Using instructional system design, a unit of instruction for teaching problem solving through literature to at-risk students was developed to reduce frustrations, increase productive time on task, and show low-achieving students that they can have fun in an English classroom. The target population was a 7th-grade multi-ethnic English class of 28…

Reviews of research, studies of early readers, and investigations of emergent literacy uniformly conclude that parents' beliefs, aspirations, and actions affect their children's growth into and embracing of literacy. However, conflicting results call into question the utility of simply correlating race or various socioeconomic factors, such as…

A study examined the effect of a whole-language-type program for learning sentence structure with high school students in a dropout prevention program. Subjects, 60 students in a Chicago, Illinois public school dropout prevention program, were randomly assigned to a control or experimental group and were administered a diagnostic pre- and posttest…

A study examined the effectiveness of an immersion-in-literacy program in a first-grade classroom. Six of the 22 students (all six were boys) indicated on a reading attitude survey that they did not like to read books. The classroom teacher set up her classroom so that it fostered literacy development. Some of the experiences and activities she…

Teachers' responsiveness to and empathic understanding of students' perceptions when they are not motivated are critical in promoting students' ownership of the literacy learning agenda; in helping students with their motivational difficulties; and in establishing classrooms that focus on the enhancement of caring. An interpretive study, conducted…

The effects of an integrated language arts instructional program on reading comprehension skills of learning lab students were examined using the Analytical Reading Inventory, and their attitudes toward recreational and academic reading were assessed using the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey. Subjects were at-risk fifth and sixth grade…

A study examined the relationship between assessment and decision making in one of five school districts participating in a national study. Data collected in two alternative elementary schools (one literature-based and one informal) in a large urban school district in Ohio included field notes of classroom observations during reading and language…

Visual representations of the main ideas of information text (frames) help middle-grade students learn from reading. A study investigated frame development by middle-grade teachers. Twenty-seven teachers worked alone and collaboratively to frame experimental passages that had been selected from content area textbooks in social studies and science.…

A practicum was developed which implemented an alternative to using a standard reading textbook, by using the newspaper as a learning tool to supplement the existing reading program over a 12-week period in a first grade class. The program centered around a collection of techniques and strategies used to motivate and increase young children's…

A study investigated whether the much publicized campaign geared to parents and teachers about reading aloud to children has had any impact on the U.S. public. Subjects, 236 parents and 17 teachers from an urban private school with a large Portuguese population, filled out questionnaires. Results indicated that parents have been influenced by the…

A study was conducted to survey the attitudes of elementary students toward read-aloud experiences. Subjects were 575 children in grades one through six. The results of first grade students were omitted due to inconsistencies in their responses. The remaining grade level distribution consisted of 137 second graders, 121 third graders, 145 fourth…

A study examined and specified the effects of selected variables on adults' reading strategies and comprehension. Subjects, 20 adults in an adult basic education group, 20 students in a "high-risk freshmen" group, and 18 students enrolled in a senior level reading methods course, were administered an informal reading inventory (IRI), an…

Undertaken as part of a larger study, the experiments described in this report examine various aspects of the relationship between pictures and text and of the methodology for examining that relationship. Each of the 11 experiments described in the report involved college students and deals with the effects of storyline and texture on the reading…

A study investigated connections between reading difficulties and short term memory processes in order to explore the psychological basis for some individual differences in reading comprehension skills. Drawing on previous research indicating that poor readers were inferior to normal ones in judging whether two patterns of long and short tones…

Noting that the degree to which the concept of ethnicity is understood and taken into account at all levels of educational planning is the single most important factor in the success of programs designed for the education of ethnic and socioeconomic minorities, this paper discusses the concept in general, then outlines the components of an…