A class of 15 adult literacy students was provided reading instruction and training in self-evaluation skills; a control group of 15 did not receive such training. Data revealed both groups to be overestimators of their reading performance. More experimentals overestimated their performance after training. No differences were found in reading…

The study found that, compared to normally achieving students, 24 students (age 10 and 12) with learning disabilities were less able in vocabulary production tasks and comparable in ability to use pictorial responses to demonstrate vocabulary knowledge. When equated in reading achievement, learning-disabled 10 year olds were poorer in composite…

The multitext approach to teaching reading to diverse groups of adults involves the teacher in selecting a topic and several books. Students follow a seven-step process that actively engages them in defining their knowledge of the topic and taking responsibility for choosing a text and reading to answer questions about the topic. (SK)

Uses an error detection paradigm to examine the ability of college students of different reading proficiency levels to evaluate their understanding of texts. Finds that good readers were more likely than poor readers to detect inconsistent sentences. Finds that students rated passage understanding high regardless of whether they detected…

Severely hearing-impaired students (n=187, ages 7-23) at eight reading levels were evaluated to determine their ability to comprehend common English modals. Although subjects' modal comprehension improved with reading level, subjects at the highest reading levels did not demonstrate complete mastery of modals. Modals tended to be acquired in a…

Results are reported from a study which compared the performance of boys and girls on both written spelling tests and proofreading-type standardized spelling tests. Findings indicate that girls, in general, spell better than boys in grades 1-6. (IAH)

Examines the theoretical underpinnings of the 1986 American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines for reading, covering an historical perspective, the role of background knowledge, the process/product distinction, text types, and hierarchical and interactive reading models. (CB)

Discusses four clear contributions of cognitive research that deserve special attention: (1) skilled readers read words rather than skip them; (2) less skilled readers do rely on context; (3) skilled readers use phonology in reading; and (4) children learn to read successfully by learning how their writing system works. (RS)

Finds that a deficiency in phonological coding and an overreliance upon orthographic coding, often observed in dyslexic children, can also be seen in relatively poor readers and spellers within a normal adult population. (RS)

Compares the performance of poor readers with that of matched good readers and younger average readers. Found that all poor readers performed poorly in all three linguistic areas concurrently, and these difficulties persisted; poor readers demonstrated a difference between their phonological processing skills and their semantic/syntactic skills;…

Follows a representative sample of poor readers through secondary school. Finds that, as a group, poor readers fell further behind a normal-reading comparison group during their early teens. Finds also that poor readers were more likely to leave school early and had much depressed educational qualifications. (RS)

Investigates whether Arabic orthography differs from an alphabetic orthography regarding context effects among poor and skilled readers. Finds that skilled as well as poor readers significantly improved their reading accuracy when they read voweled and unvoweled words in context and that skilled readers significantly improved their reading voweled…

Investigates the relationship between different levels of phonological awareness and literacy acquisition in Portuguese. Finds that phonemic awareness plays an important role in alphabetic literacy acquisition. Notes that both sensitivity to phonemic similarity and phonemic segmentation skills significantly predicted reading and spelling ability,…

Finds two general types of intertextual links: (1) links among ideas, events, and people; and (2) social, cultural, political, and historical connections. Notes that the eight high-school students adopted various discourse stances, reflected in the ways they positioned themselves in relation to the passages, and that they used textual resources in…

The level of comprehension monitoring and the level of reading comprehension in 36 low- and 20 high-achieving fourth graders were investigated. Results indicated that the level of monitoring and the level of comprehension were related, a fact that helps clarify differences in low- and high-achieving readers' comprehension. (SLD)