Concerned with the validity of the audience data reported by two major syndicated magazine readership services--Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI) and Simmons Market Research Bureau (SMRB)--a study examined the differences in MRI and SMRB calculations of reader turnover rates, which form the basis for estimating audience accumulation. Results indicated…

This brochure discusses enriching summertime or vacation experiences that stimulate children to read and learn more. The brochure discusses free or low-cost resources available in the community, such as the library, park programs, zoos or nature centers, museums, historic districts, and community arts. The brochure also discusses reading and…

Intended for teachers, this book demonstrates the importance of teaching with real books. The first three chapters outline the components of a literature program, the settings in which it operates, and the human communities that shape it. Chapter 4 discusses literary elements: character, time, mood, layers of story meaning, place, point of view,…

This book is an annotated bibliography of recommended print materials for English-speaking adults (18 years of age and over) reading at the seventh-grade level or below. More than 95 percent of the titles are paperbacks; hardbacks are indicated in the annotations. The titles are selected for their broad appeal to the general adult new reader. (All…

A study examined the responses of children at several age levels to seven visual elements presented to them on book jackets. Subjects ranged in age from kindergarten to fifth grade. The pairs of book jackets that were selected represented contrasting treatments of seven visual elements: (1) action, (2) color, (3) style, (4) characters, (5) detail,…

As a result of a joint concern over the issues of book selection and censorhip, the National Council of Teachers of English and the American Association of School Librarians distributed a questionnaire in the spring of 1964 to 1,600 secondary schools, half going to chairpersons of English departments and half to school librarians. Approximately…

Using the data base provided by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) through its literacy assessment of young adults, researchers probed the newspaper reading practices of 21-25 year olds. The 1985 survey used home interviews of 3,600 young adults in the 48 contiguous states, representative of the 21 million adults in this age…

To help defuse censorship efforts, this booklet identifies issues and strategies for handling censorship efforts and provides the instructional materials selection policies of two Montana school districts. The booklet also includes sample forms for a citizen requesting reconsideration of materials and for a school media committee's reconsideration…

Compiled to help teachers and teacher-librarians select children's books for kindergarten through eighth grade, this bibliography consists of fiction books of good literary quality published since 1976, of which half are Canadian. The bibliography's content is organized so as to identify each of the 89 books in five different ways: author,…

A study examined 1989 kindergarten (K) manuals of basal reading materials. The question of central concern was whether and how the manuals facilitate a teacher's efforts to match instruction with children's ability. A closely related concern was whether and how the manuals describe ways to keep some children occupied with useful activities so as…

This teaching guide offers 13 suggestions for why biographies have such widespread use across curriculum areas. The guide then lists biographies in the areas of social studies, science, guidance programs, physical education, and the arts. The guide discusses the use of biography in developing reading, study, research, listening, speaking, writing,…

Cloze tests assess the readability of a book for students in a far more personal way than formulas or standardized tests of reading comprehension. The cloze procedure reflects the total language abilities in the following ways: familiarity with sentence structure, context clues, and vocabulary, and the ability to draw inferences from written…

Designed to alert adult basic education teachers to the factors of readability and to suggest ways that some readability problems can be alleviated, this resource unit discusses the problems posed by readability formulas and suggests that teachers must both press for more readable adult texts and question intelligently the products of publishers…

A study was conducted to explore the reading habits, interests, and attitudes of older readers. One hundred and twenty readers aged 60 to 64 years participated in the Adult Inventory of Reading Interests and Attitudes (AIRIA) and were classified as minimal, moderate, and avid book readers. Fifty-five of these subjects were then interviewed. Among…

The place of poetry in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) and the role of linguistics are considered. It is suggested that poetry teaching has a place in advanced EFL learners' progreams as a means of extending the learners' knowledge of the language and increasing their sense of appropriateness and sensitivity to language use. The value…