Focusing on better assessing the thinking, or meaning-making, aspects of reading that are emphasized in current views of the reading process, this book presents the Informal Reading-Thinking Inventory (IR-TI) which offers options to enhance assessment beyond assessing students' listening level, oral reading of words, and basic comprehension. The…

A study examined the content of eight 1989 editions of the major basal reading series--those of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; D.C. Heath and Co.; Holt Rinehart and Winston; Houghton Mifflin; Macmillan; McGraw-Hill; Scott, Foresman and Co.; and Silver Burdett and Ginn. The study determined how and the extent to which lessons and activities that…

A study addressed the following questions: (1) whether the recognition of rhetorical functions and techniques in English helps students of English as a Second Language understand written technical information better; and (2) whether students are better prepared to write accurate summaries of scientific or technical texts if they have been taught…

A study was undertaken to determine the relationship between word recognition and comprehension achieved by second and fifth grade students using reading material at various levels of readability. The testing instrument used was the Spache Diagnostic Reading Scale containing levels from primer through eighth grade. A pilot study provided a…

A study demonstrated the utility of item analyses to investigate which items function well or poorly in a second language reading recall protocol instrument. Data were drawn from a larger study of 56 learners of German as a second language at various proficiency levels. Pausal units of scored recall protocols were analyzed using both classical…

A study investigated second language learners' cognitive and affective responses to one authentic and three edited texts. Forty-nine college students at four levels of language learning read the same Spanish authentic passage and an edited passage written for their course level. After silent reading, they performed think-aloud tasks in their…

Because testing comprehension of long (5- to 10-page) second-language texts is more complex than testing shorter texts, an alternative form of second language reading comprehension test is needed. In a guided summary completion test, students are presented with a greatly shortened version of the text (e.g., one-paragraph summary), containing…

This paper presents an outline for a three-part workshop for parents who want to help their children become better readers. The paper provides lists of materials, the overheads, and the handouts for each of the three parts of the workshop. The parts of the workshop described in the paper discuss: (1) word recognition and questioning strategies;…

The Summer Academic Skills Enhancement Program (SASEP) was offered in June-August 1993 to provide Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) clients with the reading comprehension and language mechanics skills required for employment in entry-level positions. A total of 125 referred clients were enrolled into both of two remedial courses of study.…

Balancing major new approaches to reading with valid traditional ideas, this seventh edition of the book prepares teachers to develop their students' abilities to read fluently and to foster their students' enjoyment of reading. Thoroughly revised, it surveys all the commonly used approaches to teaching reading and guides instructors in choosing…

This study examined the effectiveness of two approaches to enhancing the reading comprehension of learning disabled students in the social studies content area. An approach using the graphic organizer in the form of visual displays was compared to the traditional method in which students were presented content through lecture, text, and linear…

This study addressed four research questions: (1) Can first graders comprehend and explain cohesive ties in reading?; (2) Can first graders comprehend and explain ungrammatical or ambiguous cohesive items in reading?; (3) Is the control of cohesive elements in reading related to measures of reading achievement in first grade?; and (4) What…

Helping to build a bridge between classroom lessons and the world outside the classroom door, this book suggests specific strategies for using the newspaper across the school curriculum. The introduction to the book answers the question: Why use newspapers in the reading curriculum? Chapters in the book are entitled: (1) Teaching How to Read the…

Three experiments investigated the extent to which children of various intellectual abilities rely on speech-related processes in working memory. Subjects consisted of 16 learners with mental retardation (MRLs) in grades 5-9 and 16 nondisabled learners (NLs) in grades 2-3, matched in word recognition skills. The independent variable within each…

To study how the organization of information affects the way that information is interpreted, a total of 404 undergraduates in two studies (151 and 253 students, respectively) solved statistical reasoning problems based on data presented in a variety of types of graphs and tables. When assessing relative probabilities, students were equally…