An attempt was made to document the beginning of children's ability to make cognitive-emotional discriminations between skill-dependent outcomes and chance-dependent outcomes of performance on tasks. Children between the ages of 2 and 5 years were administered structurally similar achievement games and effect games. It was thought that as soon as…

A study was carried on to analyze a data set in order to determine whether evidence can be found to support or refute the unitary factor hypothesis of language proficiency, which asserts that there is a single language dimension or factor underlying different language tests. The subjects were 50 advanced adult learners of English as a second…

A new model of the revision process in written composition, based on the results of thinking aloud protocol studies, is presented in this report. The report begins by discussing earlier observations and theories of revision that establish four points: (1) there are large differences among writers in the amount of revising they do, (2) expert…

Recognizing the lack of research delineating what personality traits might predispose a person to poor listening, this paper contrasts two lines of research assessing how the cognitive and affective characteristics of speakers impact on their recall of conversation. The first section of the paper considers the theoretical perspective arguing that…

The guide is designed to increase the effectiveness of persons who tutor learning disabled (LD) college students by providing information on LD characteristics as well as specific strategies and techniques for working with LD students. Initial sections define learning disabilities and list characteristics of LD college students in such areas as…

The testing effect is a phenomenon that may be described as follows: following the reading of a prose passage, a group of students who are given a posttest on the passage immediately or shortly afterward will later recall more of the passage on a retention test than will a similar group of students who are not given the posttest. Testing as a…

Children's reading comprehension of explicit, implicit, and metaphorical information was investigated to determine the effects of grade level and recall task type. After reading prose selections containing the three types of information, 40 second and 40 fifth grade students were assessed on either cued or free recall tasks. Their comprehension…

A model for adult language learning is developed based on the postulates that language is semiotic, contextual, communicative, and cultural. Research in psycholinguistics has discovered that a cognitive and recognitional knowledge of language underlies and is greater than performative language. The move from the first level, the semantic base, to…

The amount and structure of prose learning derived from vocabulary definition and graphic post-organizer construction methods of independent study tasks is examined. Undergraduate subjects (n=144) read a 2000-word passage in a 20-minute reading period. Two subject groups performed text information tasks while a third acted as a control to measure…

This reading skills guide for grades kindergarten through six is based on the Readiness-Instruction-Maintenance model, which is designed to serve as an aid in the teaching of reading by supplying a cohesive framework for the instruction and acquisition of basic reading skills. In the RIM model, readiness (R) stands for exposure to the skill,…

Designed to complement the RIM (Reading-Instruction-Maintenance) Reading Skill Guide, this reference guide provides a useful tool for teachers utilizing the RIM Model in grades kindergarten through six. In the RIM model, readiness (R) stands for exposure to the skill, mastery not expected; instruction (I) stands for formal presentation with…

A self-administered survey was given to 152 college students to test their knowledge and understanding of some basic health facts and terminology commonly found in printed materials affixed to or accompanying common over-the-counter (OTC) drug preparations. The results indicated that 96% of the sample had used OTC medications as college students.…

The articles in this special journal issue focusing on children's literature were drawn from papers presented at the Conference on Children's Literature held in 1982 at The Ohio State University. The first section contains articles that address the question "What makes a good children's book?" The question is approached from a historical…

Designed to alert adult basic education teachers to the factors of readability and to suggest ways that some readability problems can be alleviated, this resource unit discusses the problems posed by readability formulas and suggests that teachers must both press for more readable adult texts and question intelligently the products of publishers…

Theories of cognitive processing suggest specific effects result from different elaboration treatments. To test this assumption, 125 high school students were randomly assigned to read concept materials containing adjunct elaborations that varied by elaboration type (mnemonics, schematics, or metaphors) and presentation mode (verbal or visual). To…