The Job Skills Educational Program (JSEP), currently under development for the Army Research Institute, embeds learner strategies training within the context of a basic skills computer-assisted instruction curriculum. The curriculum is designed for low-ability soldiers, and consists largely of instruction in the domain of intellectual skills. An…

Random parallel reading comprehension tests in Japanese and English were administered to a sample of native Japanese students enrolled in intensive English instruction. The students had been placed at three different levels of English language proficiency based on an independent proficiency assessment measure. Evidence for a threshold competency…

In response to the tradition of examining a new test's validity by comparing it with a well-established multiple-choice test, a study investigated whether multiple-choice tests with one right answer can measure the reading comprehension process as defined by constructivists. The study compared the information obtained from two different…

Reading and mathematics objectives measured by the eighth grade tests of the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Tests are described. This guide was designed to familiarize the teacher with assessment characteristics for each objective. Objectives in concept identification, component operations, and problem solving are defined for mathematics. All…

This practicum was designed to improve reading comprehension of intermediate grade children attending compensatory education classes in a Florida elementary school. It involved 11 students in grades 2 through 5 who were low achievers in reading and/or math. It was designed to improve reading comprehension by providing training using six specific…

A study tested the effects of hedges (which signal writers' tentative assessment of referential information) on readers' learning. Subjects, 145 ninth-grade students from three middle class junior high schools in a midwestern city who were ranked on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, participated in the experiment--74 were randomly assigned to an…

A study focused on the nature and effect of constraints on the hypotheses that learners make about the meanings of words. Two experiments were conducted at a large midwestern university: the first, involving 68 undergraduate students divided randomly into two groups, tested taxonomic and durative constraints on nouns, and time of day and cessation…

Articles in this yearbook contribute to a broad perspective of changing concepts of reading, each focusing attention on an area of major factors exercising current impact on reading and on the education of reading teachers. The articles and their authors are as follows: "Learning from Text" (T. Estes); "Untying the Gordian Knot" (W. Blanton and G.…

Psychometric and ethnographic frameworks were used to explore the relationships among adults' uses for reading and their demonstrated competencies with related domains of tasks. Information regarding frequently occurring reading tasks was gathered from 42 adults in both work and leisure settings by means of questionnaires, interviews, and…

Because of the difference between narrative and expository material, students in grades 4-12 require different reading skills, as well as different levels of skills to comprehend subject matter reading. This means the content area teacher has two roles: subject matter specialist and instructional leader. The following model suggests a process by…

Created by contributing teachers to provide Indiana teachers with new ideas for classroom reading activities, this set of cards (which can be kept in a resource file) may be used to motivate, challenge, and reinforce reading skills. The first card lists considerations for developing games, while the remaining cards describe approximately 40…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The seven titles deal with the following topics: (1) the teaching of reading using art as a teaching tool, (2) the effectiveness of a written cueing summary in increasing reading rate and retrieval speed in two content area subjects,…

Three studies were conducted to test the effectiveness of reciprocal teaching as a means of instructing seventh grade poor readers about activities they could use to increase comprehension and to ascertain that their comprehension was proceeding smoothly (comprehension monitoring). Reciprocal teaching involves having teacher and students take…

While listening comprehension is perhaps the most ignored area of the language arts, a review of the literature suggests that it is deserving of more classroom instructional time. Involving the simultaneous orchestration of skills in phonology, syntax, semantics, and knowledge of text structure, listening comprehension seems to be controlled by…

Basic Achievement Skills Individual Screener (BASIS) was designed by the Psychological Corporation to yield criterion-referenced information as well as normative scores. The constraints imposed by this dual purpose were increased by the requirements inherent in an individually-administered format and the short testing time consistent with test use…