Whether parents of fourth graders (n=285) interpreted mathematics grades with the same meaning as teachers (n=16) who assigned them was studied through questionnaires. Results indicate poor home-to-school communication, with a great deal of inconsistency between teachers' and parents' views. (SLD)

This study investigated the effects of previewing and providing background knowledge for American short stories on Taiwanese students' comprehension of the stories and attitudes toward the treatments. Implications of the findings for reading instruction in second-language classrooms are discussed. (JL)

Examines three factors that influence student learning and motivation of beginner foreign-language listening skills: text, context, and gender. Studies responses of fifth graders to computer-based foreign-language learning. Results indicate that providing text with spoken words facilitates the acquisition of listening skills, increases student…

Discusses how teachers can learn to capitalize on the moment of understanding in students. Suggests the opening into young minds is ephemeral, and once the opportunity to answer or confirm or pursue a topic is lost, the opportunity is difficult or impossible to recapture. (ET)

Two instructional treatments to increase oral reading and reading comprehension were evaluated with 5 Hispanic students (ages 11 and 12) with speech and language impairments. For all students, preliminary discussion of key words was more effective than listening to the story prior to reading but not more effective than the combined treatment.…

Tests the hypothesis that differences between first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) reading and spelling profiles could be accounted for by lack of proficiency in the L2 or differences in orthographic complexity. Finds that neither of these explanations alone sufficed to explain the development of reading and spelling in the two languages…

Analysis of the talk of four native Spanish-speaking third graders revealed the many reading and conversational strategies used as they cooperatively composed an answer to a reading comprehension question in Spanish. Demonstrates how students took a position on story interpretation, used evidence to support their positions, and came to the…

The Interactive Teaching Project was designed to test an instructional model to help students with learning disabilities comprehend content area concepts. This paper describes the theoretical model and the effective interactive teaching and learning strategies used, including semantic feature analysis, semantic mapping, and semantic/syntactic…

A test of the ability of adult Japanese and Korean students to perceive correct and misarticulated /r/ involved tape recordings of native English speakers and the students themselves. Comparison of the results "subjects made more errors perceiving their own speech" with similar research on first- and second-language acquisition has pedagogical…

Reports a study involving interviews with 20 physics teachers to determine their awareness of student alternate conceptions in the areas of force and gravity. (PR)

Theoretical issues and practical implications of metacognition for reading instruction are discussed. A cognitive training program is introduced, and the effects of the program on the reading skills of 64 sixth graders are analyzed. Results indicate that the program has the potential for improving instruction in reading comprehension and learning.…

In 3 experiments, a total of 48 native English speaking and 55 English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) college students chose alternatives to replace missing logical connectors in expository passages. Differences in meaning and use of the four connector types and implications for improving ESL programing are discussed. (SLD)

Illustrates the comprehension-monitoring process used by first (L1) and second (L2) language readers of English as they read expository prose and compares the comprehension-monitoring strategies of L1 and L2 readers with respect to two problems: locating a referent and defining a vocabulary item. (59 references) (GLR)

Francophone learners of English as a foreign language performed metalingual and preference tasks requiring them to utilize second-language knowledge brought to mind under an aural priming activity or a written task. Results indicate important differences between recall with awareness and recall without awareness, which strongly suggests a positive…

Four ideas for French language instruction are presented, including an exploration of cultural and linguistic meaning in advertising; use of the Minitel database and computer capabilities; interpersonal communication games; and a vocabulary development and comprehension activity using text from a French weekly publication. (MSE)