Compares the semantic processing skills of younger adults (mean age 25) and older adults (mean age 68). After reading a sentence, subjects performed a task in which responses did not depend on retention. Results provided no evidence for age-related changes, including those associated with access to implied information. (Author/RH)

A total of 15 learning-disabled and 15 skilled readers viewed three groups of nonsense pictures (unnamed, name-nonassociated, and name-associated), then recalled them later. Results suggested learning disabled children's reading difficulties are due to an inability to activate a semantic representation that interconnects visual and verbal codes.…

Discusses syntactic and stylistic errors in the language of advertising and the reason for these linguistic irregularities. Suggests ways of dealing with the problem. (EL)

Explains how antonymy (opposition) can offer another approach to vocabulary development in a classroom situation. (HOD)

Fifteen exercises are presented that are intended to increase reading comprehension in seventh and eighth graders via emphasis on word recognition, language comprehension (syntax and semantics), and reasoning skills (including inference, analogies, relationships, and direction following). (CL)

English- and Japanese-speaking children aged four and five were asked to say the opposite of statements. Statements varied in truth value and unmarked/marked membership of antonym pairs. Findings did not support a universality hypothesis; differences were found between the two groups in the use of semantic and syntactic denial. (Author/CB)

Studied bilingual children and children learning a second language using a picture-word interference task. The printed distractors interfered with naming both on trials where the distractor and naming language were the same and on trials where they were different. These and other results question whether an "input switch" operates for bilingual…

Suggests that integrating story maps into a reading lesson helps readers attend to details as well as to relationships between story elements before, during, and after reading. Reports findings of a study to support this belief. (FL)

Argues that in order to understand the complexities of the nuclear arms race, it is necessary to understand "nukespeak," a "language" of euphemisms, jargon, and acronyms used in talking about nuclear matters. Learning activities and projects for high school English classes are suggested, and a 45-term nukespeak glossary is…

Analyzes economics texts and examines range of meanings conveyed by the simple conditional form and the expression of conditional meaning. Concludes that relationship between economic concepts and their verbal expressions cannot be correlated. Authors suggest that teachers of English for economics and teachers of economics need to recognize this…

Four versions of several paragraphs had the same second sentence and were referentially coherent, but they differed in causal relatedness of the two sentences. Results showed that despite referential coherence, recognition and recall memory for the causes was poorest for the most and least related causes and best for causes of intermediate…

Results of a study indicated that adults reading for retention spent more time focusing on syntactic structure, while those reading for immediate comprehension focused more of their time on semantic content. However, the children (fifth graders) used reading strategies that involved mixtures of both of the adult components. (SL)

Reviews research indicating that presenting vocabulary in semantically related clusters may improve students' vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Describes how words from elementary school textbooks were divided into semantic clusters and makes suggestions for their use. (FL)

Examines two sets of variables that influence age-related patterns of text recall--the effects of verbal ability level and text structure variables on text recall of younger, middle-aged, and older adults. Results indicate that age differences in the discovery and utilization of the organizational structure of texts were found to be mediated by…

Discusses strategies involved in learning the languages used in technical areas. (FL)