This survey of research on bilingualism focuses on a controversy over methods for teaching reading, namely, should non-readers achieve literacy in their native language before learning to read a second language? As a report of the results of various studies shows, both proponents of prior native language literacy and proponents of prior second…

The eye movements/fixations of 20 college students reading video displays of texts were monitored to determine how readers fixate a word that is linguistically and contextually redundant and whether readers use less visual information when perceiving these highly redundant words. The texts were manipulated so that a target noun was paired with…

In response to concerns about the adequacy of the preparation provided for reading specialists in light of the duties spelled out for them in a 1977 Wisconsin statute, a study was undertaken to obtain perceptions of the responsibilities of reading professionals from Wisconsin school administrators and reading specialists. A total of 253…

FOR THE THIRD YEAR, THE FOLLOWING FOUR DIFFERENT METHODS OF TEACHING READING WERE CONTRASTED--(1) THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET, (2) A PHONIC, FILMSTRIP, WHOLE-CLASS APPROACH, (3) A WHOLE-WORD, ECLECTIC BASAL READER METHOD, AND (4) THE PRECEDING APPROACH SUPPLEMENTED BY A PHONICS PROGRAM. SOME 400 FIRST-GRADE PUPILS WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO…

A 2-YEAR LONGITUDINAL STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO EVALUATE THE "EARLY-TO-READ I/T/A PROGRAM." THIRTY-FOUR PUPILS RAMDOMLY ASSIGNED TO ONE FIRST GRADE WERE TAUGHT USING THE "EARLY-TO-READ I/T/A SERIES," AND 26 PUPILS RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO ANOTHER FIRST GRADE WERE TAUGHT USING THE "GINN BASIC READERS" AND TRADITIONAL…

THE RESULTS OF 17 STUDIES ON READING READINESS ARE SUMMARIZED AND INTERPRETED. ALL BUT ONE OF THE STUDIES WERE COMPLETED SINCE 1957. READING READINESS IS DEFINED, AND THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND CURRENT THEORY ARE DISCUSSED. STUDIES OF FORMAL READING READINESS INSTRUCTION IN KINDERGARTEN ARE DESCRIBED. CONCLUSIONS ABOUT KINDS OF…

AN INVESTIGATION TO DETERMINE IF INSTRUCTION IN VARIANT WORD ENDINGS CAN BE GIVEN IN THE SECOND SEMESTER OF THE FIRST GRADE IS DESCRIBED. TWENTY-SIX FIRST-GRADE CLASSES (554 CHILDREN) FROM THE ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM WERE USED IN THE STUDY. THE CLASSES WERE DIVIDED INTO TWO GROUPS OF 13 CLASSES EQUATED ON SOCIOECONOMIC LEVEL,…

VERBAL INTERACTION BETWEEN TEACHERS AND PUPILS WHEN THEY ARE READING CRITICALLY IS REPORTED. SIX HUNDRED FIFTY-ONE CHILDREN AND 24 TEACHERS FROM SEVEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN COLUMBUS, OHIO, SERVED AS SUBJECTS DURING THE 9-MONTH INVESTIGATION. TWELVE CLASSES, TWO AT EACH OF THE SIX ELEMENTARY GRADE LEVELS, WERE GIVEN TRAINING IN CRITICAL READING…

This manual is designed to aid observers in the classroom in the use of an observation form entitled "The Student-Level Observation of Beginning Reading," which focuses on the content of instructional activities in reading at the individual student level. Instructions are provided on how to identify a set of behaviors such as direct and indirect…

Several applications of latent trait models in reading research are discussed, their nature reviewed, and two experiments presented as heuristic applications of the Rasch Model. Two studies of children's comprehension of selected anaphoric structures in prose were performed using both conventional and Rasch Model analyses. Twenty-six children…

A large stratified sample of university undergraduate students differing in reading ability performed a diverse set of psychometric and information processing tasks in a study exploring the role of visual information processing skill as a component in reading ability. Using a correlation analysis of individual differences, the interrelationships…

The reading achievement test performance of 180 sixth grade students in contrasting reading programs was examined. One program (Matteson) was an explicitly sequenced, behaviorally oriented skills program; the other (Scott Foresman) placed more emphasis on rich language experience and less emphasis on specific skill development. An…

Two representative samples of expository prose from sixth grade textbooks (one in science and one in social studies) were analyzed for clarity of explanation. Four text criteria were applied to the analyses: structure, unity, coherence, and audience appropriateness. The results of the analysis suggested that many children's textbooks are not…

A study was conducted (1) to develop a more comprehensive theoretical framework for exploring the nature and process of response to literature, (2) to develop an integrated schema for analyzing responses, and (3) to apply this theory and schema to the responses of fifth and eighth grade students to two different kinds of texts. Subjects were ten…

A study was conducted (1) to discover whether using standardized headings on warranties would increase or decrease people's speed and accuracy in understanding the terms of warranties and (2) to determine what effect headings would have on people's attitudes toward warranties. Subjects were 48 adult consumers who read groups of four warranties for…