This technical report describes a series of three studies designed to instruct students in the relationship between texts, comprehension questions, and two sources of answer information--the text to which a given question refers and their own background knowledge. The focus of the technical report is on individual differences in the amount and…

To determine how procedural instructions comprised of text and pictures are comprehended and executed, a research review focused on (1) differences in comprehension and performance attributable to variations in the information's organization, (2) the format of the information, (3) the metacognitive strategies employed by the readers, and (4) the…

A study examined the differences in the appreciation of language ambiguity as represented in the word play of children aged 6 through 11 years. In six weekly play sessions, students were read stories containing many lexical ambiguities and pictures and were invited to verbalize and to draw similar ambiguities. Criteria necessary to the…

The assumption that phonological processes support comprehension guided two experiments in manipulating the similarity of the consonant code both within silently read sentences and between these sentences and concurrently vocalized phrases. The first experiment examined whether tongue-twisters would take longer to read than phonetically…

This report describes research that focused on the comprehension and composition of simple texts. The first section reviews the overall goals and theoretical perspectives of the project. The second section describes the following studies carried out during the project: analysis and extension of prior thinking-out-loud (TOL) data, TOL and reading…

The reading objectives presented in this booklet are the most recent in a series that has included one set of combined reading and literature objectives, two sets of reading objectives, and two sets of literature objectives. As presented in the booklet, the objectives reflect the interactions of reader, text, and process rather than definitions of…

A study was conducted to determine whether a teacher's reading to sixth grade students on a regular basis would have a significant positive effect on their reading comprehension. Twenty students, divided into experimental and control groups, were pretested and posttested using the "Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test." During the eight-week study, the…

Although successful reading comprehension is described as the interaction of text-based processes and processes related to the reader's existing background knowledge or schemata, under different conditions readers show different patterns of text-based versus knowledge-based processing. Recent research suggests that students of English as a second…

Noting that metacognition plays a vital role in reading, this report summarizes research dealing with the development of metacognition in an especially important type of reading--reading to learn. The report is organized around four categories of metacognitive knowledge and control: (1) the text, (2) the task to be performed by the learner as…

A study was designed to investigate a problem of university level second language (L2) reading comprehension courses, namely, whether to treat reading as a problem of language or of reading strategies. The subjects were six undergraduates who had completed a standard English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading comprehension course, and a control…

Exercises are linguistically or content-oriented. There are three levels of silent reading: orienting, cursory and total. In designing exercises, emphasis should be placed on cursory reading. (Beginners have to concentrate on "total" reading.) Hints are given in acquiring skill in summarizing and excerpting. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

This article proposes a method for teaching quick and accurate reading in English to French university students majoring in fields other than language. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

This article describes a language achievement test designed for French students studying English. It evaluates reading and listening comprehension, and grammatical and lexical skills. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

The attempt to teach deep structure recovery skills to poor readers was unsuccessful, perhaps because of student attitudes. (JH)

In 1989, Cochise College (CC) conducted a study to determine if a positive relationship existed between grade placement scores on the Nelson-Denny or Nelson reading comprehension examination and academic performance. The study population consisted of new or first-time CC students who were tested after May 1989. Placement scores for students who…