Forty-three learning disabled children referred to a medical outpatient clinic because of reading difficulties were evaluated and followed for a period of five-seven years to study the course of their reading achievement and its relationship over time to various characteristics. (DLS)

Reports findings of an investigation of the effect of teaching behaviors on student reading achievement in Spanish. (FL)

Describes two studies: (1) the effects of instruction on the types of reading strategies used by children when given a book and a set of questions about it, and (2) the progress in ability to use a book made by a group of children between 1973 and 1977. (GT)

Two additional hypotheses were tested in a replication of a previous study that found two factors from the "Children's Personality Questionnaire" that discriminated between disabled and non-disabled readers. Notes the differences between this study's results and the original study's results. (RL)

This study confirms the hypothesis that poor children's difficulties with sounds stem not from deficiencies in auditory discrimination but from inadequate skill in phonemic analysis. Almost all of disadvantaged and middle-class kindergarten-age children could readily hear phoneme differences in words. Almost all of the disadvantaged children, but…

Discusses research findings that indicate that while basic reading skills are improving noticeably at the lower grade levels, there is cause for concern about the decline in more advanced levels of reading comprehension at the higher grade levels. (Author/JG)

Investigates whether a general or specific working memory (WM) system is related to writing and whether individual differences in reading and/or processing efficiency underlie correlations between WM and writing. Indicates that WM measures contribute variance to writing, and WM performance improves under gain conditions--this enhanced efficiency…

Two experiments showed increased use of orthographic rime correspondence in nonword reading tasks from second to fourth grade, with no further increase from fourth to sixth grade. The use of orthographic rime correspondences in reading ambiguous non-words was more strongly associated with word-level reading skills than was the use of…

Reports on changes in reading skills of students for the period 1970-90; the progress made by 9- and 14-year-old students in 1990; and the efficiency of reading pedagogy in United States schools compared with efficiencies in other leading industrial countries. Finds that reading progress in the United States is the worst among leading industrial…

Teachers in Highland Park, Michigan, conducted research and began an interactive reading-instruction program for students who were not succeeding in school. Reciprocal teaching, which trains students to use four strategies (generating questions, summarizing, clarifying, and predicting) for improving reading comprehension, raised hopes,…

This study examined the effectiveness of a modified and comprehensive version of the "Open Court Reading Curriculum" with two groups of children with emotional and/or behavior disorders. Results showed moderate gains in reading achievement but no changes in observed problem behaviors. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Describes 2 points of view about the relationship between oral-language and literacy skills: The phonological sensitivity approach posits that vocabulary provides the basis for phonological sensitivity, which then is the key language ability supporting reading, and the comprehensive language approach posits that varied language skills interact…

Studied the existence of optimal classes (classes in which students reach maximal individual achievement with little difference in outcomes within the class) in two German samples from a reading literacy study, representing more than 270 classes of eighth graders. Findings show different proportions of optimal classes in the five basic German…

Studied how four aspects of quality instruction (quantity of assignments, coherence of instruction, student voice in curricular and pedagogical issues, and content of instruction) affect growth in reading achievement from grades 8 to 12. Findings for 8,157 students show the influence of some of these aspects. (SLD)

Examines the effects of a literacy intervention in kindergarten using a control-group design. States that three treatment groups were taught using beginning-reading booklets to complement the authorized language program. Indicates that children's knowledge of early literacy concepts increased during kindergarten and that this improved students'…