and performance on oral language and reading tests three years later. (Author/CR)

A study investigated whether the reading difficulties of 60 Dutch children with low vision were a matter of reduced visual input or a consequence of a lack of orthographic knowledge. Results indicated that reduced visual input was the only cause of the children's lower reading performance. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

A study of 27 students with deafness raised by hearing parents who advocated a strict oral approach, 22 students with deafness who used Israeli Sign Language, and 39 controls, found both the controls and participants with prelingual deafness who were trained to communicate orally recoded visually presented target words phonologically. (Contains…

Compared to 92 low-achieving and high-achieving students, 46 intermediate grade learning-disabled students wrote compositions, wrote summaries, and produced comprehension recalls that were less organized and contained fewer ideas. Interviews indicated that learning-disabled students possessed less knowledge about processes related to…

Surveys reading attitudes, habits, and perceptions about reading of 84 adults in a wide variety of occupations. Finds more positive attitudes toward reading, more time spent reading, and higher ratings of own reading ability among adults with more education and adults employed in higher status occupations. Finds no educational or occupational…

Results of a study indicated that poor readers did not differ from good readers in starting to work on assignments, having necessary materials, or engaging in disruptive behavior. However, poor readers were off task more and volunteered less than good readers. (IAH)

Discusses conflicting interpretations of results from contrasts of poor and normal readers matched either for chronological age (CA) or reading level (RL). Argues that the outcomes from RL-matched designs or from RL- and CA-matched designs in combination should be interpreted within a broad theoretical and empirical context. (RS)

Follows the reading and writing development of a young boy from first through third grade. Shares how, through storytelling, he defined a sense of himself that retained a strong connection to his primary-years personality while reaching out confidently toward the world of upper elementary classrooms that he would now be facing. (MG)

Presents a dynamic reading assessment procedure (DAP). Argues that the procedure is particularly valuable for use with at-risk learners because both cognitive and affective variables are assessed. Notes that the readers' strategy use and knowledge, as well as their adaptability and attitude toward reading instruction, can be determined. (RS)

Summarizes research on reading preferences of boys and girls, the relationship of these preferences to reading ability, the availability of materials for boys, and the notion of a female versus a male morality. The implications of these factors for building a well-balanced children's collection are also considered. (nine references) (MES)

Forty normal readers and 50 dyslexic children (age 9-14) were matched on reading level and intelligence quotient and tested. Analysis revealed 3 major subgroups: specific deficit in phonological processing of print (52 percent), deficits in processing both the phonological and orthographic features of printed words (24 percent), and phonological…

An experiment involving fourth graders examined effects of syntactic context on auditory word identification and ability to detect and correct syntactic errors in speech. Severely disabled readers were inferior to good and poor readers in syntactic awareness and ability to use syntactic rules. (RH)