The Free University of Iran (FUI) operates by means of a multimedia teaching system, teaching students at a distance and developing a learning environment based near the place of residence or work of its students. This document reviews the development of the Foundation English Course according to the systems approach to instruction adopted by FUI.…

The purpose of this study was to determine if two testing methods, multiple choice and cloze technique, differentially affected students' scores on reading comprehension tests. The tests were compared in their emphasis on cognition and production related abilities as defined by Guilford. Ninety-three Durham County sixth graders were given a…

In order to help students in oral interpretation or English classes comprehend the literature they read, this document outlines a question-answer-rehearse procedure which resolves the paradox of understanding before they perform a text. The twenty questions, formulated to provide a solid foundation for later explication and deeper study, are…

This study investigated the effects of prefatory statements (advance organizers) on the listening comprehension of 310 Cliffside Park, New Jersey, fourth and fifth graders. Six null hypotheses were tested: two examining the differences in listening comprehension between students of both grade levels who used and did not use prefatory statements;…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of pre-reading guides would effect better comprehension in the reading of short stories by ninth grade public school students. Four pre-reading guide sheets were prepared and validated for use in this study for each of the following stories: "The Interlopers" by Saki, "The Necklace" by…

Statistical methods and test writing for reading comprehension have been based on the assumption that certain reading tasks or levels are appropriate at one age level that would be too difficult at another. A clear-cut determination of grade levels for reading materials has, however, not been defined. Grade and age equivalent scores on silent…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between reading comprehension and the perception of syntactic and semantic errors by fourth graders. Forty-eight students were divided according to reading comprehension tests into high and low performance groups. Each student then read orally twelve sentences, of which four were normal…

This comprehension model defines and describes nine categories of comprehension, including word meanings, location/recall, translation, interpretation, prediction, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Each of the categories includes the following sections: highlights, containing a definition and questions; instructional objectives for…

Designed for use by students in preservice education, by teachers taking extension courses in reading, and as a manual for inservice work in reading instruction, this book explains the major approaches to teaching developmental reading, suggests methods and techniques for implementing different reading programs, and offers practical suggestions…

Several experiments involving approximately 130 6-year-old children were conducted to examine the effects of overt illustration on first graders' learning from oral prose. In all experiments, experimental Ss heard prose selections after or during which they illustrated selection content with plasticized figure cutouts and background scenes while…

Thematization, the relative frequency of a discourse referent, and topicalization are conceptualized as related discourse functions. In a probe recall experiment, a word with a thematized referent was a better recall probe than a word with a nonthematized referent. Also, an agent noun was a better prompt than a recipient, and this semantic…

Five orders of approximation to normal English prose were constructed; 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, and 100th plus. Five cloze tests were then constructed by inserting blanks for deleted words in 5 word segments (5th order), 10 word segments (10th), 25 word segments (25th), 50 word segments (50th), and 100 word segments of five different passages of…

This investigation tested whether an experimental group using cross-level grouping made greater gains in reading achievement than a control group using the conventional approach of one-level-lower instruction in providing for underachievers. The subjects, 401 students in grades 4 through 8 (169 of whom were underachievers according to scores on…

Two groups of children in grades 3 and 4 (80 lower-socioeconomic Negro children whose native speech dialect was Negro nonstandard English and 80 middle-class white children whose native dialect was standard English) were given two 50-item cloze reading comprehension tests to determine the effect of native speech dialect and written language…

This study analyzed and evaluated three major telegraphic production schemes. This second volume consists of eight appendixes which give the stimulus materials in their various reduction formats and their associated tests. For the first volume of the study see IR 001 308. (WCM)