In response to the concern that the reading needs of students at Mt. San Antonio College (California) were not being met, this study reviewed the research on reading in three areas: (1) the connection between instruction of both reading and writing; (2) the preferred instrument for the assessment of reading for placement; and (3) the recommended…

Using a newspaper article about a ceremony marking the retirement of baseball player Tom Seaver's uniform number, a study examined: (1) the effects of knowledge of baseball in general and of the career of Tom Seaver in particular; and (2) the effects of knowledge of word meanings in general and of words used in the passage specifically on 10th…

This study compared the reading comprehension abilities of learning disabled (LD) students with the performance of both their age-peers and their reading-level peers. Subjects were 16 seventh- and eighth-grade LD students, 16 normal achieving eighth graders, and 16 normal achieving fifth graders. To assess the use of prior knowledge under varying…

Four studies conducted over a 2-year period systematically evaluated the effectiveness of interactive instructional practices in the vocabulary learning and reading comprehension of learning disabled students. The design of the four studies was similar in that comparisons were made among three different interactive teaching strategies (semantic…

A study was conducted to aid in the process of finding vocabulary instruction that would lead to more effective comprehension. It was hypothesized that there would be no significant difference in the comprehension of the two samples of students when one sample was taught the vocabulary of the entire selection while the other was taught the…

Many students think of poetry as a meaning to be figured out, a puzzle to be solved--as if poets were forever doomed to write only what they never quite mean and to mean what they never actually write. The struggle to discover meaning becomes acute with that distinctly modern poetry created by T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, and their…

The effects of an integrated language arts instructional program on reading comprehension skills of learning lab students were examined using the Analytical Reading Inventory, and their attitudes toward recreational and academic reading were assessed using the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey. Subjects were at-risk fifth and sixth grade…

The paper describes and examines the interaction of a group of Spanish readers engaged in a reading comprehension activity, specifically, the interaction as they put to paper an answer to a reading comprehension question. The study is a satellite study affiliated with an ongoing project examining the use of cooperative learning in elementary…

This handbook offers suggestions for implementing actions (termed variously in other settings as treatments, interventions, methods, techniques, strategies or activities) recommended for individual learners by CONSULT-I (R), a computer program created by James Fattu and Edward Patrick. Application of the program described in the handbook was under…

This article reviews the research on the simplification of reading materials for second language (SL) learners and reports on an experiment of the effects of text simplification and elaboration on the reading comprehension of SL learners. Elaboration can improve the comprehensibility of texts without removing new linguistic forms that students…

This article examines the concept of simplification in second language (SL) learning, reviewing research on the simplified input that both naturalistic and classroom SL learners receive. Research indicates that simplified input, particularly if derived from naturally occurring interactions, does aid comprehension but has not been shown to…

This study examined the relationship between early language measures and kindergarten literacy measures for children from 40 low-income families. Early literacy measures were based on conversations between mother and child during a book-reading session; the child's report of an event as elicited by the mother; and mealtime. Conversations were…

This investigation of the use of white space in print-based, computer-generated text focused on the point at which the white space interferes with reading speed and comprehension. It was hypothesized that reading speed and comprehension would be significantly greater when text was wrapped tightly around the graphic than when it had one-half inch…

Visual representations of the main ideas of information text (frames) help middle-grade students learn from reading. A study investigated frame development by middle-grade teachers. Twenty-seven teachers worked alone and collaboratively to frame experimental passages that had been selected from content area textbooks in social studies and science.…

A study examined and specified the effects of selected variables on adults' reading strategies and comprehension. Subjects, 20 adults in an adult basic education group, 20 students in a "high-risk freshmen" group, and 18 students enrolled in a senior level reading methods course, were administered an informal reading inventory (IRI), an…