The Distar and Open Court reading programs illustrate contrasting definitions and emphases of reading instruction that are part of a larger concern--how children are expected to use their literacy skills. Both programs teach phonics, but they define phonics in different ways. Each relies on teacher-directed group instruction, but Open Court was…

Perceptual units are involved in the reading process in a particular way. Reading starts with patterns of visual perception visual stimuli in combination with either previously learned information or a strategy for selectively attending to part of the stimuli. Whether the visual pattern selected for deeper information processing is a letter, a…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 26 titles are concerned with a variety of topics related to reading skills and reading achievement in content-area courses or life situations, including the language of commonly used forms; the readability of a state driver's…

One hundred eight children in grades two to four (ages 7 to 10) whose reading level was one to two years below grade level participated in this program. The Creative Reading Program for the Children's Art Carnival funded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I had as its purpose the teaching of reading and other communication…

Adolescents are extremely interested in their cultural sex roles, relationships, changing bodies, changing relationships with parents and with members of the opposite sex, value patterns, and careers. Their reading interests are closely related to their emotional interests. Teachers need to be aware of the complexities of adolescent life and…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 26 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) a structured and an unstructured approach to kindergarten instruction and their effects on reading readiness for the first grade; (2) effects of exposure to…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 24 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) learning experiences resulting from two ways of teaching reading; (2) Right to Read competencies of urban principals as perceived by three groups in reading…

An experiment was conducted with twenty native French speakers using a set of four reading passages, each followed by five multiple choice comprehension questions. Each subject was tested twice when reading aloud and twice when reading silently. Other test materials included a pre-test designed to check whether certain lexical items from the…

Intended for use by college and university educators, this book contains theoretical ideas and practical activities designed to enhance and promote writing across the curriculum programs. Topics discussed in the 12 major chapters are (1) conceptual frameworks of the cross writing program; (2) journal writing across the curriculum; (3) writing and…

Arguing that American schools are not meeting their goals in developing concerned, active citizens who seek to continue to read and learn after their formal schooling has ended, this paper supports this argument by citing information concerning adults' use of books and mass media. The first section of the paper assesses current adult reading and…

One of a series of publications on selected aspects of reading curriculum development, this monograph contains eight papers that deal with expectations in the teaching of reading. Topics covered include (1) the relationship between reading and writing, (2) changing expectations in education, (3) skills programs for remedial readers, (4) ways to…

The reading improvement activities in this handbook are intended for use by middle school social studies teachers. Focusing on study skills, vocabulary development, and comprehension development, the activities include (1) surveying social studies texts and content area reading materials, (2) outlining, (3) spelling, (4) syllabication, (5) word…

The reading improvement activities in this handbook are intended for use by middle school language arts teachers. Focusing on study skills, vocabulary development, and comprehension development, the activities include (1) surveying literary materials, (2) outlining, (3) spelling, (4) syllabication, (5) word recognition, (6) using synonyms, (7)…

Arguing that educational testing has not grown with the theory and knowledge base of the reading field, this paper cites the current configuration of testing as a major contributor to the instructional stagnation, methodological back-to-basics movement, and general lack of excitement and true innovation found in classrooms and schools today. The…

When working with limited English proficient (LEP) children who have been mainstreamed into regular elementary school classrooms, teachers must keep in mind that the first order of business is to help the students build a store of knowledge about English--how it sounds, what it looks like in print, and what it means. Teachers will discover that it…