Based on a review of literature, the premise is developed that summary writing is an extremely complex task that is not appreciably enhanced through trial and error methods. Argues that some direct instruction is necessary and offers a writing strategy that integrates five steps from a direct instruction model with six rules for summarizing text.…

Hypotheses regarding the social contexts of reading activities were tested in two studies. Significant three-way interactions were found between (1) education, setting, and the contents (subject matters) of reading; and (2) occupation, setting, and reading contents. Because social contexts influence reading practices they should be considered in…

Reviews a line of research in which the readability of basal reader stories is assessed through a comparison of traditional and story grammar-based indices. Presents implications for the measurement of readability and the preparation of basal reader stories. (FL)

Presents the language experience approach (LEA) as a supplement to and enrichment of the more formal approaches to reading instruction. Discusses four obstacles to implementation of LEA and describes the physical environment approach to it. (FL)

Confirms previous findings that the word recognition criterion for instructional reading level should be set at about 95 percent for students reading at grade levels one through six. (FL)

Reports on a survey of elementary school teachers concerning their reading habits and their attitudes toward reading and reading instruction. (FL)

Examines various approaches that have been taken to promote literacy and makes a plea for more research to clarify issues that will permit more useful definitions of literacy and more productive approaches to developing and enhancing literacy among youth and adults. (HOD)

Proposes a pyramid organization for constructing theories of reading. Discusses each category of the proposed organization: (1) readers and learners, (2) materials, (3) tasks, (4) situation organizers, and (5) settings. (FL)

The relationship between word difficulty, measured by morphological family frequency counts, and passage comprehension was examined. Fifth graders read either a high-frequency or low-frequency version of a social studies passage. Literal and inferential comprehension was measured revealing no significant differences in comprehension of the two…

Notes that single-subject designs, developed in clinical settings, are now being used for diagnosis and instruction in the schools. Discusses their importance to the teacher. (FL)

Poses the question of whether reading researchers should acknowledge that different definitions of reading are really geometries, each with its own set of theorems and means of validating its hypotheses. (FL)

Analyzes the productivity of institutions by counting articles published in eight reading journals from 1978 to 1983 and concludes that the top 25 were all state assisted institutions. (DF)

Describes four experiments of conditions under which irregular spelling or pronunciation influence two reading tasks--naming and lexical decision. Concludes that such irregularities only influence the reading of lower frequency words and that recognition of a large class of higher frequency words is insensitive to irregularities of spelling or…

Concludes that the Cloze Reading Inventory and its coding form can be reliably employed by a variety of teachers for a variety of grade levels and passages. (FL)

Calls into question the assumptions (1) that those who read unfamiliar text use analytic processing more than do those who read familiar text and (2) that introspective reporting interferes with comprehension. (FL)