Comparison of the ability of 40 third graders (none receiving special education services) to read aloud at varying difficulty levels and to comprehend material read found that large (but not small) improvements in reading aloud were indicative of improved performance on traditional comprehension tasks. Results suggest use of criterion levels of…

Finds that the Reading-for-Meaning Scale (first standardized in 1979) shows no drop in reading standards among 7- to 12-year-olds, but shows a widening performance gap between middle-class and low-income schools. Attributes this gap to segregation of schools based on socioeconomic status. Suggests that primary teachers do as good a job as they did…

Discusses "reading nightmares" of reading educators. Shares what junior high and senior high school content area teachers say about their own reading nightmares, in which they often feel unable or unwilling to teach reading in the content area. Argues that by viewing reading as a lifelong process, teachers can help students become better readers.…

Describes the use of the Concerns and Decision-Making Strategy with probationary college freshman in which, through a structured dialog, students take turns assuming the role of the teacher. Finds that this reading/discussion strategy is valuable for learning social studies material, and enhances comprehension, recall, and higher-level thinking.…

Analyzes read-alouds of information books in a first-grade classroom. Finds that children's responses to the books and the connections they made among texts and between texts and other aspects of their lives shows that children's backgrounds are important factors in their literacy development. Notes the strength that diversity in children's…

Studies the effectiveness of weekly vocabulary studies on students' proficiency in using contextual analysis and students' attitudes toward words and word learning. Finds that students made a significantly greater improvement in their ability to use contextual analysis than did students in a comparison group. Notes a slight increase in student…

Presents a case study that focuses on effects of an extensive reading program on an adult English language learner. Describes subject's reactions to the extensive reading approach using a qualitative framework. Discusses implications for the teaching of adult literacy. (RS)

Determines if students' aesthetic involvement would be influenced by the ethnicity of the student or the culture portrayed in short stories. Finds that the level of aesthetic involvement was not significantly influenced by the ethnicity of the student or culture portrayed in the story. Supports the integration of multicultural literature into the…

Analysis of reading tests (cloze and vocabulary) completed by first-year undergraduates at the Open University (Great Britain) demonstrated that many students in open-entry undergraduate programs have difficulty reading academic texts and that this difficulty has a negative impact on their success. (Contains 18 figures and six tables.) (PEN)

Focuses on the reading status of a student ("at risk" for reading failure) in an ethnographic case study. Examines data collected over three months using a constant comparison method of analysis resulting in a narrative description of the classroom context. Shows reading-related, student, and teacher factors interacted to shape and…

Finds that the use of predictable Big Books in the classroom with primarily Native American and Hispanic kindergarten children and with children whose early experiences with books are limited is an effective way to develop reading skills. (RS)

Examines the effects of teaching parents to deliver a carefully sequenced reading program to their kindergarten children who were not receiving formal reading instruction in school. Discusses results relative to previous research in which teachers implemented the curriculum and the issues associated with utilizing parents as primary beginning…

Describes two at-risk readers' perceptions of in-school and out-of-school reading-related activities; their conceptions of reading, learning to read, and themselves as readers; and their responses to their teachers' learner-centered, meaning-based reading instruction. Illustrates the instructional significance of children's conceptions about…

Examines acquisition, maintenance, and transfer of a questioning strategy in second- and third-grade students using a multiple-baseline design. Indicates that knowledge of text structure increased and that students could reliably differentiate text structure. Describes the establishment of a 4-week procedure for integrating the questioning…

Evaluates the effects of training in phonemic segmentation and of instruction in letter names and letter sounds on kindergarten children's reading and spelling skills. Finds that phoneme awareness instruction, combined with instruction connecting the phonemic segments to alphabet letters, significantly improves the early reading and spelling…