Presents annotations of 17 research reports and journal articles (published between 1984 and 1992) that address nonfiction reading and writing in a classroom context. (RS)

Describes the reading skills of postkindergarten precocious readers. Finds no meaningful weaknesses in their average skill pattern; their strengths mirrored weakness identified among disabled readers; they were especially rapid text readers; they drew on especially strong phonological analysis skills as well as orthographic processes; but average…

Investigates the effects of instructions to induce mental imagery and attend to text illustrations on fourth graders' reading comprehension and recall of narrative text. Finds that images and illustrations independently enhanced reading performance and that, in combination, these two strategies resulted in impressive increases in children's…

Examines strategy use of biliterate third- and fourth-grade readers reading in Spanish and in English. Finds that students reported the same number and same type of strategies whether reading in Spanish or English; reading times and gist recall on the retellings did not differ for the two languages; and strategy use was related to comprehension.…

Investigates how interest and importance interact to affect the strategy use and recall of skilled readers. Finds that readers acted strategically, except when they encountered seductive details: subjects spent a great deal of time on seductive details, even though they considered them highly memorable and unimportant. (RS)

Compares how readers in Hungary and Finland approached selected novels. Finds that the reading of fiction plays different roles in the two societies; different styles are preferred; and readers approach the same book from a different perspective. (SR)

Uses an open-ended questionnaire to examine college developmental reading students' attitudes toward reading, their self-concepts related to reading, and their recollections of learning to read, both at home and at school. Suggests that there is a relationship between self-concept and academic achievement. Discusses pedagogical implications. (RS)

Finds that children who are deaf use textual schemata (rather than content schema activated through thematic organizers) for comprehension processing while reading narrative text. (SR)

Examines the predictive relations among dimensions of symbolic play (object and ideational transformations), linguistic verbs, and measures of early literacy. Indicates that use of linguistic verbs predicts Concepts of Print scores and that symbolic play and linguistic verbs predict emergent writing and reading, respectively. (SR)

Explores four views of the role of interclausal connectives as a set of linguistic devices that help the reader interpret a narrative text. Finds that interclausal connectives carry meaning, connect textual meaning at both local and global levels, and mark discourse continuity and discontinuity both in the text and as inferred by the reader. (SR)

Presents a study of students with severe reading difficulties in a public school setting. Compares the results with those of a study conducted in 1946. Suggests that field-based specialists can do a thorough diagnosis with tests and procedures currently available. (MG)

Examines the changes in dialect usage and the predictive relationship between dialect usage and reading achievement, controlling for differences in the acquisition of language forms common across dialects. Suggests that dialect usage might be a distinguishing variable between average and poor readers. Finds that correlations do not support the…

Investigates the use of the SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) study technique using nine secondary level students with specific learning disabilities. Finds that results of three experiments indicated that, even with direct teacher instruction throughout lessons, SQ3R did not produce a robust effect on literal comprehension. (MG)

Presents a discussion of the ideas that are central to the concept of literature-based reading instruction. Reviews the theory, gives insights from reading research, stresses the importance of literature in the reading program, and offers strategies for literature-based reading instruction. (PRA)

Describes an ongoing study exploring reading in the families of a sample of Reading Recovery children in Illinois. (RS)