An ongoing investigation of the process of reading diagnosis and remediation based on a theory of clinical problem solving called the "inquiry theory" has been undertaken by the Clinical Studies Group at the Institute for Research on Teaching. A review of several observational, computer simulation, and training studies conducted as part of the…

Eighty-one fifth grade students from a suburban parochial school were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups in a study designed to determine the effect of daily sustained silent reading (SSR) on student reading habits and attitudes toward reading. One teacher supervised 40 students in daily fifteen-minute periods of SSR, using…

This report describes a study undertaken to refine the guidelines of the Wisconsin Design for Reading Skill Development and to suggest general procedures for implementing any skill-centered approach to teaching reading. The first part of the report sets forth the purpose and focus of the study, with a literature review to define the nature of…

This paper contains a report of a theoretical investigation of contextual analysis (CA) that ranked this reading strategy as the most complex of four kindred word recognition skills although many current reading programs advance its use in the beginning stages of formal reading instruction. Three propositions are offered: CA holds kinship with the…

Individual interviews and a series of ten tests were used to investigate the order in which children acquire reading concepts and demonstrate reading skills. Each of 44 first grade and 22 kindergarten students was tested and interviewed three times during the 1977-78 school year, and their responses were sorted and tabulated to determine whether…

As part of an investigation of effective first grade reading group instruction, teacher interviews were conducted and analyzed to determine differences between control and treatment group teachers, the relation between interview responses and adjusted student achievement, and the relation between teacher self-ratings and observed behaviors. Ten…

This monograph is the first in a series of semiannual reports focusing on research related to reading in secondary schools. The first section includes three reviews of literature specifically related to word analysis instruction for adolescents and to reading programs that have been examined from a research perspective. Of the two papers in the…

A statewide assessment study of reading programs in Rhode Island is described. Data concerning the history of the primary reading program of the 1965-66 fourth-grade class were gathered; a status study of the reading programs throughout the elementary grades for that year was conducted. Principals' and teachers' opinions on the requirements for a…

The widely accepted 95 percent word recognition criterion used for designating the instructional reading level is re-evaluated. A survey of the original study of Betts and Killgallon indicated (1) that the 95 percent word recognition criterion was based on a 41-case sample at the fourth-grade level, (2) that repetition errors occurred most…

This report provides an overview of a series of studies testing the thesis that basic reading skill is a powerful mediating mechanism in social psychological explanations of pupil performances in a range of subject-matter outcomes of schooling. Basing analyses on the data base of the International Association outcomes of schooling. Basing analyses…

This paper proposes that phonics and meaning instruction in beginning reading programs can be designed to be mutually supportive. The first section outlines attempts to modify a commercially available reading program in order to provide useful phonics instruction strategies. Students showed strong gains on achievement tests after implementation of…

This report describes the rationale and procedures for a series of studies related to reading tasks and reading texts. Children's reading tasks are examined in five strands of investigation: ability to read for meaning, ability to read for doing, ability to read for remembering, comprehension difficulties in skilled readers, and classroom…

The perspectives of this document, which explores the relationships between television and reading instruction, are both theoretical and practical. Articles in the first section establish a frame of reference for evaluating the use of television in reading instruction, focusing particularly on the relationships among media and their import for…

Standardized reading tests exert a great influence on curriculum materials, teaching methods, and student perceptions of the nature of reading; these tests must reflect the best recent research findings. Passage dependency research has attempted to increase the accuracy of reading tests, and has focused on the following four areas: (1) reading…

It is difficult to account for the real and easily measured differences in verbal competence. Differential psychologists investigate basic traits from which observed behavior is thought to be generated, but if thinking is viewed as a problem in information handling, research will more profitably focus on the relationship between behavior in…