Indicates that each instructional unit was composed of several mini-lessons rather than representing an integrated and related unit organized around a central purpose. Finds that lesson parts failed to make logical connections to previous or following parts. Concludes that the nature of reading lessons could be a contributing factor to the…

Measures the effects of infusing writing components into a university reading laboratory. Reports that reading improvement was significant with writing infusions but that results are inconclusive due to lack of true experimental design. (AEW)

Addresses three questions: (1) What is involved in understanding a word or concept? (2) How do we presently measure word knowledge? (3) What are some alternative formats which teachers could utilize with their students? Suggests techniques such as paired word questions, categorizing, analogies, and sentence writing as ways to evaluate vocabulary…

Examines television's impact on reading and school achievement in terms of the displacement hypothesis (watching television displaces developmental reading activities). Indicates small differences in reading scores for children watching two to four hours a day, but beyond four hours effects are negative and increasingly deleterious. (SR)

Examines parents' level of education as a factor in readability of communications sent to parents. Concludes that a significant number of parents are unable to read these communications, and that readability and layout of materials should be prime considerations. (RS)

Reports on a study that examined the relationship between understanding of specific cohesive items and general reading comprehension ability, as well as differences in performance of girls and boys. Makes suggestions for the classroom based on the findings. (ARH)

Investigates the use or nonuse of reading as a metacognitive monitor in first graders' composing, the patterns of contexts related to conscious monitoring by reading, and the writer's awareness of the various monitoring roles that reading plays in writing. Concludes that reading to monitor during composing emerges in different contexts for…

Examines published content analyses of college reading texts with regard to the following: (1) methodology employed; (2) specific information presented; and (3) trends in content since the mid-1920s. (MS)

Investigates the effect of reading ability on graphically and contextually constrained oral reading errors of fourth grade readers at differing degrees of reading difficulty. Indicates that, at both low and high levels of difficulty, better readers relied on contextual information and poor readers relied more on graphic cues. (MS)

Investigated the reading strategies of 24 first grade students. Found that the "talk aloud" procedure (Olson, Duffy, & Mack, 1983) is a feasible tool for comprehension process research with young readers, and that it is possible to differentiate between the strategic preferences of good and poor beginning readers. (ARH)

Reports findings of a study of current practices in kindergarten programs showing that teachers seldom use test results to adapt instruction to individual needs. (FL)

Updates and extends an analysis of material in the postsecondary remedial/developmental reading field, indicating that the field is gaining professionalism. (JD)

Presents results of a study of how readers fill in information "gaps" in a text to make meaning, using adolescents' response to a story by Brecht. Concludes that such gaps bore children uninterested in making meaning, and that those who make meaning from a mechanical stance may be limited in their comprehension unless deeper ways of…

Determined that mildly handicapped students need an average of 46 repetitions in context for a word to be recognizable on a word recognition test. Also found that low imagery words require significantly more repetition and that high imagery words are as learnable in isolation as in context. (SKC)

Discusses possible limitations to the use of context for word learning (such as poor reading skills and text complexity). Recommends that content area teachers be aware of these limitations and provide specific instructions in determining word meaning from difficult contexts. (SKC)