Examines differences in secondary students' vocabulary learning from original and revised contextual information. Finds that the revised passages generated significantly higher scores for both ability groups on the definition and importance measures but not on the indication of knowledge measure. (MG)

Investigates the role of signaling (structural cues that announce or emphasize content or reveal content relationships) in helping good readers comprehend expository text. Finds that signals do improve a reader's comprehension, particularly comprehension two weeks after the reading of a passage and comprehension of superordinate and superordinate…

Describes the benefits that storytelling can have on the development of listening and reading comprehension and the enhancement of oral and written expression. Presents an example of how storytelling was used to realize these benefits in a third-grade classroom. (MG)

Elementary school-age Israeli hearing-impaired children of two hearing-impaired parents (HIC/HIP; n=31) and of two normally hearing parents (HIC/NHP; n=93) were compared. HIC/HIP outperformed HIC/NHP in reading comprehension and teachers' ratings of emotional adjustment, self-image, and motivation for communication, and were comparable in social…

Two studies with 170 third-, 303 fifth-, and 288 seventh-graders in Heidelberg (West Germany) compared memory performance and text comprehension of groups equivalent on domain-specific knowledge of the game of soccer but differing in overall aptitude. Whether prior knowledge or overall aptitude level was more important in acquiring/using new…

Examined validity of test battery, organized by theoretical framework of levels of language processing and production, at end of kindergarten and first grade. At end of kindergarten two levels of oral language (pnonemic and lexical) and at end of first grade three levels of oral language (phonemic, lexical, and text) were correlated with word…

A five-step procedure is presented for using wordless picture books to encourage language development in hearing-impaired students. The students "read" the books, write the story ideas and illustrate the story, review the story for comprehension, and complete creative writing activities. A bibliography of picture books for elementary-level…

Discusses the reading problems that are concerns in a Science-Technology-Society program of science teaching. Describes possible origins of the lack of comprehensible reading abilities and the teacher's role in facilitating the process. (RT)

Examines research about learning disabled (LD) students and presents an LD learning-style profile. Describes a learning activity, TELSQA, that social studies teachers can use to encourage reading comprehension. TELSQA asks students to identify title (T), examine material (E), look for important words (L), self-question (SQ), and answer…

Examined school entrance age effect on academic achievement and social-emotional adjustment among 137 fourth graders. Found that differences between 73 oldest and 64 youngest subjects, identified in first grade, persisted in part to fourth grade. Younger subjects scored lowest in mathematics and oral and silent reading comprehension; were slower…

Explores the thinking strategies or "inner languages" children employ when they read and write. Finds merging of different patterns of thought in most children, which varied with the task at hand. Proposes that teachers structure time and space according to children's varied needs. (MS)

Examines the value of literature response groups by gathering information about the dialogue occurring within them. Studies the content of talk, the functions of language in use, and evidence of reading comprehension. Finds that literature response groups are a good resource for helping children communicate through talk in the classroom. (MS)

Reports a study, using sixth graders' introspective self-reports, to determine the context in which students use knowledge about narrative text structure, how they use this knowledge, and why they do not always employ this knowledge. (RAE)

Examines the effect of contrived instructional texts and naturally occurring texts (content area textbooks) on students' main idea comprehension. Concludes that students taught to identify the main idea using only contrived texts, such as basal skills lessons, will have difficulty transferring their main idea skills to naturally occurring texts.…

Describes an effort to train parents to respond selectively to miscues and to pay attention to the timing of their responses, to use meaning-focused cues, and to use praise. Concludes that parents can teach and students can learn effective strategies to decrease error rate. (RS)