A review of the literature on the development of children's abilities to comprehend and produce metaphorical language shows this development to be a continuous process rather than one characterized by stages, and to be constrained primarily by limitations in children's knowledge and information processing abilities. More specifically, the…

A case study addressed (1) the relationship between language ability and the use of top-level organizational strategies that focus on the macrostructure of written text, and (2) the comparative use of these strategies when reading expository texts in native language (L1) and second language (L2). Subjects were five Hispanic English as a second…

Two contrasting kindergarten reading programs (book-focused and letter-focused) were chosen for a study that evaluated the ability of the Early Reading Test to probe children's knowledge of stories as well as letters, sounds, and words. The test also evaluated the kinds of strategies children use to attempt reading tasks and, through interview…

A study investigated the effect of properties of words and texts on the incidental learning of word meanings during normal reading. Subjects--352 students in third, fifth, and seventh grades--read either expository or narrative passages selected from grade-level textbooks, and after six days were tested on their knowledge of difficult words from…

Cognitive research of the 1970s has shown that both content factors (topical world knowledge and knowledge about textual organization) and process factors (attention, encoding, inference, retrieval, and executive monitoring) influence comprehension. Classroom research during the same decade has shown that the greater the proportion of time…

When patients do not possess the same background knowledge, or schemata, as the Western medical practitioner, they are unable to understand fully what is communicated because they do not have the necessary conceptual framework for integrating the information presented. A study demonstrated how the absence of shared concepts between doctor and…

Four studies used the theoretically based understanding of comprehension developed by W. Kintsch and T. A. van Dijk to look for processes that might undergo development as a child becomes more practiced and skilled in reading so that an understanding of these processes might become the basis for reading remediation programs. The first three…

A study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of a 10-week, after school reading program developed to motivate reluctant readers through reading aloud to them and through giving them books to read. Appropriate paperback books were read aloud to unmotivated readers in grades 3 and 4 for about 10 minutes or until a particularly exciting part…

Presented is an annotated bibliography that is helpful to teachers and administrators who are attempting to involve parents in the reading instruction of their school-aged children. Sources cited refer primarily to the involvement of parents from a middle socioeconomic level. Items in the first part of the bibliography deal with research…

Reading research has provided repeated evidence of measurable growth in reading performance and language development in children as a result of reading literature aloud to them. In order to match appropriate literary experiences to a specific audience, the teacher must have a knowledge of the interests, needs, and strengths of the children, and…

A study gauged the effects of peer tutoring on the reading skills of first graders. Subjects were 250 children divided into eight experimental and four control classrooms in a school district in Utah. Teachers were trained by researchers, bearing in mind five procedural principles: (1) appropriate modeling by the teacher, (2) extensive dialogue,…

A study was conducted to determine if interest in a basal reader story could be heightened and reading comprehension improved by (1) having the children predict the story content from the title prior to reading the story and (2) having them predict the outcome of the story at a salient midpoint. Subjects, 45 children in 2 fifth grade classes, were…

For the purpose of investigating instructional techniques that facilitate children's acquisition of reading comprehension skills in the middle and upper elementary grades, a 2-year inquiry into classroom instruction in reading comprehension was begun at the beginning of 1980. The initial focus of the study was on methods of assessment. Analytic…

An update and modification of "Vision-Visual Discrimination" published in 1973, this annotated bibliography contains entries from the annual summaries of research in reading published by the International Reading Association (IRA) since then. The first large section, "Vision," is divided into two subgroups: (1) "Visually…

"Posacculturation" (positive acculturation) is the power of literature to deepen understandings and appreciations of the self and others. In the successful posacculturation process, the facilitator identifies the values, concepts, or behaviors to be acculturated; selects the appropriate literature to meet the reader's needs; and communicates the…