Describes a classroom activity designed to teach students how to skim and to read critically that is applicable to all content subjects. (MKM)

Two experiments designed to examine the effects on poor readers' comprehension of increasing their decoding speed indicated that the decoding training on single words and phrases increased the speed of word recognition but did not improve comprehension performance. (MKM)

The relationships of two cognitive styles to reading speed and comprehension were investigated by administering a measure of ability to disregard irrelevent stimuli (closure flexibility) and a measure of ability to move fluently from one stimulus to another (fluency) to 94 fifth-grade children. (CM)

Provides an overview of three major categories of reading skills (word identification, comprehension, and rate) and of two basic types of study skills (those involving the location of information through reading and those involving organization of information) and shows how the skills are related to each other. (GT)

The present research was undertaken to test the effectiveness of beginning training at the motor level for children having difficulty with the symbolic system of reading. Reading gains of first-grade children were significantly greater than those of second-graders beyond the .01 level, a result not explainable by ceiling effects. (Author)

This study compared reading rates of three students with reading disabilities and five nondisabled students, all fourth graders. Students were tested on their reading rates on self-selected passages (whole language approach) and on controlled, curriculum-based measurement materials. No significant differences were found between groups of students…

Six fourth-graders with low vision were asked to read unrelated words and continuous text ranging in print size. Participants read faster when they read text aloud than when they read nonrelated words. Their reading speeds decreased as the print sizes decreased. Methods to maximize reading efficiency are discussed. (Contains references.) (CR)

The paper describes procedures for reducing reading errors and building oral reading fluency by having students read along with audiotapes of passages recorded at rates somewhat faster than the learner's current performance level. Steps involved in this challenging reading method include assessment, daily timings, error correction, and rate…

Examines the relevance of decoding, comprehension, and reading rate as used by teachers for evaluation of their students' reading competence. Finds that teachers claim to rely only on decoding and comprehension in assessing reading competence, but that in practice teachers rely quite heavily on reading rate as a diagnostic tool. (RS)

Considers the relationship between decoding and sight-word reading. Investigates whether to use the whole-word method or to build decoding skills before introducing sight words. Sets up five goals to address these issues. Concludes that sight-word reading instruction is likely to be successful if decoding skills are firmly established first. (SC)

The purpose of this study was to determine the components of working memory (WM) that underlie less skilled readers' comprehension and word recognition difficulties. Performance of 3 less skilled reading subgroups--children with reading disabilities (RD) in both word recognition and comprehension; children with comprehension deficits only; and…

One explanation for the relationship between serial rapid naming (SRN) and reading is that SRN affects the temporal proximity of the phonological activation of the letters in a word, which, in turn, influences the acquisition of orthographic knowledge. To test this hypothesis, a group of Dutch first grade children was trained in the rapid serial…

One of the most important, and most studied, aspects of human perception is the act of reading. Reading has received much attention from researchers, both from a human information processing (HIP) approach and as a common, practical act that needs to be optimized, especially in the realm of human-computer interaction (HCI). One of the text …

The study investigates measurement properties of the reading assessment tasks used in the IEA 1991 Reading Literacy (RL) study and the Progress in International Readings Study (PIRLS) 2001 study. The analysis is based on data from the Swedish PIRLS study, comprising 16,676 students in grades 3 and 4. As an extension to the basic design, not only…

Second- and 3rd-grade children with poor word-level skills were randomly assigned to 8 months of explicit instruction emphasizing the phonologic and orthographic connections in words and text-based reading or to remedial reading programs provided by the schools. At posttest, treatment children showed significantly greater gains than control…