This study compared the effectiveness of intensive versus extensive courses to improve reading rate and comprehension. Subjects were 46 government employees who voluntarily enrolled in either a five-and-one-half-week course or in one of two eleven-week courses. The three courses were alike in hours of instruction, instructor, content, tests, and…

In view of the great amount of television viewing among poor readers, the Learning Model for Watching Television was developed to capitalize on students' television watching proclivities. The model encompasses three major overlapping component skill areas to reinforce classroom learning: active listening skills, auditory word recognition skills,…

The BRONCOS reading improvement project is a Right to Read program operating in six Rhode Island schools (five public, one parochial), designed to improve the communication skills of 1,554 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The program was designed to accomplish a greater degree of individualized instruction. Existing reading programs…

The use of the behavioral science principle of contingency in several approaches to teaching beginning reading is discussed in this paper. The failure to provide a contingent relationship between the given reading skill and student success in demonstrating the skill can lead to repeated apparent successes without the student actually manifesting…

Evaluative comments from one participant in the June 1976 Pittsburgh conference on the theory and practice of beginning reading are presented in this paper. Discussion centers on curriculum analyses, testing practices, teaching practices, units of analysis that are required for reading research, learning characteristics, stages of reading…

In order to determine how to enable teachers to become more effective in individualizing reading instruction, 75 preservice teachers who were enrolled in a general education course were observed as they tutored second and third grade children in reading twice a week for one semester. A brief analysis of the literature on the behavior of teachers…

This document summarizes 599 reports of reading research published between 1 July 1975 and 30 June 1976. The research studies are categorized in six major areas, four of which have been subcategorized. The majority of studies reported were classified in the area of the physiology and psychology of reading. Large subdivisions under that major…

Elementary teachers should focus attention on language activities that involve naturally the reciprocal relationships among listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Teachers need to value, use, and make useful the background and language of all students, through a Language Experience Approach (LEA) in which students dictate and write about…

This illustrated reader contains ten one-page stories written in Chinese (Cantonese). The titles in English are: (1) "The Dictionary"; (2) "Come, Have Some Rice Noodles"; (3) "Where Shall We Go"; (4) "Beautiful Day"; (5) "The Little Dog's Wish"; (6) Let's Go to the Movies"; (7) "Going to…

Harvest is a follow-up study on 1,775 students who entered El Paso Community College, Colorado Springs, Colorado for the fall 1973 term. Data through spring 1976 were analyzed. The study was undertaken to seek answers to the following questions: (1) How do students who enter with basic skills at the elementary, junior high, or high school level…

Based on the premise that research findings about children's language acquisition might support theories about the learning of reading, this paper reviews research that has addressed the development of language production and the relationship between language ability and reading achievement. The first section of the literature review deals with…

This guide provides a basic framework that may be implemented in any English as a second language (ESL) program comprised of the following levels: entry pre-literate, entry literate, basic, and intermediate. The program may be implemented in sessions of 5 hours or 3 hours per day of ESL instruction. The modules of instruction are: (1) oral…

A model of reading development was tested by examining preschool children's knowledge of print, their interactions with a teacher, and their parents' perceptions of children's attitudes toward printed materials. The central tenet of the tested model was its hierarchical notion of children's progress in learning to read, leading to the assumption…

A study was undertaken to analyze and compare the content of two reading courses required for all prospective secondary school teachers in each of the seven teacher training schools in New Jersey. A five-page questionnaire was sent to the director of the reading program or to a member of the reading program staff at each of the colleges. The…

Corrective reading assessment and instruction in middle and secondary schools are based on students' weaknesses rather than on their strengths and bear little relationship to the tasks of content area reading. Two premises serve as a rationale for a positive approach to middle and secondary school reading instruction: (1) the majority of students…