The focus of this paper is on three questions: (1) What reading skills are important to social studies achievement? (2) How can these skills be operationally defined for research and practice? and (3) How can the application of such research findings be effected? Several sources of research and discussions on reading and its relation to content…

One purpose of the International Reading Association (IRA)--to improve the quality of reading instruction at all levels--was discussed. The topic was divided into three parts: Developmental Reading, The International Challenge, and The Role of IRA. The substance of the first part was based on the theoretical model of reading described by Gray in…

This paper focuses on four studies of pupils' reading comprehension completed at the University of Alberta. A number of investigators have described the acquisition and use of connectives by pupils and have indicated the importance of connectives in the development of abstract logical thinking. (Teachers often consider these words too simple to…

The relevance of a specific linguistic concept--deep structure--to reading comprehension was investigated. The sample consisted of 87 fifth-grade students who were of above-average intelligence. To study the relationship of children's skill at recovering the deep structure of sentences to reading comprehension, the Deep Structure Recovery Test…

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness ot two training sequences designed to increase auditory discrimination in preschool educationally disadvantaged children. Auditory discrimination is important because, among other reasons, studies have shown the existence of a high positive correlation between a child's ability to listen and…

The incidental learning effects of discrimination which would be required in searching for and selecting related information in a text were explored. Sixty-one students from three educational psychology classes at Fairleigh-Dickinson University participated. Subjects were randomly assigned to four experimental groups and were given reading search…

Instruments and manuals prepared for those conducting the research of the IEA project comprise Volume II of the final report of the 18-nation study of educational attainment at the elementary and secondary school levels. Section 1 includes technical research guidelines for national centers, school coordinators, and test administrators. Section 2…

The varied reading deficiencies of college students of several backgrounds and ability levels are described to illustrate the need for differentiation in effective reading instruction for college students. It is contended that the fact that many good students are slow and poor readers is continually overlooked in reading instruction. Data from…

In a synthesis of literature on reading in mathematics, it was noted that there is a broad basis of research in this area on which to base instruction of definite reading skills important in arithmetic achievement. It was stressed that the vocabulary of arithmetic texts runs at readability levels higher than the performance levels of students in…

Aural comprehension tests, which are designed so that the student can give non-vocal reactions to orally-presented problems are valuable for two reasons: they provide the teacher of English with an objective and accurate measure of the pupils' comprehension and can also be given simultaneously to a large group of students. According to the author,…

The main premise of this article is that tape recordings can be a very useful tool to the classroom language teacher. The author points out that the tapes are ideal for the habituation type of learning (dialogs, memorization, repetition, etc.,) which is preliminary to the communication stage of language learning. He is mainly concerned with five…

This study grew out of an objective of the Upper Cumberland Reading Project, funded under Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and serving 13 Appalachian counties of Tennessee. The objectives called for development of a diagnostic test especially suited to the needs of rural mountain children to be used by teachers as an aid to…

The final evaluation of a three-year project in an Indiana elementary school, funded by Title III of the Elementary Secondary Education Act, is reported in this document. Project READS (Reading Excellence Achieved through Differentiated Staffing), expected to continue after cessation of federal funding, seeks to improve both developmental reading…

The reading policy issued by the Arizona State Board of Education in July 1971 requires that high school graduates after 1974-75 shall, in addition to other regular graduation requirements, demonstrate ability to read at least a ninth grade level of proficiency. Each local school board has complete autonomy to develop its own performance…

Despite the continued lack of adequate professional preparation of secondary teachers in reading, there are steps which the secondary classroom content-area teacher can take to improve the reading ability of his students. The first thing the teacher must do is determine the specific reading and study skills required by students for content…