It has been suggested that the differences observed for dyslexic readers compared to normal readers on tasks measuring visual sensitivity may simply be the result of differences between the two groups in general cognitive ability and/or attentional engagement. One common way to accommodate this proposal is to match normal and dyslexic readers on…

A study investigated the effects of systematically varying the vocabulary-related instructions that students receive before reading to further understanding of the vocabulary/comprehension relationship. Subjects were 299 students from fifth- or fourth/fifth-grade classrooms, who participated in 6 different conditions which included reading…

As universities gain access to satellite delivery systems, faculty are asking questions about how information processing varies between print versus television delivery systems. A study compared 68 undergradaute adults' information processing activity when the same message is presented in print vs. on television. Results reveal little differences…

A study determined the effect of parental involvement on reading achievement of participating students. Subjects were 22 fifth-grade students in a Chicago public school who received parental involvement and 19 students in the same school who did not receive parental involvement. Subjects' scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills were used in the…

Through the leadership of the Mississippi Board of Education, the Mississippi Department of Education conducted two separate studies of the reading programs offered in the state. The first study examined statewide trends in reading achievement and compared selected school districts' data with data from the National Assessment of Educational…

A study examined the relationship among temporal processing, phonological processing, and reading skill using a multivariate approach which included measures of phonological processing and a variety of timing tasks that have been implicated in timing theories. Subjects were 30 adults classified as disabled readers based on their performance on the…

A study determined the effectiveness of the "Direct Instruction" program on the reading achievement of sixth-grade students. "Direct Instruction," known as "Distar" in the 1960s, is a phonic-based method that uses scripted lesson plans engaging students to learn by memory and classroom responses. Subjects were 30…

Forty-three high school students (14 poor, 13 average, and 16 good readers) were given three different measures of memory capacity to determine if they differed in working memory, traditional memory span, and chunking capacity. Several experimental tasks followed to determine if differences in the memory factors were related to specific components…

A reading instructor interested in reliving the experience of learning to read for the first time attempted to read "Androcles and the Lion" in Shavian Alphabet. The would-be reader of Shavian faces a page of hooks and slants completely unfamiliar, but there is no translation problem. As soon as the reader can pronounce out loud the…

Focusing on the teaching of comprehension strategies, this paper describes studies designed to identify settings in which effective strategies instruction was being carried out and details the conclusions that can be drawn from the studies. The paper begins with a description of comprehension strategies instruction in the 1970s and 1980s. The…

A study examined what happened when a group of adult students read a hypertext for the goal of answering specific questions. Subjects, 30 students enrolled in an upper-division psychology course at a state university in the northwestern United States, read a binary tree-structured hypertext to answer three two-part questions on the topic of…

Employing the community attachment model, a study hypothesized that the greater the personal experiences in and the greater the attachments to a community, the greater the reading of the local newspaper. The primary logic is that social ties and feelings of attachment generate needs for information that can be satisfied through reading of the…

A study investigated whether the presence or size of a photograph accompanying a story affects readers' attention, recall, and comprehension of newspaper articles. The three hypotheses postulated are: (1) readers are more likely to pay attention to stories on a page which includes a large photo than to stories on a page containing a small photo or…

A study tested the notion that information stories in "USA Today" are more readable because its editors shorten them by leaving out background details. It also examined whether readers comprehend as much from stories written in "USA Today" style as they do from stories written in the more traditional "New York Times"…

Noting that 80% of children will learn to read no matter what method is used to teach them, this information sheet offers a brief overview of research on reading impairments undertaken at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The information sheet first describes the casualties of mild and severe reading…