A review of literature addresses two main issues: (1) how the acquisition of English by deaf signing children has been understood as an instance of second language learning; and (2) how deaf children learn to read English, given this understanding. The first chapter chronicles the history of language use in deaf education and reviews research on…

A study investigated the range of methods and approaches used by teachers in Year 2 in teaching reading and writing, and the assumptions underlying these approaches. Headteachers of 122 nationally representative maintained schools in England and Wales completed a brief questionnaire giving mostly statistical information about their school. A…

A study examined the effectiveness of using whole language strategies to increase the reading skills of minority developmental reading students. Subjects were students (mostly at-risk Hispanics) assigned to a higher-level or lower-level college reading course. The treatment period lasted 12 weeks. Classwork varied among the five classes and…

A study investigated the reliability, validity, and sensitivity of Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) reading (which relates reading fluency to reading comprehension) with bilingual Hispanic students. For 10 weeks, 50 second-grade bilingual students and 26 students who spoke English only were administered CBM reading measures twice weekly.…

A study investigated children's natural learning of word meanings while reading. Subjects, 447 American and Chinese children in third and fifth grades, read one of two cross-translated stories and then completed a test on the difficult words in both stories. Results indicated: (1) significant incidental learning of word meanings in both grades in…

A study examined teachers' reading habits and attitudes. Subjects, 204 educators who were enrolled in classes or a for-credit reading workshop in the northern Illinois area, completed a 32-item survey to determine their reading habits. Respondents were primarily elementary teachers who had earned at least a bachelor's degree and who had six or…

The purpose of the 1990-91 Reading Recovery Program in the Columbus, Ohio public schools was to provide early intervention to underachieving first-grade pupils who appeared unlikely to read successfully without intensive instruction. The program featured individualized one-on-one lessons provided by specially trained teachers. The lessons were…

A practicum was designed to improve reading comprehension of 10 basic skills college students by providing training using 5 specific strategies and techniques. Five specific strategies based on a review of the literature were selected: (1) metacognitive awareness; (2) discussion; (3) self-monitoring charts; (4) use of pictures as an introduction…

An exploratory study developed ways to describe systematically a particular graphic organizer, the frame. For the study, 27 middle-grade teachers each constructed 2 frames on sections of fourth-grade science and social studies texts. Teachers also worked collaboratively in pairs and larger groups to produce frames. Collaborative sessions were…

A longitudinal research project studied the development of the reading ability of Dutch primary school students and its consequences for their school career in secondary education. Data were gathered on 310 students from 24 Dutch primary schools over a period of 8 years. A longitudinal reading model (with decoding, reading comprehension, and…

Originally developed as part of a project for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on reasearch about teaching and learning reading is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes an overview of the project; a comprehensive search of the ERIC…

In an investigation of the characteristics of "considerate" text, defined as informative, content area text that promotes student comprehension, learning and remembering, this report presents a prototypical chapter of considerate text on American history following the Revolutionary War and a commentary on the writing. Beginning with the…

Over 1,000 eighth grade students participated in a study to determine the relationships between learning style and reading/language arts skills as demonstrated by standardized testing. It was hypothesized that (1) individual learning style contributes significantly to reading and communication skills, (2) specific learning style elements acting…

Research indicating a strong correlation between reading and writing skills has been used to create effective teaching activities; this paper summarizes research findings and describes teaching activities in three classrooms. (1) As students' reading comprehension and recall have been shown to improve following instruction in summary writing, a…

The first phase of a study investigating textbook readability and students' reading levels used three traditional formulas to assess the readability levels of 51 primary textbooks from college introductory social science courses in 7 disciplines. The second phase investigated the relationship between the readability levels of students' texts,…