Two experiments were conducted to test the hypotheses that the ability to draw inferences from a text about an unstated agent is based on the quality of information available to the reader, and that the quality of the information is itself based on the unique nature of cues embedded in the text and on the relevance of prior knowledge held by the…

A study was conducted to determine the validity of the Op-In procedure in measuring global comprehension and to identify patterns of integrative thinking similar to those of pilot study subjects. The Op-In procedure is a type of cloze procedure that deletes every other sentence ending from a passage. Three sixth grade level scientific passages…

A total of 172 students in 4th, 7th, and 11th grades read 4 stories excerpted from reading and social studies materials featuring main characters as either traditional or nontraditional females, or traditional or nontraditional males. The study sought to determine (1) the impact of male main characters in nontraditional roles on student's sex-role…

Arguing that discourse coherence can provide a window on the writing processes that produce it, this paper describes developmental differences observed in children's writing and proposes a procedural model to account for those differences. The first section of the paper points out that a developmental model of the writing process should specify…

Activities in this elementary unit focus on developing students' locational skills while strengthening their ability to read and follow instructions. Seven maps of varying complexity are accompanied by worksheets containing 8 to 13 direction exercises. Students are instructed to place buildings, landmarks, and labels in accurate locations on each…

To determine the effects of race and dialect in communication effectiveness, a study integrated research in referential communication with work on standard and black English, creating three hypotheses: that decoding within-race or within-dialect would be more effective than decoding across race or dialect, that decoding within any dialect would be…

Teacher logs for 600 reading group sessions from grades 1, 3, and 5 were analyzed to identify whether the amount and mode of assigned contextual reading differed systematically between "good" and "poor" reading groups. Analyses indicated that groups comprised of good readers read more total words and more words silently than…

A study investigated the size of the perceptual span within which adults use visual information to distinguish among letters as they read. The eye movements of fifteen college students were monitored as they read passages from a cathode-ray tube. On occasional fixations, letters in specified visual regions were replaced by other letters. The…

Two modes of assessment (an interview and a drawing task) were applied to investigate first, third, and fifth graders' understanding of their own feelings and their understanding of the feelings of others, specifically those of their parents. In the interview session, each subject was asked first a set of questions about happy feelings and then…

This paper evaluates widely used, standardized tests of reading within the framework of four interdependent reading components: (1) decoding speed and accuracy; (2) accuracy, fluency, and flexibility of determining semantic meaning of words; (3) sentence comprehension; and (4) passage dependent sentence comprehension. Among the types of…

Designed to tap the rich collection of instructional techniques in the ERIC database, this compilation of lesson plans offers practical suggestions for teaching remedial reading at the elementary level. The 42 lesson plans in this book are divided into four sections: (1) creative activities; (2) games; (3) reading comprehension; and (4) reading…

This study examined the efficacy of Judith Langer's PreReading Plan (PReP) with Hispanic and other high school students. Specifically, the study investigated (1) the effect the PReP has on learning when used with predominantly Anglo and Hispanic high school students in conjunction with a social studies textbook reading assignment; (2) whether…

A study was conducted involving two experiments to address the question "What effects do students' beliefs about the nature of knowledge have on comprehension?" Experiment one involved 117 junior college students and 149 university students as subjects. An epistemological questionnaire was administered to the undergraduates. Factor…

Three concerns investigated were: (1) the effect of two methods of teaching reading comprehension skills in a content area upon students' problem-solving performance on first-year algebra word problems; (2) the effects of three achievement levels of each assigned factor--reading comprehension, computational mathematics, and mathematical…

To help students strengthen competencies in reading and writing direct instruction is essential. Modeling is a key component in direct instruction. The kind of materials used can help provide more cultural awareness among learners. Written materials of current interest need to be selected. Sources are varied including such periodicals as…