Since an author does not provide all critical information, a text is never fully explicit; it demands that the reader/listener supply missing elements in order to form a coherent and logical whole. A study was conducted to explore both the types of responses urban first grade students made when asked to predict a narrative ending and differences…

A study examined classroom practices in English, social studies, and science classrooms, seeking information on the purposes for which teachers assign reading within their specific disciplines, the reading activities that might be associated with such assignments, and the assistance or guidance that teachers might give their students to help them…

Intended for students taking the English 33 Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in Alberta, Canada, this writing test booklet contains the composition component of the June 1989 tests. During 2.5 hours, students are required to perform the following writing tasks: (1) a personal response to an excerpt from Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth…

Intended for students taking English 30 Grade Diploma Examinations in Alberta, Canada, this writing test booklet contains the composition component of the June 1989 tests. During 2.5 hours, students are required to complete a minor writing assignment in which they give a personal response to William Butler Yeats'"The Fascination of What's…

A study investigated the effects of using daily newspapers to supplement normal classroom instruction with at-risk secondary school students. Subjects, 627 at-risk 8th- through 12th-grade students in 41 intact classes, were assigned to one of three conditions of newspaper usage over an 18-week period. The first group received newspapers three…

Intended to be used as an assessment instrument in conjunction with North Carolina's Basic Education Program, this communication skills notebook reflects an instructional program that is developmentally appropriate for first and second graders. The notebook contains resource materials which include strategies for teachers to use in evaluating…

A study determined whether instruction on story elements within rich contexts can increase students' understanding of the characters' traits and motives, their comprehension of stories, and their ability to write causally coherent stories. Instruction was organized around an "anchor" (a story rich with embedded information presented on…

For this practicum, a program of multimedia peer dramatic presentations was developed to improve the vocabulary skills of middle school students. Each week for 10 weeks a target group of 18 randomly selected students viewed 5 short video skits (produced by broadcast arts students) which were designed to introduce and define new vocabulary terms;…

A study investigated the effects of using topic-related pictures to build and activate readers' schemata as a means of increasing background knowledge and, consequently, reading comprehension. Subjects, two special education middle school students with low scores on standardized reading comprehension and vocabulary tests, were taught to interpret…

Outlining an alternative to the basic English classes that segregate slower learning students from their peers, this booklet describes the English Skills Program for ninth graders at Parkway North High School in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Following an introduction explaining the origins of the program, the first two sections describe the program's…

A study investigated the effects of computer-assisted instruction on the vocabulary development of college students enrolled in a developmental reading program at a two-year college of a metropolitan, midwestern university. The subjects were 41 entry level students, 98% of whom had never used computers as an instructional tool. The students were…

A group of elementary teachers enrolled in a graduate class in language arts at the University of North Dakota explored how children construct their own meanings as they interact with texts. One teacher regularly read to her 20-month-old grandson, and excerpts from the journal she kept reveal that his understanding of a specific text evolved to…

This study examined the relationship between teacher education students' scores on basic skills admission tests and graduating seniors' scores on the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) at Eastern Kentucky University. The 1981-82 basic skills test scores for 262 teacher education students were compared with their NTE scores taken in 1984-85 during…

College-bound students who score poorly on the American College Test (ACT) exam (16 or below) are usually required to take an examination that measures the ability to read and interpret college level material since this ability is a significant variable in the prediction of academic success. Many of these underprepared students need specific help…

To determine whether students enrolled in one Ontario region's early French immersion (FI) programs developed English reading skills comparable to their non-FI peers, a monitoring process was begun in the first FI program year (grade 3) in which formal English instruction is given. The FI cohort and a control group matched for mental abilities and…