Reports on a study that examined the predictive power of five specific prereading skills tests for first-grade reading achievement and assessed their value as indicators of reading readiness. (FL)

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)

This article discusses various studies that deal with understanding written and oral discourse and demonstrates the implications of these studies for second language teaching. (CFM)

Remedial programs for high school students with reading problems can be planned with a minimum funding level, provided the reading teacher is interested and inventive. (MB)

Examines the difference in reading skills between two children whose first language was Chaldean (Iraq) by consulting with each child's school to determine whether their reading difficulty stemmed from speaking English as a second language. (HOD)

This study compared the effects of comprehension fostering strategies on science and social studies texts with 54 eighth-grade students with learning disabilities. Strategies included text-structure-based strategy, paragraph-restatement strategy, and traditional instruction. Text-structure-based reading strategies had a significant effect on…

Used a one-year longitudinal study to examine the extent to which grammatical awareness in preschool predicted reading independently of preschool general verbal skills, phonological awareness, and word recognition. Found that, independently of other skills, grammatical awareness predicted word recognition and pseudoword recoding, but not reading…

Describes the development of an English-as-a-Second-Language computer-adaptive test of reading comprehension. The article discusses the constraints that apply to Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) and the advantages of CAT over conventional testing modalities. (29 references) (Author/CK)

Four ideas for French language classroom activities are described: an exercise in listening to popular songs; a film scenario rewriting exercise; a technique for teaching the subjunctive mood; and a paired or small-group activity to enhance understanding of advertising. (MSE)

The ways in which poetry can offer the French second-language learner insights into French daily "culture" are examined. Aspects of poetry discussed include the creation of atmosphere in physical context, the power of words to evoke emotion, and the use of rhythm. Two poems are presented for illustration, and reading and writing exercises are…

Describes the assessment of the revised objectives of an English reading course offered at Kuwait University to foster reading comprehension for academic purposes. Analysis of data obtained from pre- and posttests showed improvement in reading skills although there were differences between students who were Arts and Science majors. (19 references)…

Investigates how many words of the Dutch language, and which words, an adult nonnative speaker must know receptively in order to understand first-year university reading materials. Assessment of the representativeness of a list of 23,550 words and administration of a 140-item multiple-choice vocabulary test indicated that a minimum of 10,000 base…

Severity of hearing loss predicted poor reading comprehension scores for children with reading impairments in Grade 3 (N=67) and Grade 6 (N=36) in a study done in five areas of Quebec (Canada). Good scores of a few Grade 6 students with severe hearing loss indicated that these students can keep up if wide gaps do not exist at the outset of…

Investigates adult second language learners' processing of English syntactically ambiguous sentences in which a prepositional phrase is interpreted as either a noun phrase or verb phrase attachment. Results reveal lexical, syntactic, prosodic, and contextual constraints on processing ambiguous sentences. (87 references) (Author/CK)

Selects the major demands in the new general syllabus for second-language learning in the United Kingdom and suggests ways in which teachers and learners can successfully fulfill them. These criteria center around vocabulary requirements and writing, speaking, listening, and reading tests. (10 references) (Author/CK)