Examines students' skills in segmenting, reading, and spelling 50 words with regular and exceptional spelling patterns. Interprets results to support a computational notion of phonology as a prerequisite to reading and spelling, with a more reflective notion explaining the reciprocal relationship between reading and segmentation of consonant…

Investigates how children interpret lexical ambiguity in written descriptions of mathematical relationships. Finds that subjects are more likely to identify incorrectly the synonym of the dominant sense when the ambiguous word is used in its mathematical meaning than they are to identify the subordinate, mathematical sense when the ambiguous word…

Examines the extent to which issue-related attitudes influence readers' comprehension and retention of information presented in an impartial text. Finds no effect of issue-related attitude for the selective encoding or recall of low-level data. Finds attitude-consistent response tendencies in the immediate learning phase. (MG)

Investigates the relationship between text type, tone, and readers' responses of 58 students. Finds that narrative and expository text were not responded to differently. Finds that subjects made fewer text-based and more reader-based statements when reading descriptive text than when reading expository or narrative text. (MG)

Argues that many studies using dictionary-sampling methods to estimate vocabulary size are misleading (generally too high) principally because the definition of a word is too liberal. Finds that the average number of different words known by a college student is 16,785. (MG)

Investigates the direct effects of phonemic awareness on spelling development and the relationship between phonemic awareness and the acquisition of orthographic representations of equivocal phonemes. Finds that in first grade spelling is primarily a sequential encoding process whereas in third grade spelling relies more upon the use of memorized…

Investigates whether alternating the use of the eyes has a negative effect on reading ability and on timed visual-motor tasks. Finds that the reading achievement of eye alternators is no different than for visually normal children and that alternators are no more likely to have difficulty with visual motor tasks. (PRA)

Provides a theoretical description of attitude acquisition, an overview of the nature of attitude (including factors influencing attitude development), and suggestions for addressing attitude in designing reading instruction. Describes several informal assessments. Suggests teacher behaviors for developing and maintaining positive attitudes. (PRA)

Finds that participants (1) exhibited strong resistance to annotation; (2) cited existing knowledge of content material and test expectations as major reasons for textmarking adjustment; (3) made statements of textmarking utility that were generally consistent with strategy use; and (4) gave similar reasons for lack of textmarking transfer. (RS)

Offers evidence for four propositions that demonstrate a strong association between binocular instability and dyslexic reading difficulties. Discusses two propositions designed to prove that it is unstable binocular control that causes reading difficulties, rather than vice versa. (RS)

Presents a model to predict readability of documents encountered by older adults. Finds a correlation of 0.54 between the readability scores for test items predicted by the model and the percentage of older adults correctly answering those items. Finds that more difficult test items were correlated more highly with fluid intelligence abilities,…

Assesses the impact of prior knowledge on locating information in textbooks. Finds that search efficiency varied with the state of prior knowledge. Finds no group differences in search in a textbook for which there were no systematic group differences in prior knowledge. (RS)

Notes continuing concern over the lack of professional reading among many classroom teachers. Reviews recent articles suggesting problem areas for literature-based movements. (SR)

Uses a structural equation model to assess the impact of eight manifest variables and four latent variables upon the personal reading habits of young adults. Finds that parental socioeconomic status did influence young adults' reading habits. (SR)

Discusses how research in the developmental cognitive neurosciences can contribute to an understanding of the complex relations between various aspects of naming and reading processes. Reviews findings from both neuropsychological and reading research on letter-naming and general naming speed, and analyzes the methodological differences between…