The article describes teacher-directed and student-mediated comprehension strategies to improve the text comprehension skills of mainstreamed students with mild disabilities. Techniques include advance organizers, study guides, color coding, oral reading, critical thinking maps, and self-questioning techniques. Guidelines are offered for assessing…

Investigated the effectiveness of guided practice in teaching reading comprehension to 31 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students in a remedial reading class. Guided practice led to superior results in rule-based inference comprehension activities, but did not enhance student performance on QAR2 (a metacognitive strategy) activities. (RJC)

Use of video recorders may enhance young children's comprehension, recall, memory, and problem-solving skills. Research should be conducted on ways in which the combination of the video recorder and computer technology may facilitate children's learning processes. (RH)

Investigates retrieval and reporting of superordinate and subordinate concepts in oral or written recollections. Finds no differences in total number of superordinate, subordinate, or reader-generated ideas recalled; however, does find differences between oral and written recall, depending on initial or ending position of text information. (RS)

Results from a study to determine whether the effects of repeated readings are comparable for learning-disabled (LD) and nondisabled readers (N=50) indicate that, regardless of classification (LD or nondisabled) or level of functioning (instructional- or mastery-level), repeated readings produced more fluent reading and greater recall. (IAH)

Examines the utility of informal reading inventories (IRI) and acknowledges four limitations of the research. Indicates that no validity-enhancing measures were implemented in conjunction with the three IRIs analyzed. Suggests that IRI vocabulary questions do not appear to be useful. (MG)

Examination of the effects of transferred vocabulary knowledge on college students' (N=24) acquisition of Japanese linguistic knowledge, verbal processing skills, and reading comprehension indicated that vocabulary knowledge was most highly correlated with reading comprehension. This initial advantage magnified its effects over time as task…

Computers can be used in a study skills program for students with mild disabilities to enhance text comprehension in content areas, develop vocabulary, organize and monitor errors of written work, and increase research skills for information location. (MSE)

Describes how narrative texts can be represented as networks of causally related statements or events and presents empirical evidence that the networks predict performance on reading comprehension. Compares network theory to other theories of discourse comprehension. Suggests implications of causal representations for reading and composition…

Describes a method for isolating factors that influence the ability of a reader to comprehend the message of an illustration, and explains a model that is constructed from these factors to highlight potential problem stages in an author's design of an illustration. The model is based on data from comprehension trials with college students. (17…

Presents a strategy to improve students' comprehension of content material by having them read, discuss, and give written responses to items pertaining to short content texts. (MG)

Evaluates the methodological adequacy of 37 studies of reading comprehension strategy instruction according to criteria of both internal and external validity. Finds many strengths, but identifies six important weaknesses. Suggests guidelines for planning future studies, and urges comprehension researchers to pay more attention to methodological…

Suggests 12 strategies for helping students read social studies material with greater comprehension and increased creative interaction with text. Strategies include drama games, simulations, debates, oral histories, current events, and cross age teaching. (LS)

Identifies the cognitive skills necessary for children to accurately comprehend projective size on television. Traces the acquisition of these skills and identifies the role of media experience in facilitating comprehension by assessing the extent to which different types of television fare require the use of different cognitive skills. (MS)

Instead of decoding sentences, good readers build meaning by integrating their knowledge with the text. Reading assessment must shift from traditional quantifiable tests to a portfolio system incorporating multiple measures and indicators of expertise. Michigan and Illinois efforts to translate interactive reading theory into assessment practices…