An examination of the literature supports the view that the implications of text studies have yet to have much impact on classrooms. For example, word frequency lists have been used widely in the preparation of reading materials. However, few books come with a list of the frequency of the words they contain. Thus, the main use of comparing texts…

Studies of 42 fifth-grade students and 36 college undergraduates were conducted to test changes in verbalizations of schemata over time and in response to informational jolts. In both experiments, subjects were asked to write everything they could think of about dinosaurs and then to put those ideas in order of importance. Two weeks later, the…

The introductory section of the International Reading Association (IRA) annual report briefly discusses recent developments concerning the organization, including its deficit budget, the establishment of an IRA Washington representative, an account of the debate concerning the holding of conventions in states which have not ratified the Equal…

A study involving 238 fourth grade pupils was conducted to determine whether a relationship exists between the use of instruction with masked materials and pupils' word recognition and comprehension. The pupils were placed into either an experimental or a control group. Each group was administered a pretest to measure reading rate, to insure that…

The degree to which printed text and graphics complement each other to facilitate reading comprehension was studied with the following four research tools: a system for analyzing text and graphics to reveal aspects of their form and content; procedures to permit analysis of both verbal and nonverbal recall measures of comprehension, allowing…

Participant observation--a qualitative research procedure characterized by intensive social interaction between researcher and subjects, in the subjects' mileu--is discussed in this paper, along with some of its implications for reading research. After surveying the views of a number of researchers regarding participant observation and the…

THE EFFECTS OF FAMILIARITY ON THE PROCESSING OF STIMULUS AND MEMORIAL INFORMATION WERE INVESTIGATED IN TWO TASKS--ONE WHICH SUPPOSEDLY REQUIRED ONLY THE PERCEPTUAL RECOGNITION OF EACH STIMULUS WORD (E TASK) AND ONE WHICH REQUIRED A MEANINGFUL CATEGORIZATION OF EACH STIMULUS WORD (C TASK). FIFTY UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDERGRADUATES WHO WERE PAID…

CONFLICTING VIEWS CONCERNING READING RATE ARE PRESENTED. THE CLAIMS MADE BY PROPONENTS OF DIFFERENT METHODS OR PROGRAMS AND THE USE OF MECHANICAL DEVICES TO INCREASE READING RATE ARE MAJOR ISSUES. CLAIMS ARE MADE THAT MOST EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ARE MERELY DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES, AND THAT OTHERS LACK PILOT STUDIES AND ADEQUATE CONTROL GROUPS. RELATED…

A REVISION OF THE READABILITY GRAPH WITH DIRECTIONS FOR ITS USE AND VALIDTIY DATA ARE PRESENTED. THE USE OF THE GRAPH INVOLVES WORD SAMPLES, NUMBER OF SENTENCES, AND NUMBER OF SYLLABLES. THE LATTER TWO ARE PLOTTED ON A GRAPH TO ASCERTAIN GRADE LEVELS. THE CORRELATIONS OF THE READABILITY GRAPH WITH THE DALE-CHALL, FLESCH, AND SPACHE FORMULAS ARE…

THE DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY THE CLASSROOM TEACHER WHEN HE TURNS TO RESEARCH FOR PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS TO THE SPECIFIC PROBLEMS OF TEACHING READING ARE DISCUSSED. IT IS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT RESEARCH SELDOM CREATES IDEAS FOR THE CLASSROOM. INSTEAD, GOOD TEACHING GENERATES IDEAS FOR RESEARCH. NEVERTHELESS, READING TEACHERS SHOULD NOT IGNORE RESEARCH.…

THE "RESIDUAL GAIN" STATISTIC DEVELOPED BY MANNING AND DUBOIS IS PRESENTED AS A TOOL FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN IMPROVEMENT RESULTING FROM TRAINING. RANKIN AND TRACY UTILIZED RESIDUAL GAIN MEASURES IN EVALUATING READING PROGRESS AND NOTED THEIR POTENTIAL AS A RESEARCH TOOL IN STUDYING CORRELATES OF READING IMPROVEMENT. IN…

THE CHILD'S ABILITY TO PERCEIVE THE DIFFICULTY OF READING MATERIALS WAS ASSESSED. A STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLE OF 60 FIFTH GRADERS IN MASSACHUSETTS WITH A MEAN IQ OF 115 SERVED AS SUBJECTS. MATERIALS WERE 32 SHORT, GRADED READING SELECTIONS IN 8 INTEREST CATEGORIES AND A COMPREHENSION TEST. SELECTIONS WERE AT VARIOUS LEVELS OF READABILITY.…

IN A STUDY TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF ATTITUDES ON LEARNING, THE LITERAL AND INTERPRETATIVE COMPREHENSION ABILITIES OF INTERMEDIATE GRADE CHILDREN ON THEMATICALLY BASED READING SELECTIONS WERE COMPARED WITH THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARD THAT MATERIAL. THREE OF THE MOST COMMON READING THEMES INHERENT IN CHILDREN'S STORIES WERE DETERMINED BY A PANEL OF…

There are several problems associated with research using the schema concept. One problem is that there seems to be a lack of cumulative development, with the research being horizontal in quality, spreading out to new areas. Another problem with schema research is that a person not already convinced of the merit of the schema notion can remain…

The meta-analysis method was used to summarize the findings of 23 studies of the word learning process that had used imagery as an independent variable as either an "imposed" or an "induced" condition. Imposed imagery investigations compared word recall on the basis of the imagery attribute of a word, while induced imagery…