Develops a text-specific prior knowledge measure that predicts the likelihood of a student's success in recalling the content of a reading passage. (HOD)

Presents computational and psychophysical evidence in support of a theory of one of the earliest stages of visual processing in reading--the isolation of words in text. (HOD)

Indicates that readers monitor their comprehension as they read, evaluating whether the ideas expressed in the text are consistent with one another. (AEA)

Examines whether (1) the organization of the sentences of a passage (regular order as written or scrambled order) affects a reader's comprehension of the passage, and whether (2) sentences read in isolation (one single sentence) are comprehended as well as sentences read in the full context of a cohesive passage. (HOD)

Subjects read a text concerning a new computer programing language, with an advance organizer given either before or after reading. On a recall test, there were different patterns of performance. Results suggested that the locus of the effect was at encoding rather than retrieval. (Author/GDC)

This study compared the effects on learning from text of four contexts (topic sentences, headings, related sentences, unrelated sentences)--either generated by readers or provided in text. Tests included free recall, matching, and knowledge of passage structure. One result was that readers who generated topic sentences recalled the most.…

High school students who read a short passage with a meaningful context recalled more of the passage than those who read it without a context. A think-aloud procedure revealed differences in processing during reading between the two groups. (MKM)

A perceptual-recognition task was used to assess whether utilization of orthographic structure in letter recognition varies with reading ability. Good and poor college readers showed equally large effects of orthographic structure on task accuracy, whereas poor sixth-grade readers did not. (Author/GK)

Develops the viewpoint that the obstacles confronting the disabled reader have parallels in many of the problems the young child faces in learning to read. Discusses reading as passive behavior, teaching strategies, programs designed around the learner's deficits, and limited listening activities to extend syntactic and semantic competence. (FL)

Developmental dyslexics have difficulty accessing the meaning of written words via phonological recoding due to a short-term memory deficit, although they can access meaning by a direct visual route. Evidence that dyslexia is a genetically-based dysfunction of the interior parietal lobule is reviewed. Implications for remedial instruction are…

States that beginning reading instruction must not be perceived as an either/or phenomenon, as either strong adherence to the code devoid of meaning, or the reverse. Teachers should teach the code and meaning at the same time. (MKM)

Focuses on research projects involving readers up to adolescence, which found that reading material and attitudes of young people correspond to social classes. (HOD)

Presents a brief history of research on reading problems, a critique of methods of diagnosis and management, some speculations on the roots of the dilemma in research on reading problems, and some recommendations for future research. (Author/GT)

Notes that multiple indicators are necessary to provide an index of reading comprehension and points to two broad categories of indicators: product and process indicators. Examines questions as product indicators and discusses research related to measures of internal comprehension processes. (GT)

Twenty-two third-grade good and poor readers were tested for their ability to name pictures while trying to ignore words or nonword strings of letters printed inside the pictures. Both groups experienced more interference from intracategory than extracategory words, indicating that they processed the words automatically. Only the good readers…