Describes the effect of a language-rich program on a student repeating first grade and viewed as reading disabled. Concludes that the student experienced early and sustained success in reading and writing in the language- and meaning-centered program. (RS)

Two experiments investigated the role of text coherence in junior high school students' comprehension of science texts. Found that text coherence improved readers' comprehension, but also that giving readers with sufficient background knowledge an incoherent text that forced them to infer unstated relations engaged them in compensatory processing,…

Examines the use of hypertext documents by middle school students. The study focused on gathering and analyzing information on students' use of various hypertext-based reading materials. Analysis of the data led to the identification of six hypertext reading patterns: skimming, checking, reading, responding, studying, and reviewing. (Contains 12…

Critiques current understandings of children's motivation for literacy learning, and argues for a reconceptualization of motivation that centers on the learner as agent in the social construction of meaning. Uses vignettes and examples from studies conducted in whole-language classrooms to investigate children's perspectives of their own literacy…

Annotates 146 conference papers, journal articles, and doctoral dissertations from 1989 and 1990 dealing with research in the teaching of English. Includes sections on writing, language, literature, and teacher education. (SR)

Presents results from 2 British studies relating preschool reading skills and reading attainment reached by age 11. Substantiates and extends earlier research that correlated early letter identification with reading ability at age seven. Also indicates no support for hypothesis that letter sounding rather than naming predicts subsequent reading…

Examines responses of fourth, sixth, and eighth grade students to realistic and fantasy novels. Finds that students responded to fantasy with more categoric evaluations and to realism with more analytic evaluation. Finds also that evaluative responses moved from mainly categoric in grade four to more analytic in the upper grades. (KEH)

Presents the complementary Pyramid Syllabus Design (CPSD), developed at the Division of Foreign Languages, Tel Aviv University, Israel. The CPSD is a principled four-pronged approach to an English for Academic purposes reading course design employing elements of a Type A syllabus, one that focuses on the discrete elements of language. (Author/VWL)

This study investigates how 17 affective factors are related to Japanese second language (L2) reading comprehension and "kanji" knowledge test scores of 43 university students in advanced Japanese courses. Major findings are that: a) reading comprehension ability and "kanji" knowledge have direct associations with…

There is little research on what constitutes success in preparing preservice teachers to cope with the needs of these students. Assessment is particularly challenging for preservice teachers who are beginning to make connections between their understanding of the reading process, and teaching and learning. This qualitative study looks at the…

This paper explores what kinds of advantages and strengths the process of learning to read simultaneously in different languages and scripts might bring about. It is based on a socio-cultural view of learning and literacy and examines early literacy in three parallel literacy classes in Watford, England. It analyses the learning experiences of…

Nassaji and Geva (1999) concluded that lower level processes, particularly efficiency in phonological and orthographic processing contributed significantly to individual differences in adult ESL reading. Moreover, they reported that speed of letter naming, while not directly associated with reading comprehension, was related to linguistic…

First published in 2007. The focus of this book is on the cognitive processes involved in comprehension, and moreover, on techniques that help readers improve their ability to comprehend text and it is also on reading comprehension strategies. Indeed, the use of effective reading comprehension strategies is perhaps the most important means to…

Offering voices and perspectives from multiple generations of literacy educators, this yearbook includes articles which represent an assortment of literary styles and paradigms. Articles and their authors are: "Motivation Matters" (L. B. Gambrell, keynote address); "The Use of Cloze as a Measure of the Interactive Use of Prior…

Noting that children's perceptions of literacy and of themselves as learners differ from those of adults, this book documents how Sarah, from the ages of 2 to 5 years, understood literacy and invented reading and writing for herself. Numerous reading and writing samples in the book, organized around broad research questions, present Sarah as an…