A study compared the effectiveness of charting, or organizing, information into a matrix with that of a read and study strategy. Charting was defined as a strategy in which information is organized into four categories (topic, subjects, main points, and details), thereby showing how ideas are similar and dissimilar. Students enrolled in a…

The Navy has long been aware of a literacy gap existing between the level at which Navy technical documents are written and the reading comprehension level of enlisted personnel. In order to provide guidance in the restructuring of text and the limiting of vocabulary to reduce this gap, the Training Analysis and Evaluation Group developed the…

Sixty-eight undergraduate college students served as subjects in a study that examined the effects of reader-generated map-like representations (spatial organizers) on subjects' delayed recall of a narrative. Of interest were the possible interactions between individual difference measures (verbal and spatial ability) and map generation on…

Focusing on research and its implications for classroom practice, this paper describes how students' comprehension of text can be enhanced by using a variety of easily available materials. The first section considers what successful reading involves in terms of the active nature of learning in general, the characteristics of skilled readers, and…

A study investigated the effects on reading comprehension of guided imagery instruction before reading. Subjects, 25 third-grade student volunteers from a small Montana community, were given a vocabulary pretest to determine the effect of background knowledge. They were then randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups--read only, guided…

To investigate the relationship between reading ability and the detection and repair of text-based (internal) inconsistencies, a study examined 100 college students enrolled in an introductory educational psychology course at a large state university. Based on their performance on the comprehension portion of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test,…

Written by a counselor-teacher-program coordinator working in an urban elementary school, this practicum aimed to improve the receptive vocabulary development program for second grade students. Specific goals were to: (1) improve second grade students' receptive vocabulary; (2) use students' improved receptive vocabulary to increase their reading…

Differing views on how meaning in a literacy event is formed have a large impact upon literacy instruction and language research. Teaching and research are often conducted without considering who is in charge of meanings. Yet the answer to this question establishes an interpretive frame that creates the questions, methods, and findings in language…

This extensive review of research on the development of print materials covers text readability, structure of the prose, and organizational and format features of the text. Practical guidelines for developing textual materials that can be supported by empirical research are also presented. Conclusions are then drawn from the literature, and areas…

The 12 activity-oriented units described in this study skills guide for students in the eighth, ninth, and tenth grades are designed to assist in the development of necessary study skills at most levels of competence and to reinforce already existing skills. The units in the guide also attempt to incorporate as much student activity as possible,…

Research on text organization has demonstrated that reading is responsive to the number and complexity of idea units or propositions in a text, and that the capacity of children to recall information is responsive to the relative importance of the idea units. A study was undertaken to examine an extension of these propositions: namely, that…

To determine what general aspects of photographs appeal to readers--as opposed to subject matter categories that might or might not be tied to events--95 college students reported their readership of three alternate front pages of the daily student newspaper. Specifically, the study examined whether readers were more likely to read stories…

Methods to contextualize tests in the four skill areas of listening, reading, writing, and speech are described. The roles of grammatical and lexical cues, recording semantic details, cloze adaptation, comprehensive questions, logical continuation items, global classification, and sociolinguistic factors are examined in relation to test formats.…

Because it provides students with a strategy for the transfer of attributes from a familiar to an unfamiliar topic, the use of analogies can improve memory, increase specific knowledge, and encourage more critical evaluation of information. Analogies have been used to help students understand health and science materials, improve their vocabulary,…

A study examined the influence of extended analogies on the comprehension of unfamiliar texts by primary grade children. Subjects, 16 first- and 16 third-grade children, listened to two passages that described how the blood circulates in the body and how an infection heals. The passages were presented either with or without analogies. The children…