Studied reading comprehension demands in a seventh-grade social studies classroom to reveal existing classroom cultures and complexities surrounding expository text comprehension. Found that in the particular classroom, the textbook determined knowledge exploration and had a damaging pedagogical effect on the students' literacy practices.…

This study compared factors contributing to Quick Incidental Learning of new vocabulary by 50 5-year olds with specific language impairment (SLI) and 2 comparison groups. Although SLI children exhibited a robust representational mapping ability, performance was modulated by a minimum input constraint and apparent problems with storage into…

Two experiments investigated the focusing properties of thematic roles, and a third examined the view that thematic role preferences reflect a focusing on the consequences of the represented event. Results focus on the structure of represented events, top-down and bottom-up processes, thematic hierarchies and pronoun comprehension. (35 references)…

Includes five articles with the following topics: a computerized reading motivation/comprehension program used to enrich a high school curriculum; a summer reading-ahead program for seventh and eighth graders; educating students about censorship; protecting books from theft; and an author's visit that showed a high school how to integrate reading…

Reports on a development in interactive Japanese at a new facility where lexicographical information can be viewed with full contextual information. This information is available for any word in the 65 texts incorporated in the course. This method of showing all the collocations of a word was implemented to help users monitor progress. (24…

Investigates the effectiveness of instruction in story mapping as a means to promote first-grade students' comprehension of central story elements in children's literature. Concludes that instruction in story mapping is an effective instructional strategy for promoting first-grade students' ability to identify central narrative elements in…

Investigated whether specific strategies of commenting or questioning by the adult reader would influence the complexity and type of spontaneous comments to story details made by children listening to stories. Results suggest that parents and teachers should combine questioning and commenting during storybook readings to induce lengthier comments…

Describes a study with undergraduate students that examined whether the appearance of graphics and other visuals in a television newscast would result in lower recall of audio content, whether such visuals would promote comprehension of each story as a whole, and whether subjects would prefer stories with visuals. (24 references) (LRW)

Describes transactional strategies instruction, an approach to teaching reading comprehension in elementary classes that focuses on student and teacher transactions with text. Contends that the approach differs from traditional strategy instruction. Provides examples of transactional strategies instruction, including dialogs between teachers and…

Decoding, working memory, and domain-specific prior knowledge were studied as predictors of comprehension for 48 university undergraduate students after rewriting notes, rereading notes, or rereading a text. Working memory was most important for comprehension of text-implicit information, whereas knowledge was relatively more important for…

This commentary on a paper by Diane Sawyer (EC 602 748) on relations between various language skills and the development of reading ability addresses potential limitations in the implementation of structural equation modeling. The commentary concludes that the data presented by Sawyer do not support the interpretation that reading comprehension…

Reports a study which examined the effects of direct instruction on the think-aloud protocols of ninth grade readers. Students made think-aloud protocols on two stories before and after instruction. Although the instruction did not substantially affect students' interpretive operations in reading, some students were less submissive to the text.…

The development and evaluation of a series of hypermedia tools designed to help students learn to program in PASCAL or LISP are described. Classroom trials with 171 college students illustrate use of the developed tools. The use of hypermedia to foster integrated understanding is discussed. (SLD)

Analyzes some of the effects of advance organizers on text recall by seventh grade students. Finds that the advance organizer that allowed for oral presentation by the teacher with ensuing discussion resulted in the greatest and most resilient recall. Notes that discussion also affected scores. Shares teaching implications. (RS)

Investigates whether listening to stories in literary Arabic would have salutary effects on kindergarten children's emergent literacy skills. Finds that children in the experimental classes outperformed control classes on comprehension and active use of language. Concludes that children can acquire a second register through exposure in school…