Argues that readability formulas accurately predict how easily a passage will be understood by considering sentence length and word difficulty. Claims that the misuse of readability formulas as writing guides is responsible for much of the criticism. Challenges the critics to come up with something better. (RS)

Examined whether children were likely to associate animate-type or inanimate-type of movement with living objects and whether this judgment varies with age. Children and adults participated in the study. Findings suggest that both knowledge about different life properties and overattribution are characteristic of the preschool period. (BAC)

Describes a south Tucson elementary school's efforts to keep its Hispanic and Native American student population actively engaged through the Educational and Community Change Project. Teachers are reinventing their own beliefs and expectations while constructing class dialog around children's interests and personal theories. A pumpkin…

Examined instructional designers' use of learner analysis when designing and developing computer-assisted instructional materials by surveying 14 instructional system designers. Results indicate that learner analysis is only occasionally implemented to determine a learner's reading level. The cover letter and survey are appended. (JMV)

Discusses constructivist teaching, students' prior knowledge, teachers' construction of models of students' mathematics, and the need to make the role of the mathematics teacher problematic. (three references) (MKR)

Addresses the immediate needs of language teachers who want to develop their students' reading skills but have not been provided with the instructional information necessary to do so. It suggests a methodological sequence for using the students' background knowledge and strategy training for foreign language reading using authentic texts. (33…

This study investigated the effects of culture-specific background knowledge and inferences upon second-language readers' comprehension of text. Ten Korean adult second-language readers were asked to think aloud as they read a short story from another culture and then answer a detailed set of postreading questions. (20 references) (VWL)

Examines proficient and less proficient high school comprehenders' use of strategies as they read three passages with different top-level structures: collection, causation, and comparison. Finds that both groups of readers use similar strategies. Finds that proficient comprehenders use more previous knowledge on the collection passage and more…

Examines previous studies of the effects of prediction activities, prior knowledge, and text type upon reading comprehension. Finds the three elements unimportant to ordinary reading. Observes that many schema theory concepts arose from analysis of difficult reading. Suggests that the schema theory variables may arise only in atypical reading…

A total of 108 eleventh and twelfth graders were given a strategy questionnaire and sample Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) math items in an attempt to explain gender differences on this test. Results showed that, although male students performed better on the SAT math items, prior knowledge and strategies explained nearly 50% of the variance. (MDM)

Examined 1,573 kindergarten children to determine effects of socioeconomic status (SES), kindergarten class size, and prekindergarten experience on early school adjustments. Found that some potentially negative effects associated with SES were ameliorated if the children had prekindergarten experience or were in smaller class sizes in…

Description of the issues surrounding introduction of assessment of prior experiential learning for nurse practitioners illustrates concerns in contemporary British higher education: multiplicity of purposes, fear that academics are losing control over knowledge creation and assessment, and shift from norm- to criterion-referenced assessment.…

To test whether cognitive interest in a topic is affected by how much the reader knows about the topic, 36 undergraduate students read a text, gave a rating for cognitive interest, and answered 2 recall measures. Associations among knowledge, cognitive interest, and text recall are discussed for their implications for learning. (SLD)

Relationships between anxiety toward computers and variables trait anxiety, anxiety toward mathematics, perceived impact of computers on society, and experience in using computers were studied in a sample of 81 male and 81 female university students. All of these variables were found to influence anxiety toward computers, and a significant…

Studies the growth of knowledge of English and teaching in 25 prospective English teachers. Investigates the interaction of prior experiences; their identities as readers, writers, and speakers; their memberships in various discourse communities; their academic preparation; and their early experiences as teachers. (HB)