Discusses the unique approaches, well-put notions, fine-tuned procedures, or insightful conclusions in 10 dissertations nominated for the 1989 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the International Reading Association. (RS)

Examined are gender differences across the mathematics curriculum related to various topic areas and mathematical abilities. It was found that boys performed better than girls in geometry and excelled in comprehension, and solving routine and non-routine problems while girls were better at mathematical manipulation problems. (Author/MVL)

Western and Soviet views of memory-related performance are synthesized. Whether middle childhood-aged students comprehend better with meaning-based (involuntary) strategies due to the importance of semantic focus, and whether adolescent students comprehend better with memory-oriented (voluntary) strategies were studied with 243 students in grades…

Reviews reading research in Great Britain in 1987, focusing on: parental involvement; preschool literacy; oral reading; remedial reading; writing, spelling, and handwriting; word recognition; comprehension; reading and thinking; and reading schemes. Suggests that future literacy research should reflect alternative means of investigation and a…

Describes the services in reading, evaluation, and counseling offered at the Lane Reading and Counseling Center, including preparation programs for standardized tests, remedial instruction, and enrichment programs. Emphasizes that reading is a skill and that skills can be learned. (RS)

Examines second-grade teachers' responses to students' answers in the questioning phase of reading lessons. Identifies eight response types: the null rejoinder; explicit evaluation; repetition of student's response; elaboration; and combinations of the last three types. Finds negligible differences among teachers' responses to readers of varying…

Sixty hearing-impaired students, aged 12-22, studied one of four instructional formats describing basic science concepts. Comprehension gains were measured using a pretest-posttest procedure. Formats which featured highly pictorial content and simplified English produced significantly higher mean gain scores than formats with less pictorial…

This paper first examines specific challenges faced by learners using integrated media, including the cognitive challenges of navigation and focused attention. The paper then examines pedagogical opportunities of integrated media in the following areas: (1) developing vocabulary and reading comprehension; (2) anchoring instruction in meaningful…

Two experiments investigated the role of text coherence in junior high school students' comprehension of science texts. Found that text coherence improved readers' comprehension, but also that giving readers with sufficient background knowledge an incoherent text that forced them to infer unstated relations engaged them in compensatory processing,…

This paper discusses methods for providing students from diverse home environments with essential educational experiences. It emphasizes the importance of patience in teaching children comprehension and offers guidelines for fostering children's development of comprehension, memory, and evaluative and relational thinking skills. (PB)

Examines the effects of an imposed schema on the reader's comprehension of a text. Both a correct and a false schema were imposed on the subjects in the form of comprehension questions geared to one of two points of view. Subjects were 177 English-as-a-foreign-language university students. The implications for teachers of reading comprehension are…

Asserts that a primary goal of social studies is to prepare students to make informed decisions on public and political issues. Maintains that the most effective approach to teaching critical thinking is through infusion--teaching thinking skills in the context of subject matter. (CFR)

Six instructional design principles are recommended to enable students with learning disabilities to comprehend and compose expository materials. The instructional principles are illustrated using the compare/contrast text structure. Charts provide examples and clarification of the strategies. (SW)

R-WISE (Reading and Writing in a Supportive Environment), a computerized package for teaching critical literacy, is described, focusing on its use in developing reading comprehension. The program eases demands on short-term memory, highlights strategically important aspects of comprehending text, guides internalization and self-initiation of…

Presents a study of the acquisition and development of information coordination ability. Examines students' composition of texts comparing two cultural groups after reading either one text describing both or a separate text on each. Concludes that older students used more complex information integration levels, whereas all subjects performed…