Two experimental designs were used to test the hypothesis that abbreviations in classified advertisements decrease the reader's comprehension of such ads. In the first experimental design, 73 high school students read four ads (for employment, used cars, apartments for rent, and articles for sale) either with abbreviations or with all…

This final report details the computer-based Performance-Related Enabling Skills Training (PREST) Project, designed to meet the United States Navy's need to develop an efficient and effective means of increasing the reading skills of Navy recruits with minimal loss of training time and minimal diversion of military personnel. The report is divided…

A literature review was conducted to examine reading skills development in selected educational systems delivering postsecondary occupational education. The systems chosen were two-year, junior, and community colleges; area vocational-technical schools and adult programs; training centers; correctional institutions; the military; and business and…

Twenty-four adults participated in an experiment to determine the difficulty of conditional sentences of the kinds frequently found in the instructions in government forms. The stimulus materials were 128 sentence frames of the form, "If you are X, press button Y," where X was replaced by sixteen different coordinate structures. These…

The purpose of this study was to explore the similarities and differences in the reading behaviors of highly creative (HC) and highly intelligent (HI) secondary students. An intensive analysis of the oral introspective and retrospective responses of 36 subjects to two written passages was made. An experimental classification framework was…

The major goal of the Right-to-Read program is to increase functional literacy so that, by 1980, 99% of the people in the United States who are under 16 years of age and 90% of those over 16 will be sufficiently competent as readers to function effectively as adults. This booklet suggests ways in which groups and organizations can initiate and…

Discusses the decisions made in the development of a functional literacy test used in Philadelphia. (MKM)

Refutes six arguments commonly used to discredit remedial teaching of decoding skills to young adults in order to motivate both researchers and teachers to reexamine the role of decoding skills in reading in the upper grades and beyond. (SKC)

Argues that content area teachers should assume the major responsibility for preparing students in the areas commonly assessed in minimum competency tests. Sets forth four problems in convincing content area teachers to assume this role and offers techniques for persuading them to do so. (FL)

There exists a controversy as to whether or not minimal competency testing in the area is a sound educational practice. A review of reading research in three areas, developmental reading, functional reading and recreational reading was conducted to provide data relevant to the controversy. (RD)

Postelementary reading instruction is offered in many specialized developmental and remedial courses, but there is some awareness of reading needs in content areas and of the need for those teachers to accept responsibility. A review of the literature examines whether postelementary teachers teach reading as an integral part of their content area…

Presents a fictitious dialogue in which a teacher of a college methods course in reading points out to her students that (1) people read for different purposes, (2) reading needs vary from community to community, and (3) teachers should investigate the reading needs of people in their communities. (GT)

Reviews 13 recent supplementary series, texts, and kits designed to improve the reading skills of remedial students at various grade levels, 4-12. Includes a selection of "survival reading" texts for the secondary grades. (SJL)

Recommends adapting the language of class materials and texts used in apprenticeship training programs to make them appropriate to the functional language demands made on tradespeople in real-life working situations. (AEA)