As both draw upon language and experience, and both deal with meaning, writing and reading can be learned concurrently. Writing activities having a positive effect on reading skills include notetaking and sentence combining exercises. A more productive way of improving reading comprehension through writing is to have students base their writing on…

The "levels effect," the finding that the more central to the meaning of a passage an idea is the more likely that idea is to be retained, does not seem to hold for immediate recognition. Therefore, a study was conducted to test a model of information storage that predicted that when surface structure information was preserved in its…

Intended for use by volunteer tutors who work one-on-one with individuals, this handbook offers information related to successful volunteer programs. The first chapter of the handbook provides a foundation for training volunteer tutors by discussing important qualities for successful reading programs and topics to be considered for instructional…

A study was conducted to verify the findings of previous research showing that a difference in recall of superordinate and subordinate level concepts existed among various reading ability groups within the same grade of elementary school children. Instead of especially constructed passages used in the previous studies, the study used actual…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 12 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the effectiveness of a linguistically based and a nonlinguistically based spelling program on the spelling competency of elementary pupils; (2) the effectiveness of spelling…

This article addresses the role of perceived self-efficacy during self-regulated learning--learning that occurs from students' self-generated behaviors systematically oriented toward the attainment of learning goals. Self-efficacy refers to personal beliefs about one's capabilities to behave in ways necessary to attain desired performances. A…

A study hypothesized that if prediction, clarification, question-generation, and summarization strategies were taught using scaffolded instruction, then poor comprehenders might be able to learn the strategies so that they could apply them to text on their own and thereby improve their performance on standardized comprehension measures. Subjects…

In an effort to predict whether field dependent readers would be adversely affected by postreading tasks involving high memory demands and requiring restructuring skills, a study assessed how the field dependent-independent cognitive style may be related to performance on reading comprehension question tasks for school-age learners. Subjects, 55…

A study investigated transfer effects of training below average high school readers in the use of graphic organizers and summary writing on their recognition of compare/contrast text structure. Subjects, 32 high school students with below-expectancy standardized test scores, were placed in two groups: an experimental group (five males and 11…

The various commercially available materials used to teach students test-taking skills offer contradictory advice on the issue of whether reading passages on standardized tests should be read before or after the corresponding test items. This study examined the effects on reading comprehension scores of training 606 urban fourth graders to use one…

Assessment data are presented from a representative sample of California public school students in grades 4 through 12 in 115 school districts as of December, 1986. The sample represents 5% of the state's enrollment in grades 4 through 12. Students were tested in reading comprehension, writing, and computation. In grade 12, 9,250 students took one…

This study investigated the effectiveness of the use of computer networking in providing guided practice in teaching reading comprehension to middle school students (grades 6-8) in remedial reading class. (Guided practice is defined as the phase of instruction immediately following the presentation of a new skill, concept, or strategy, in which…

A three-part correlational study examined the explanatory power of the Lexile theory of reading comprehension, which was based on the semantic and syntactic components of prose. Correlations were performed between the item difficulties of nine nationally normed reading comprehension tests and computer generated difficulties which were reported in…

Part of a series focusing on the classroom needs of special students, this book supplements more comprehensive and theoretical treatments of reading instruction with practical classroom teaching strategies. The book is divided into four parts: (1) "Special Reading Needs of Special Learners," with chapters outlining categories of students, with a…

The objectives and assessment characteristics of the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Tests for grade 1 are given to show teachers the range of content and type of questions. In mathematics, objectives are defined in areas of: (1) concept identification, recognition of the names and relationships between numbers; (2) component operations, use of…