A study investigated whether semantic feature analysis (SFA) significantly improves the content related vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension of adolescent, learning disabled readers. SFA is a set of vocabulary development activities designed to help students categorize vocabulary words and compare related ideas. Subjects, 62 learning…

A study examined the effects of teachers' use of explicit explanation on students' levels of metacognitive awareness of the reading process and on their reading achievement as measured by a standardized test. Subjects, 22 fifth grade teachers from 13 different elementary schools, were observed by researchers who had been trained in using a…

While young children's problem-solving models are not as elaborate as those of older students, they share an important belief, namely, that writing and reading are fundamentally purposeful acts of communication. Focusing on the interpretation of process, in particular on writing and reading as forms of problem-solving that are shaped by…

A companion piece to "Improving Students' Abilities To Read and Think: A Source Guide" and to the training manual of the same title, this guide is designed to help middle, junior, and senior high school personnel responsible for reading instruction learn new strategies for improving student comprehension of text and learn new ways to…

This paper describes a five-step technique for secondary and postsecondary reading instruction, compatible with reader response theory, and addressing the need for academically underprepared students to experience the validation of their personal responses to texts. The first step involves identifying prior knowledge and opinions before reading…

Traditionally, studies of beginning reading have focused either on between-subjects' differences or on changes in reading performance characteristics induced by specific training procedures. A third approach to reading is a within-subjects' comparison of individual performance characteristics at varying difficulty levels. The present study…

The 12 articles in this publication contain information designed to help parents of preschool and elementary school children understand the complex psychological and sociological process of language development and its relationship to learning to read. The articles also provide specific suggestions for parents who wish to participate in their…

As part of a continuing series, this book contains 21 papers, the titles of which reflect the authors' attention to the theme of the conference (the nature of reading behavior and the central role of meaning in the broad definition of reading). Titles include the following topics: (1) reading as one part of language; (2) how home life affects…

Twenty first grade children were videotaped during their first six weeks of learning to read in a study of the modified synthetic phonics program and the four progressive stages of oral reading behavior (emergence, contextual, nonresponse, and postresponse). The approach used by the teacher emphasized learning new words through the concurrent…

A study investigated whether there were commonalities of cue patterns in six selected tenth grade students' reading and writing that could be discovered from each student's respective language use and perception of the two distinct but interrelated processes. Specifically, the study explored how two above-average readers, two average readers, and…

Certain aspects of the reading process have suggested that second language reading skills are determined to some extent by native language reading skills. Some of this research is reviewed here and an experiment is described in which the reading skills in Spanish and English of three groups of Spanish speakers learning English are compared.…

The matching cloze format used in constructing the reading comprehension parts of the Micronesian Achievement Test Series (MATS) is described as a holistic approach which measures skills comparable to those needed by English as a second language students in actual reading situations. Kenneth Goodman's theory about the strategies used by good…

Forty undergraduate college students participated in a computer-assisted instructional study designed to utilize right cerebral hemisphere functions in the learning and memory process. Two versions of a lesson on how a simple battery works were designed to present conceptual and topographic information either verbally or pictorially on a Plato IV…

An examination is made of proposals for early reading in terms of the best time for beginning instruction and the effects upon children. In any discussion regarding early reading one must distinguish between prereading activities and formal reading instruction and must determine whether formal instruction is intended for all children or for those…

This article briefly discusses ways in which the study of foreign language contributes to the development of reading skills in the speaker's native language. Comments are directed to the following areas: (1) auditory discrimination, (2) visual discrimination, (3) association and insight, (4) the reading process, (5) expansion of vocabulary, (6)…