In two experiments, college students who supplied the last words of sentences they read learned more than subjects who simply read whole sentences. This facilitation was observed even with a list of sentences which were almost always completed with the wrong words. However, proactive interference attributable to acquisition errors appeared on…

In a study designed to investigate whether the meaning of printed words is perceived directly in rapid silent reading or by means of phonetic recoding, subjects named pictures on which words or nonwords were superimposed as distractors. In a Stroop task of this kind, distractor words that are not congruent with the names of the pictures on which…

The Basic Word Vocabulary Test (BWVT) was extended downward by administering it orally to 96 pupils selected randomly from grades one through four. Estimates of aural understanding vocabulary at each grade were obtained and were found to be much lower than results from previous studies, due to the strict criteria of the BWVT. Correlations with the…

Published and unpublished studies of factors related to reading comprehension in business communication are briefly summarized. Factors considered include organization of copy, format and appearance, graphics, distractions, reading time, listening versus reading, reader attributes, and readability. (AA)

A sample of 194 high-school students participated in an investigation of Geyer's hypothesis that the reading or prose takes place by sequential acquisition during the fixational pause of the eye. A measure of sequential acquisition time was obtained using a movie which displayed six-letter words one letter at a time: students were asked to write…

Samples of 98 fourth graders and 111 sixth graders participated in a study of the relationships between operational thinking and reading comprehension of texts involving operational structures. Tests of operational thinking, reading comprehension, IQ, and vocabulary were administered in class groups. Results from correlational and factor analyses…

Seven studies of the usefulness of 45 phonic generalizations were selected for comparison on the basis of similarity in research design. Combining the results into a single summary table, 25 of the 45 generalizations were found to be useful. The authors suggest that, where possible, these generalizations should be consolidated to simplify the…

A review of the research literature indicates consistent support for the contention that exposure to children's literature encourages oral language development and reading competence. Thus, teachers of reading have an obligation to promote children's literature in order to encourage reading competence. (Author/AA)

The effect of mastery of three prereading skills (letter order, letter orientation, and word detail) on first-grade reading achievement was investigated in a study of 1068 students from 42 randomly selected classrooms; 687 students completed all instruments and could be included in analyses of results. Systematic instruction was given to 16…

The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the oral reading strategies of average and below-average readers in grades four, five, and six who were speakers of Hawaiian Islands dialect. Fifty subjects from Keaukaha School on the island of Hawaii composed the sample group. Subjects were selected on the basis of their standardized test…

Research studies in the areas of children's writing and reading interests are reported.

Indicates that male teachers had no significant effect upon the reading achievement of 193 sixth-grade boys and suggests pursuing other strategies to help such boys improve their reading achievement scores. (RL)

Concludes that teachers should use less difficult reading material when administering oral reading tests for a true picture of a child's syntactic and contextual strategies. (MKM)

Concludes that subjects are misled by errors they make on earlier items in cloze tests. (RL)