Recent advances in psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology, and information processing theory have produced several notions that have revolutionized previous conceptions of reading and what it means to understand. These notions support the idea that more emphasis should be placed on reading comprehension skills in the English as a second language…

This paper describes and illustrates a simulation model for the processing of grammatical elements in a sentence, focusing on one aspect of sentence comprehension: the assignment of the constituent elements of a sentence to the correct thematic case roles. The model addresses questions about sentence processing from a perspective very different…

One of a series dealing with current issues affecting language arts instruction, this paper focuses on the conceptions and misconceptions of readability. The paper begins by noting that over the years, researchers in readability have had two major goals: to determine what makes written materials easy or difficult to read and comprehend, and to…

Most studies of eye movement behavior during reading have dealt with the processes involved with local aspects of text, such as visual or graphic characteristics or individual word features. To determine if a global level of processing (pertaining to the whole text or to large sections of it) would affect eye movement patterns differently, a study…

In an effort to assess community college students' knowledge of the liberal arts, the Center for the Study of Community Colleges developed and field-tested a student survey and General Academic Assessment (GAA) instrument. The GAA was completed by a sample of 8,024 students at four large, urban community college districts. The scores were cross…

Jonathan Culler's notion, that each change of perspective a reader makes brings something different from the text, is explored by using four curricula. They are: the traditional language arts curriculum, an active reading comprehension curriculum, a psychology curriculum, and a feminist curriculum. By analyzing the same text, "Snow White and…

A study investigated the role of metacognitive skills and the conception of reading in the reading comprehension of adult native speakers of Spanish and English. The study differed from others in its examination of reading conceptions and comprehension in both the first and second languages. Results suggest that both first language reading ability…

A study examined the effects of literacy in a Roman alphabet on the performance of Hmong refugees in a three-month program of English as a second language (ESL) and cultural orientation located in Thailand. Upon registration, information was gathered from program participants on previous education and reading ability in Hmong. The 114 subjects…

Reflecting current themes that researchers, by their selective attention, have indicated are important in the field of reading/language processing and instruction, this yearbook presents a collection of 51 selected research articles from the National Reading Conference for 1983. Included are the following articles, listed with their authors: (1)…

A study examined the achievement scores of second graders by race and sex on several measures of language competence. Achievement was measured in paradigmatic language, reading comprehension, sight vocabulary and listening comprehension. Subjects were 157 second graders in a large elementary school in a rural county in Georgia; one-third of the…

Using a recursive network transition model for depicting stories to generate two stories of contrasting structure (successive episodes organized by topic and embedded episodes organized by failed and successful goals), a study examined the understanding of the structures by having children in the third through eleventh grades rate each story…

Seventy good readers and 70 poor readers who were students at a community college participated in a study that examined the role of adversative connectives in helping students integrate information across sentence boundaries. Three functions of adversative connectives were examined: contrast or conflict, parallel points, and foregrounding…

Fourth and sixth grade children differing in reading proficiency read and commented on brief expository passages containing three different types of embedded problems (nonsense words, prior knowledge violations, and internal inconsistencies). Half of the children were specificially instructed as to the types of standards they should apply in order…

A study examined students' ability to comprehend consistent or inconsistent text when activating relevant or irrelevant background knowledge. Fifty-five grade six students reading at or above grade level were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: activated/consistent, nonactivated/consistent, activated/inconsistent, and…

A study investigated the effect of underlining, naturally occurring prior knowledge, induced prior knowledge, and placement order of text information on students' immediate and delayed recall of unfamiliar text. Two reading passages of approximately 800 words were generated on the topic of computers, each with sections of information judged…