A study examined the pronoun miscues of 32 sixth grade and 24 second grade students reading short prose selections aloud. The miscue analysis led to the identification of text features readers use to assign pronoun reference, the strategies developing readers often employ, and the patterns of correction of pronoun miscues. Specifically, it…

Effective teaching strategies must be developed to help students bridge the gap between concrete operational thinking and full formal thinking in the content areas. Reading for meaning requires readers to categorize subjects, recognize relationships, develop and maintain a sequence of thought, recognize and understand inferences, and draw…

Employed extensively in some Soviet bloc countries to teach a variety of subjects, the Suggestive-Accelerative Learning and Teaching (SALT) method uses a combination of physical and mental relaxation exercises, music, and suggestive principles to increase learning. However, in spite of research showing its effectiveness in teaching reading skills…

A sensitive topic can be used effectively in a class of English as a second language (ESL) if planned carefully. While there are the risks that non-native students will become embarrassed and withdrawn, or will develop negative feelings about American society, there are ways to minimize those risks. This can be done by considering the…

A study examined variables that affect the acquisition of automaticity of verbal skills. Among the variables examined were practice, novelty or familiarity of a word or word category, the speed and efficiency with which persons acquire automaticity, reaction time, and number of tasks performed concurrently. Subjects, 30 sixth and seventh grade…

An example of reader, writer, and text transaction and interaction may be seen in a study that examined story grammar and applied propositional analysis, cohesive analysis, and miscue analysis to one reader and one text to determine comprehension. A third grade boy read and then retold the story "The Accident." The miscues were marked,…

Noting that a major issue in education today is the concern about students' ability to read critically and to solve problems, this paper describes an analysis of five texts focusing on reading and learning in the content areas to determine what they had to say about critical reading and strategies for teaching critical reading--specifically,…

Sixty children, 20 from each of grades 1, 3, and 5 served as subjects in a study that examined how elementary school age children realize the intent of directives embedded within written and picture book narratives. Directives were defined as the range of language forms used to direct actions (imperative statement, need/want statement, permission…

The reading achievement test scores of 239 low-income, southern, urban black students in grades three through eight were compared with their ability to comprehend the social studies books used in their classrooms. Achievement scores were obtained from the reading subtests of the Stanford Achievement Tests. A cloze passage was developed based on…

This book is made up of six reading courses in the sciences, each of which is divided into several exercises. Each exercise has an objective and at least one reading selection. In most of the courses, the first objective is to acquaint the student with names and terms used in the subject being discussed. Exercises following the reading selection…

Noting that both the structural characteristics of television and the characteristics of the viewer may influence comprehension of television news, a study tested the hypothesis that the synchronous presentation of television news will maximize learning for viewers with low prior knowledge of program content. Synchronous and nonsynchronous…

This study used the residual gain statistic in reading comprehension research in English as a second language to assess individual differences in improvement accruing from learning and training. The subjects were 34 foreign college students with a variety of native languages. A 35-item cloze test with every eighth word eliminated, but with the…

Analysis of 165 studies (representing the testing of 1,418,899 subjects) that reported data on gender differences in verbal ability indicated a slight female superiority in performance. The difference is so small that it appears that gender differences in verbal ability no longer exist. A major goal was also to define age trends in the pattern of…

This practical manual is designed for teachers involved in adult basic education (in particular, teachers of bilingual and adult literacy students) who would like to introduce their students to word processing through the language curriculum. A range of activities linking language and word processing skills is suggested. The tasks can be…

In the past, phonics instruction has done little to lessen the difficulties that many poor readers have with decoding words quickly and accurately enough to construct meaning from text. Based on an analysis of the research literature in decoding and a four-year cycle of program development, a new program was created for teaching decoding to poor…