A study investigated whether children could be sensitized to structural aspects of narratives and whether reading comprehension could be enhanced through instruction designed to develop concept of story. Twenty fourth grade students with a poorly developed concept of story were assigned to either a control or an experimental group. The…

An informal study of four fourth and fifth grade poor readers was undertaken (1) to compare the repeated reading method of instruction with the method of teaching children to recognize lists of words rapidly and (2) to develop an approach that might be helpful in studying the effects of prosodic cues and their contributions to the repeated reading…

Successful reading comprehension lessons given to primary grade children seem to incorporate the following four elements: (1) Two-thirds of lesson time is spent on the direct instruction of comprehension. (2) The major teaching strategy used is one in which the children's background knowledge of the text is explored first, before the text is read…

A method was developed for characterizing and comparing the semantic content of picture-text combinations used as stimuli in research on reading procedural instructions. The written directions for assembling a toy model were analyzed, and sets of propositions in the instructions were constructed using C. H. Frederiksen's discourse analysis model.…

Four readers, ranging in age from 62 to 82, were selected for intensive analysis of their reading strategies, habits, and interests. Interviewing provided demographic information and reading habits and interests. Each person read orally an unfamiliar expository selection rated at ninth-grade-level difficulty by the Dale-Chall Readability Formula…

Questioning as an after-reading activity is not sufficient alone as a strategy to develop reading comprehension. This paper presents instructional strategies to support comprehension throughout a student's particular reading encounter. Included are four strategies which involve students: (1) have students specify content expectancies in a variety…

This practicum sought to improve reading vocabulary and comprehension in fourth-grade students by using comic books 30 minutes per day as a supplement to the regular basal reading program. High-interest comic books were used by a class section of 18 students in the experimental group, for a period of four months. Another class section of 20…

The organization of this course outline is based in part on current thought regarding the teaching of reading as it relates to whether comprehension is a general skill or a set of specific identifiable skills, to reading as content and process, to vocabulary development, and to divergent thinking. The outline is divided into two major sections:…

The Degrees of Reading Power Test was developed to address some existing problems in testing comprehension. The test design reflects the need to consider problems of passage dependency, difficulty of questions, tests for continuous text, and sensitivity to gains. It emphasizes a set of response options controlled for familiarity, a text that is…

This report presents a synthesis of a day-and-a-half interactive conference on research and development in reading attended by a group of reading specialists from Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas representing their state departments of education. It includes the two presentations "A Sampling of Research Within Reach"…

United States Air Force personnel at two levels of reading ability (eighth and tenth grades) were the subjects in a study that measured the effects of three experimental variables on comprehension of two text passages developed from Air Force reading materials. The factors investigated were reading ability, "literacy gap" (the difference in the…

In a sample of more than 400 fifth grade students, the reading comprehension levels of children living with both parents and children living with only one parent were compared. Data were collected on the demographic variables of race, student sex, family organization (two parents/one parent), parent educational level, family occupational prestige,…

The described inservice teacher education program is designed for elementary school teachers interested in developing skills in teaching reading in an individually guided educational program. The scope and sequencing of topics in the program are outlined, and activities and resources are described. Ordering information for materials is provided,…

The described inservice teacher education materials are designed for the first-year teacher at the elementary grade level with the specific area of concentration on the teaching of reading. The objectives for new teachers are outlined as well as the contents of the booklets that comprise the learning module. Activities and resources involved in…

A SIMPLIFIED METHOD OF PHONICS UTILIZING THE GESTALT METHOD OF LEARNING IS PRESENTED. THE WORDS IN THIS COURSE IN PHONICS ARE TO BE TAUGHT AT A TIME DIFFERENT FROM THE READING CLASSES, BUT THE PRINCIPLES DEVELOPED ARE TO BE APPLIED WITHIN THE READING CLASSES. THE COURSE CAN BE USED WITH ANY BASIC TEXT AND STRESSES THE ABILITY OF CHILDREN TO…