A method was developed for characterizing and comparing the semantic content of picture-text combinations used as stimuli in research on reading procedural instructions. The written directions for assembling a toy model were analyzed, and sets of propositions in the instructions were constructed using C. H. Frederiksen's discourse analysis model.…

Four readers, ranging in age from 62 to 82, were selected for intensive analysis of their reading strategies, habits, and interests. Interviewing provided demographic information and reading habits and interests. Each person read orally an unfamiliar expository selection rated at ninth-grade-level difficulty by the Dale-Chall Readability Formula…

Questioning as an after-reading activity is not sufficient alone as a strategy to develop reading comprehension. This paper presents instructional strategies to support comprehension throughout a student's particular reading encounter. Included are four strategies which involve students: (1) have students specify content expectancies in a variety…

This practicum sought to improve reading vocabulary and comprehension in fourth-grade students by using comic books 30 minutes per day as a supplement to the regular basal reading program. High-interest comic books were used by a class section of 18 students in the experimental group, for a period of four months. Another class section of 20…

The organization of this course outline is based in part on current thought regarding the teaching of reading as it relates to whether comprehension is a general skill or a set of specific identifiable skills, to reading as content and process, to vocabulary development, and to divergent thinking. The outline is divided into two major sections:…

The Degrees of Reading Power Test was developed to address some existing problems in testing comprehension. The test design reflects the need to consider problems of passage dependency, difficulty of questions, tests for continuous text, and sensitivity to gains. It emphasizes a set of response options controlled for familiarity, a text that is…

This report presents a synthesis of a day-and-a-half interactive conference on research and development in reading attended by a group of reading specialists from Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas representing their state departments of education. It includes the two presentations "A Sampling of Research Within Reach"…

This article considers the physiological, psychological, and aesthetical parameters of video on two levels--practical and conceptual. Physiological effects and processes are defined as those which occur within a human being when viewing a video event, while videopsychology focuses on how people use the medium of video and the possibilities for…

United States Air Force personnel at two levels of reading ability (eighth and tenth grades) were the subjects in a study that measured the effects of three experimental variables on comprehension of two text passages developed from Air Force reading materials. The factors investigated were reading ability, "literacy gap" (the difference in the…

In a sample of more than 400 fifth grade students, the reading comprehension levels of children living with both parents and children living with only one parent were compared. Data were collected on the demographic variables of race, student sex, family organization (two parents/one parent), parent educational level, family occupational prestige,…

The described inservice teacher education program is designed for elementary school teachers interested in developing skills in teaching reading in an individually guided educational program. The scope and sequencing of topics in the program are outlined, and activities and resources are described. Ordering information for materials is provided,…

This study investigated developmental changes in children's recall of televised central and incidental content. Central content was plot-relevant; incidental content was peripheral to the plot. Both content types were classified at two levels of production features, high salience and low salience. High salience features were high action, loud…

This book concludes a six-volume review of research and theory on learning and cognition. Its six chapters cover the following topics: theories of semantic memory, comprehension and memory of text, coding processes in memory, perceptual learning from reading, speech perception, and the organization and core concepts of learning theory and…

Sixteen children (aged 14 to 26 months), who were reported by their parents to overextend, were tested for overextension in both language production and comprehension. The children were first asked to name each of a series of pictures of inappropriate exemplars of the words they were reported to overextend. Those words that were overextended, a…

The described inservice teacher education materials are designed for the first-year teacher at the elementary grade level with the specific area of concentration on the teaching of reading. The objectives for new teachers are outlined as well as the contents of the booklets that comprise the learning module. Activities and resources involved in…