Suggesting that the process of reading, however complex, is knowable, and that the scientific study of reading is both necessary and possible, this book brings together what has been learned through the scientific study of reading by carefully observing readers in the act of reading. The book looks at reading in the real world, at how readers and…

This report provides a description of the design for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1994 Trial State Assessment in Reading and gives an overview of the steps involved in the implementation of the program from the planning stages through to the analysis and reporting of data. The report does not provide the results of the…

A study explored whether "typical" children (i.e., those who have not been identified as language-delayed but who have a low level of phonological awareness) differ in aspects of oral language and orthographic processing skills from those children with higher phonological awareness. Subjects were 17 children (ranging in age from 3 years…

Repeated readings are a common, recommended practice for beginning readers. A study compared the gains made by high level and low level ability first grade readers in reading fluency. An initial reading of text at a second grade reading level was audiotaped and analyzed for rate and accuracy. This was followed by four readings, including a…

A study worked toward designing a small set of phonological, letter, and memory tasks that would allow teachers and other school personnel concerned with early intervention in reading to reliably identify children likely to develop reading disabilities (RD). A total of 446 kindergarten children from diverse geographic (west and east coasts),…

A study investigated whether third graders who attended preschool had significantly higher reading achievement scores than students who did not attend preschool. Subjects were 60 students at a public school located in a predominantly low and low middle socioeconomic neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Illinois. Half the students had…

A study determined the levels of comprehension generated by questions accompanying the stories in new basal readers. A sample of 200 questions, 100 randomly selected from each of the 2 most widely used third-grade series (the Scott Foresman series "Celebrate Reading" and the McGraw-Hill series "A New View"), were analyzed for…

This 62-item annotated bibliography presents books, journal articles, and book chapters on the general topic of reading research published between 1932 and 1992. In addition to reading research, topics covered by the bibliography include: schema theory, strategic reading, cognitive psychology, whole language, the psycholinguistic view of reading,…

A study investigated the reliability and validity of a measure of imagery vividness appropriate for young children. A questionnaire instrument consisting of 21 Likert-type items was developed and administered to 380 third- through sixth-grade children in a lower-middle to upper-middle socioeconomic population in southern California. Items in the…

A study determined if the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DR-TA) method would raise levels of critical thinking in students. Subjects, 20 third-grade students, used the DR-TA for 30 minutes each day for a period of approximately 8 weeks. Subjects were pre- and posttested using the Thinking Skills Assessment and the Reading Attitude Inventory.…

A study examined the effects of statewide performance-based assessment (the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP)) on literacy instruction, administrative support provided to facilitate instructional change, and student and teacher affect in response to change in elementary classrooms. Of the schools in Maryland identified by…

A study examined the acquisition of a reading vocabulary for abstract and concrete words in 62 second-grade children. Words had been learned as part of a basal reader program or as part of outside reading. Word recognition speed and reading accuracy were examined for abstract and concrete words using lexical decision and word naming tasks. Results…

This annotated bibliography of material from the ERIC database presents 48 annotations on the topic of research on Reading Recovery. The bibliography begins with: (1) a 2-page Education Research Consumer Guide entitled "Reading Recovery" (which defines the topic and answers some pertinent questions about it; and (2) a sample ERIC…

Noting that few syntheses of research on children's literature exist, this annotated bibliography guides teachers, researchers, and librarians who are searching for research on a particular topic, strategies for using literature in schools, or children's books on a particular topic. Section I of the book focuses on children's literature research…

Over a semester, two university-based researchers worked with 12 teachers in a single school (grades 1-5) to better understand the teachers' implementation of a transactional strategies instruction curriculum. The researchers and teachers used group discussions, classroom observations, and one-to-one conversations to jointly develop structured…