Proposes four guidelines to help educators evaluate vocabulary instruction: (1) instruction should help students relate new vocabulary to their background knowledge, (2) instruction should help students develop elaborated word knowledge, (3) instruction should provide for active student involvement, and (4) instruction should develop students'…

Second grade students'"think-alouds" were analyzed to investigate whether children used different reading stategies to comprehend targeted story grammar categories in two basal reader narratives. Results indicate that the proportion of elaborative and nonelaborative strategies used by children differed as a function of category type.…

Concludes that entering college freshmen do not use the top-level structure strategy in reading and recalling text. (FL)

Recognizing that top-level structure helps students find main ideas and recall important facts, this research review recommends teaching top-level structure from middle school through college. (HOD)

Studies the effects of sentence contexts on word-nonword decision latencies among deaf and hearing college students. (HOD)

Argues that the comprehension of metaphor depends on recognition of the similarities and differences in the semantic features of the words representing both sides of the metaphoric equation. Suggests that inexperienced poetry readers are usually unable to analyze these semantic features without assistance. Outlines a strategy for helping these…

Reports findings of a study demonstrating that language experience techniques can help students comprehend math story problems and successfully apply the mathematical concepts necessary for their solution. (FL)

Concludes the following: an emphasis on meaning produces better sentence recall than an emphasis on accurate oral reading; in groups receiving an accurate reading emphasis sentence recall depends upon instructional time; the child taking an active turn remembers more sentences from lesson than the children following along; and the interestingness…

Describes a metacognitive approach to improving vocabulary. The method trains students to establish a network of relationships among words and relate the words to personal experiences. (HOD)

Proposes that by focusing on comprehension and schema development rather than skill and drill, secondary and college level reading instructors can promote more meaningful reading. (HOD)

Reports on a study that examined whether students' comprehension and recall of an expository passage would improve if they were given information about the organization of the passage before they read it. (HOD)

Describes a read-listen-discuss heuristic that uses several stimuli to evoke a particular set of desired responses. (HOD)

Describes an experiment that explored the relationships between text structure, prior knowledge, and reader's purpose on the processing of text and memory for text information. Results demonstrated that the strategies used to read text are flexible. (HOD)

Describes a textbook study system designed for math or applied math courses in which students focus on solving problems, consulting the textbook and reading for well-considered purposes. (AEA)

Suggests that when middle school teachers put greater emphasis on study skills, their students profit from greater confidence and understanding. (AEA)