Used a one-year longitudinal study to examine the extent to which grammatical awareness in preschool predicted reading independently of preschool general verbal skills, phonological awareness, and word recognition. Found that, independently of other skills, grammatical awareness predicted word recognition and pseudoword recoding, but not reading…

Describes the development of an English-as-a-Second-Language computer-adaptive test of reading comprehension. The article discusses the constraints that apply to Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) and the advantages of CAT over conventional testing modalities. (29 references) (Author/CK)

Four ideas for French language classroom activities are described: an exercise in listening to popular songs; a film scenario rewriting exercise; a technique for teaching the subjunctive mood; and a paired or small-group activity to enhance understanding of advertising. (MSE)

The ways in which poetry can offer the French second-language learner insights into French daily "culture" are examined. Aspects of poetry discussed include the creation of atmosphere in physical context, the power of words to evoke emotion, and the use of rhythm. Two poems are presented for illustration, and reading and writing exercises are…

Describes the assessment of the revised objectives of an English reading course offered at Kuwait University to foster reading comprehension for academic purposes. Analysis of data obtained from pre- and posttests showed improvement in reading skills although there were differences between students who were Arts and Science majors. (19 references)…

Investigates how many words of the Dutch language, and which words, an adult nonnative speaker must know receptively in order to understand first-year university reading materials. Assessment of the representativeness of a list of 23,550 words and administration of a 140-item multiple-choice vocabulary test indicated that a minimum of 10,000 base…

Severity of hearing loss predicted poor reading comprehension scores for children with reading impairments in Grade 3 (N=67) and Grade 6 (N=36) in a study done in five areas of Quebec (Canada). Good scores of a few Grade 6 students with severe hearing loss indicated that these students can keep up if wide gaps do not exist at the outset of…

Investigates adult second language learners' processing of English syntactically ambiguous sentences in which a prepositional phrase is interpreted as either a noun phrase or verb phrase attachment. Results reveal lexical, syntactic, prosodic, and contextual constraints on processing ambiguous sentences. (87 references) (Author/CK)

Selects the major demands in the new general syllabus for second-language learning in the United Kingdom and suggests ways in which teachers and learners can successfully fulfill them. These criteria center around vocabulary requirements and writing, speaking, listening, and reading tests. (10 references) (Author/CK)

Qualitative methodology was used to explore communication behaviors of 13 female adolescents with language problems residing in a correctional facility. Most participants expressed feeling dumb, disliked by friends, put down in school, and having trouble understanding jokes, and problems related to understanding the vocabulary in their texts used…

Describes how many students expect reading to be about answering literal-level questions, taking true-false tests, and figuring out what a teacher wants to know. Explains the Six Traits of Reading from Northwest Regional Educational Labs: decoding; building context; comprehending; interpreting; synthesizing; and evaluating. Notes that these sorts…

Explores whether culture-specific rhetorical conventions affect the reading recall of Chinese English-as-a-Foreign-Language college students at two grade levels. Four English passages verified as using Chinese rhetorical conventions were modified into four counterpart versions reflecting English rhetorical conventions. Taiwanese freshman and…

Presents a detailed design for a content-based unit, the focus of which is the film "Caravaggio." The unit also includes readings in art history and film and is part of a specialized English for academic purposes/English for special purposes reading comprehension course for first-year students majoring in art history and in a…

This case study addressed the meanings two preservice teachers ascribed to four expert strategies used in reciprocal teaching (questioning, summarizing, clarifying, and predicting) and four learning principles upon which reciprocal teaching is built (cognitive apprenticeship, scaffolding, zone of proximal development, and proleptic teaching).…

Presents an analysis of the relationship between third language reading comprehension and its constituent skills for bilingual Dutch students for whom English is a third language (L3), compared to monolingual Dutch students for whom English is a second language (L2). (Author/VWL)