Discusses the importance of improving students' visual perception as a way of improving their literary perception. Describes visual perception exercises that can be used in the English classroom. (EL)

Describes a study which compared a traditional approach to second language vocabulary instruction with the semantic field approach, which is based on the association between five related words and a key word that could be mentally substituted in context. Findings lend support to the use of the semantic field approach. (SED)

Argues that since the successful teaching of reading does not depend on materials and schemes alone, a teacher who fails to acknowledge cultural factors that influence a pupil's ways of knowing will achieve only limited success. (EL)

Examines the effect of prior knowledge activation on sixth-grade readers' comprehension of compatible and incompatible text. Results support the notion that prior knowledge may intefer with, rather than facilitate, reading comprehension under certain conditions. (HOD)

Reports on a study that examined the effects of prior knowledge and topic interest on the reading comprehension of seventh- and eighth-grade students. The results suggested that both prior knowledge and topic interest were autonomous factors in reading comprehension. (HOD)

Examines how much and what kind of reading comprehension instruction is provided in the student textbooks and teachers' editions of five social studies programs at the fourth- and sixth-grade levels. Concludes, among other findings, that direct instruction in skills is rare. (HOD)

The ReQuest procedure, designed to teach students to raise questions independently, has many components that lend themselves to solving some of the problems faced by the teacher of juvenile delinquents. (HOD)

Describes some reading comprehension exercises developed for university-level students whose native language is not English. By keeping the ultimate focus on meaning, rather than on strict grammatical correctness or "dictionary meaning," it is hoped that students will become better able to develop awareness of how meaning is conveyed, not only in…

Measures children's attention to television programs varying in pace and continuity and assesses recall of the temporal sequence of program events. Attention and comprehension covaried more in animated than in live shows. Age, continuity, and pace effects on recall were not fully accounted for by their effects on attention. (Author/AS)

Children from grades one through six judged commercially produced advertisements, specially produced "pseudocommercials," and verbal descriptions as better suited to advertise a feminine or masculine sex-typed toy. Comprehension of sex-typed connotations was predicted by home television viewing patterns but not by general knowledge of sex…

This study examined the effects of selected reader and task variables on reading comprehension performance. Several reader and task interaction effects were found to be significant, particularly for lookback conditions and constructed response tasks. Cognitive style interacted with hearing state on tasks involving lookback options. (Author/DWH)

Findings indicate that the comprehension of television by kindergarten and first graders, as well as their beliefs about the reality of the medium, are reliably linked with parental mediation styles regarding television and more general patterns of discipline. (PD)

Reviews several books that seek to explain what some of the structures of meaning are that stories present to readers and feed into their memories. (HOD)

Summarizes research conducted at the Center for the Study of Reading at the University of Illinois and points out what it means to daily reading instruction. (FL)

Describes the uses and benefits of reciprocal teaching, a strategy that promotes both comprehension of text and comprehension monitoring. (HOD)