Prepared by members of the Institute for Research on Teaching and the Center for the Study of Reading, the papers in this collection examine reading comprehension as an interactive process and explore how comprehension instruction occurs in the complex workplace of the classroom. Specific topics discussed in 20 papers include the following: (1)…

A study examined the transition from dependent writing (dictation) to independent writing for 40 first grade students. Specifically, the study investigated (1) how, in terms of common quantitative language units (mean words per t-unit, mean number of dependent clauses, words per maze, mean number of dependent clauses per t-unit, and length in…

This study investigates the extent to which beginning to advanced students of English as a second language (ESL) understand antecedent/anaphora relationships in written discourse. The findings are related to previous research on anaphoric reference in first and second language contexts, emphasizing the significance of this factor in measurement of…

This report summarizes the Assessment of Language Proficiency of Bilingual Persons (ALPBP) project research component and provides a summary of the findings of the other six components of the study. The summary of the research component includes an outline of the goals, activities, and requests for proposals. After the introduction, the following…

A content-analysis examined the discussion practices recommended in postprimary reading methods textbooks published in the United States before and after 1970. Fifteen textbooks were selected and 37 topics related to discussion were eventually grouped into three categories--(1) functions of textbooks, (2) functions of questions, and (3) roles of…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Examination in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this reading test (to be administered along with a questions booklet) includes the following eight short selections taken from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama: "Loyalties" (Roo Borson); "Clever Animals" (Lewis Thomas); "Death of…

The University of Texas at Austin conducted a validity study of the College Board Achievement Test in Russian Listening-Reading during the 1986-87 academic year. The test, a multiple-choice test with audio-taped and reading portions, was administered to 298 students in 22 sections of 8 courses in Russian. The purpose was to revalidate the test as…

A study was conducted to investigate the curricular experiences of the low achievers, including the quality of the programs they participated in and the congruence between their classroom and pullout programs. Three lower-middle-class first graders in the Pacific Northwest participated in the study: John spent the entire day in the classroom;…

This paper reports on an experiment designed to determine whether a novice second-language (L2) reader can be characterized as concept-oriented or syntactic-structure oriented. The operating premise was that high school L2 students read and understand not so much by translating as by combining conceptual fragments into a tentative "script," which…

Intended to discourage classroom reading teachers from relying on "phonics instruction" as a remedy for students' inadequate reading performance, this pamphlet presents reasons why phonics drills should not be taught at all in the classroom and offers a set of practical phonic awareness activities to help poor readers overcome reading…

A study examined (1) the relative contributions of skill in name retrieval and alphabetic mapping to the acquisition of skill in word identification, (2) the differential aspects of deficiencies in each of these processes on word identification, and (3) the differential effects of name familiarization and training in phonemic segmentation and…

Mathematical word problems are notoriously difficult to solve for students at all grade levels. Performance deficiencies have been attributed to students lacking abstract logico-mathematical knowledge or to insufficiently developed language comprehension skills. At least four general sources of difficulty can be distinguished in mathematical word…

A study of Greek speakers' ability to understand and produce two varieities of codes--Katharevousa (K) and Demotic (D)--is reported. The investigation was undertaken to provide evidence supporting or refuting the Greek government's decision to legislate Demotic as the official language of the country. A sample of 545 informants were tested with a…

A practicum project emphasizing critical thinking skills was undertaken in an eighth grade history class to make students aware of the nature and seriousness of plagiarism. The 10-week unit was preceded by a reading comprehension test and an essay assignment on a major Civil War battle. Plagiarized portions of the essays were highlighted and the…

A supplemental reading intervention program was designed and implemented to increase the reading comprehension for at-risk students. Subjects, 11 fourth graders in two different classes, were chosen on the basis of below grade reading level as evidenced by both classroom performance and national achievement tests' score. The 10-week reading…