A study was undertaken to discover the reading strategies of successful and nonsuccessful second-language readers. Forty students' reading strategies were elicited, and a "reading map" constructed for a successful and a nonsuccessful reader. A procedure is suggested for using the "think-aloud" technique in the classroom. (KM)

This article describes the successful effort to reduce illiteracy in Cuba by sending young student teachers into the rural areas to teach reading to workers in isolated spots throughout the country. (JD)

A summary of presentations on the teaching of reading skills in English to speakers of other languages. Topics included the focus on different kinds of skills, use of discourse analysis, and reading as realization of an underlying communicative process. (AMH)

This joint statement expresses concerns about present practices in pre-first grade reading instruction and makes recommendations for improvement. The statement was prepared by seven organizations concerned with preschool education and/or reading instruction. (BD)

Reports a study indicating that summarization training of sixth-grade students improved recall of major but not minor information on a studying task and that such training is an effective tool for improving reading and studying skills. Includes ways to improve summarization instruction for children of this age group. (HTH)

Focuses on the underlying elements in the reading comprehension process that better distinguish its developmental phases. Offers suggestions for the acquisition of strategies pertaining to textual organization that, together with proposed activities for comprehension, contribute to the formation and consolidation of reading habits. Includes…

Reviews the literature relevant to the subject of comprehension monitoring and offers ideas from the reading research for how students can improve their comprehension and how teachers can tell if students understand what they read. (JC)

Describes a basic reading course designed to meet the specific needs of the weakest basic writers enrolled in a large midwestern university with an open admissions policy. Shows how the developmental course improved the students' reading comprehension so they could better understand the texts they would encounter in college courses. (SKC)

Provides information on how to use newspaper comic strips with reluctant, older disabled readers because the visual nature of the comics helps reading comprehension. Activity types include: (1) categorizing; (2) finding main ideas; (3) comparing; (4) determining cause-effect relationships; and (5) predicting outcomes. (SKC)

Analyzes the effect of written assignments on improvement of reading. Describes a study conducted with 40 first-quarter college freshmen in a developmental reading program in which one group had written assignments and the other had none. Concludes that writing has a positive influence on reading. (JG)

Summarizes interviews with adult illiterates enrolled in volunteer reading programs. Reports that no one remembered being read to as a child, and that interviewees recommended phonics, sound work, and word work to improve reading instruction. Emphasizes the importance of self-esteem, and of reading and telling stories to children. (MM)

Three moderately mentally retarded students, aged 8-11, were taught to read words commonly found on community signs. Error percentages were similar for both progressive time-delay procedures and constant time-delay procedures, but the constant time-delay procedure was slightly more efficient in direct instructional time and number of sessions to…

Poor readers often know only the most common meanings or nuances of multimeaning (polysemic) words frequently encountered in reading materials. Teacher-directed, systematic vocabulary instruction must focus on specific problem areas. A three-step plan for teaching multimeaning words is proposed, emphasizing recognition and classification of word…

Four instructional activities for language learning are described, including a unit on body-related vocabulary and expressions using the names of body parts, reading headlines, reading an entire literary work, and "reading" pictures. (MSE)

Advocates using annual reports to help adult learners bridge the gap between competence with basic reading tasks and competence with more difficult and complex tasks which require inferential thinking and application of information for decision making and problem solving. (RS)