A specific skill necessary to expand vocabulary is that of acquiring additional meanings for words that have common, already known meanings. A study was conducted to determine if presenting subjects with the known meaning of a word before requiring them to learn a new meaning for it would result in a learning detriment. The study used homonyms…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 26 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the comprehension monitoring abilities of tenth graders; (2) elementary school pupils' abilities to perform closure at various case grammar positions at their…

A literature review was undertaken to demonstrate how knowledge of one's cognitive processes, the orchestration of strategic effort, and the monitoring of one's cognitive activities can enhance reading performance. The findings indicate that while older readers exercise more awareness of their own learning processes and greater self-control or…

To address the gap perceived by classroom reading teachers between research findings and reading process theories and the realities of classroom reading instruction, this paper poses six questions/problems often asked by reading teachers, and answers them with information drawn from current research and theory. Topics covered in the questions…

The following assumptions motivated this monograph's analysis of commercial based reading programs: (1) basals represent the state of the art in reading instruction; (2) to offer suggestions for improvement of instruction, existing practices must be understood in detail; and (3) information about instruction contained in the literature at large or…

As part of a longitudinal study of the acquisition of reading skills, a study tested kindergarten children at the beginning and end of their kindergarten year. The children were also observed for nine full days in their classrooms. Subjects were approximately 650 children in two cohorts. Data were collected in three school districts in Illinois,…

A study (involving 100 children in grades 1-5) investigated whether children thought of reading as especially a male or female activity. Findings indicated that in grades 1-4, boys regarded reading as mostly a feminine activity, while in grade 5 boys regarded reading as mostly a masculine activity and girls regarded it as mostly a feminine…

Presenting a representative sample of recent (1977-1988) professional literature dealing with reading instruction, development, and performance of children who have been labeled at-risk, this 227-item annotated bibliography encompasses qualitative and quantitative research, literature reviews, and conceptual pieces that are undergirded by…

Addressing many aspects of the use of computers in elementary reading instruction, this annotated bibliography in six sections contains 27 items from the ERIC database from 1987 to April 1989. The first section contains items discussing the pros and cons of such use; the second section deals with organizational aspects of computer use in the…

To illustrate the interdependent relationship between critical thinking and reading comprehension, and to show that critical thinking can be infused into classroom instruction using ordinary classroom materials (e.g. selections from a basal reading series), a study analyzed the transcript of a critical-thinking reading lesson for sixth grade…

The findings of a three-week visit in China by a study team of American scholars to examine the state of reading research and instruction in Chinese schools and universities are presented in the various articles of this report. Following an introduction describing the particulars of the visit, the report presents these articles: (1) "Chinese…

Noting that many schools in the state of Indiana offer reading incentive programs that provide special recognition or awards to students who reach or exceed established goals in their reading programs, this booklet presents the results of a survey of the types of reading incentive programs in use. The booklet notes that the programs span all grade…

Conference presentations of research on reading comprehension, reading instruction, computer applications in reading instruction, and reading theory are compiled in this yearbook. Titles and authors of some of the articles are as follows: "A Rationale for Teaching Children with Limited English Proficiency" (M. Zintz); "Preliminary Development of a…

A study of the ways adults socialize children into particular patterns of literacy by helping them develop the literary and social knowledge necessary for using and understanding print is described in this monograph. Specifically, the monograph focuses on adults and children observed over a period of 18 months at a preschool, and provides insights…

A study was conducted to construct measures of reading competencies that are frequently needed in an occupational environment and to describe the influence of the components of reading practice on these competencies based on the conceptual framework of ethnographic psychology. The reading practices of 25 electrical engineers and 30 electronic…