This study examined the heterogeneity within a sample of 140 urban second and third graders identified as at-risk for reading failure due to inefficient word and/or nonword reading. Cluster analyses were conducted using standardized factor scores from a four-factor structural equation model characterizing reading performance in this sample. These…

"Science Briefs" summarize the findings and implications of a recent study in basic science or clinical research. This brief reports on the study "Mother-Child Bookreading in Low-Income Families: Correlates and Outcomes during the First Three Years of Life" (H. Raikes, B. A. Pan, G. Luze, C. S. Tamis-LeMonda, J. Brooks-Gunn, J. Constantine, L. B.…

This article presents results from 2 studies comparing 3 approaches to teaching vocabulary during storybook reading: (a) contextual instruction, based on connecting words to their use in books and to children's personal experience; (b) analytical instruction, which enhances contextual instruction with semantic analysis of words in contexts other…

This study investigated the word recognition processes of readers of Chinese as a native language (L1) and as a second language (L2), focusing on the effects of two factors, word familiarity and word structure difficulty (complexity of orthographic symbol), on reading accuracy and response time. Subjects were in three groups: (1) 14 adult native…

Prepared by teachers in a summer course, this handbook presents brief descriptions of various aspects of reading instruction and related lesson plans and class activities. Beginning with brief biographies of 5 leaders in reading education (both living and deceased), the handbook consists of sections that discuss reading readiness; word…

This article describes one teacher's methods of role-playing for helping students in the foreign language classroom advance to higher level skills. Role-playing is a closed book, cooperative learning technique in which the student has an opportunity to use the language in a non-threatening, spontaneous response environment. Role-playing is an…

Developed as part of the ABCs of Construction National Workplace Literacy Project, this instructional module teaches general, specialized, and technical terms encountered by persons employed in the occupation of millwright. Included in the module are the following: a discussion of the difference between general, specialized, and technical…

Developed as part of the ABCs of Construction National Workplace Literacy Project, this instructional module is designed to help persons preparing for the occupation of millwright develop strategies for finding the meanings of compound words used in technical writing and the workplace. Presented in the first section is a method for deducing the…

This article discusses polysemy in terms of foreign language reading and vocabulary development. For some foreign language readers, polysemy can be a major source of difficulty in the comprehension of text, even more so than a lack of vocabulary knowledge. Research with non-native readers of English has indicated that even advanced readers, upon…

A variety of informal language development assessment tools is presented for use with children with developmental disabilities. This book is written as a manual for clinicians and researchers for evaluating children who cannot meet the cognitive, perceptual, or motor requirements of standardized tests and to help evaluate aspects of language not…

Balancing major new approaches to reading with valid traditional ideas, this seventh edition of the book prepares teachers to develop their students' abilities to read fluently and to foster their students' enjoyment of reading. Thoroughly revised, it surveys all the commonly used approaches to teaching reading and guides instructors in choosing…

The lexical approach to teaching Russian grammar is explained, an instructional sequence is outlined, and a classroom study testing the effectiveness of the approach is reported. The lexical approach draws on research on cognitive psychology, second language acquisition theory, and research on learner language. Its bases in research and its…

A study investigated whether English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students' understanding of culturally-loaded words (those that are similar in primary meaning but different in connotation between the two languages) approximates that of native speakers of English, and how much English proficiency level may account for the extent of this…

A study developed criteria for judging state standards for the English language arts and reading and analyzed the 28 current standards documents. The criteria used for judging the standards relate to the purpose, audience, expectations, and assumptions of the standards documents; the organization of the standards; disciplinary coverage of the…

Progressive time delay is presented as a nonintrusive method of teaching receptive vocabulary to a 5-year-old girl with severe mental retardation. The girl was trained in pointing to photographs of various unfamiliar objects when the object was named by the teacher. Results indicate that the presentation of a time delay procedure resulted in a…