This article describes a cognitive strategy, PEP (Person, Event, Place), designed to enhance middle school students' comprehension of social studies texts. The PEP strategy is intended to help teachers scaffold the reading and writing experiences of at-risk students. Evaluation indicated a significant increase in reading comprehension for all…

Describes an innovative supplemental curriculum program that generates positive self-concept growth while reinforcing fundamental reading processes, improving reading comprehension, and fostering reading enjoyment. How to implement this program by networking with the Telephone Pioneers of America and local school and business partners is…

Discusses convergent tests and divergent students, examining why there are so many divergencies in students' interpretation of tests of reading comprehension used in college English-as-a-Second-Language classes. After discussing factors affecting divergency, the paper concludes that portfolios, compiled and graded after discussing errors with…

Examines the effects of text practice and prosodic modeling on the reading rate, accuracy, expressiveness, and comprehension of disabled readers. Each subject read the first half of a set of stories three times under one of four experimental conditions. While reading performance improved across all conditions, substantial additional gains were…

Describes a study of seventh graders learning to make and share meaning about literature through "sketch-to-stretch," an interpretive strategy involving the creation of symbols and pictures and other nonlinguistic signs to signify ideas generated through reading. Supports teaching that provides such shared opportunities for students. (TB)

It is observed that courses in French diction for singers generally do not, but should, include instruction in reading comprehension for knowledgeable interpretation of French lyrics. A course syllabus designed to meet singers' needs is presented, and related issues are discussed. (Contains eight references.) (MSE)

Ten socially/emotionally maladjusted adolescents with language impairments (SEM/LI) and 10 nonimpaired adolescents received 4 treatment sessions in the use of a "context clues strategy" for improving comprehension in 4 sentence types. Results indicated that SEM/LI adolescents benefit from direct instruction involving three of the…

The benefits of pre-first programs and grade retentions are not consistently supported in the research literature. Study investigates the short- and long-term effects of pre-first programs on students' (n=66) academic achievement in reading and mathematics. No significant differences were found in six of the eight analyses conducted, indicating…

Tested the hypothesis that individual differences in reading ability increase over time, by assessing children, at seven occasions between kindergarten and third grade, on various measures of reading ability, reading behavior, and attitudes toward reading. Found that individual differences among children in word recognition, but not reading…

Four approaches to the investigation of connections between language by hand and language by eye are described and illustrated with studies from a decade-long research program. The four approaches support a model in which language by hand and language by eye are separate systems that interact in predictable ways. (Contains references.) (CR)

A quasi-experimental action research evaluated a program for computerized self-assessment of reading comprehension (The Accelerated Reader) in two schools in severely socio-economically disadvantaged areas. Finds the program, even when less than fully implemented, yielded gains in reading achievement superior to gains from regular classroom…

Describes how a Canadian college professor uses WebCT to provide a highly interactive Internet seminar for international graduate students. The virtual seminar acts as a resource and supplement to a regular graduate course on second language methodology for teachers. Examines the WebCT bulletin board and the enhanced interactivity it allows,…

The spelling skills of grade three children who had received whole-language instruction since they began to learn to read were compared with those of grade three children attending a phonics program. Overall, the phonics group produced more accurate word spellings than the whole-language group. In addition, the phonics children's spelling of…

To close the achievement gap, the "No Child Left Behind" law calls for all students to make appropriate yearly progress. This presumably means that progress is being made by capable readers at the same time progress is being made by struggling readers. However, there appear to be unintended effects of "No Child Left Behind"…

This article reports on two studies conducted at the same university, one investigating the link between ESL scores on an advanced ESL test and the grade point average (GPA) obtained over two semesters and the other investigating the link between French second language (FSL) scores on an advanced L2 test and both the number of courses failed and…