Discusses four aspects of listening comprehension citing supportive research: (1) what is involved in listening comprehension, (2) whether it be taught, (3) how it is related to reading comprehension, and (4) what other factors affect listening comprehension. Provides recommendations for teaching. (HTH)

A series of three experiments with suburban elementary students tested the facilitative effect of metaphors on children's ability to understand and remember what they read. In the first study, sixth grade students read two unfamiliar passages and were able to recall metaphoric structures better than literal paraphrases of the same information. In…

Notes that studies of reading comprehension have increased and discusses some possible reasons for the changing research emphasis. (MKM)

The authors assert that, in order to teach vocabulary more effectively and better understand its relation to comprehension, we need first to address how vocabulary knowledge and growth are assessed. They argue that "vocabularly assessment is grossly undernourished, both in its theoretical and practical aspects--that it has been driven by…

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…

Continues discussion of Ronald Carter's Rauding Theory. (AA)

Critiques Carver's presentation of his theory of reading comprehension and rauding (see article in same issue), interpreting the theory as a limited, serial, mathematical "model." (JM)

Presents open-ended and semistructured interviews to assess reading comprehension. Highlights the potential value of interviews in aligning assessment practices with instruction and learning theory. (MG)

To characterize basic processes of reading comprehension, this report focuses on how the reader's schemata, or knowledge already stored in memory, function in the process of interpreting new information and allowing it to enter and become a part of the knowledge store. The paper first traces the historical antecedents of schema theory, then…

Provides an assessment of the linguistic variables which affect the way in which children comprehend verbal data when they read. (RB)

The existing literature on reading comprehension instruction is organized and reviewed. The authors question whether explicit training to improve comprehension or monitoring strategies should be offered, since these behaviors improve with maturity and experience and in the absence of any apparent training, but conclude that it is possible that…

Through a series of three studies, the facilitative effect of metaphors on children's recall of expository passages was evaluated. Data supports the view that metaphors can serve the function of bridging new and old information in unfamiliar textual settings. (HOD)

Reports on a study stemming from schema theory that assessed the role that background knowledge plays in determining young children's ability to process relationships that are explicitly and fully specified in a text, in comparison to those that are only partially specified by the same text. (Author/HOD)

Examines the historical course of reading-comprehension assessment practices over 25 years (from the 1970s to the mid-1990s), examining changing views of reading processes, practices, and policies. Characterizes progress in terms of political and practical constraints. Finds that, although very different formats are used today, the functions of…

This conceptual paper uses two literatures--the work examining the development of expertise in reading comprehension processes and the work on effective approaches to instruction--to build an instructional model for teaching reading comprehension strategies. The report assumes a constructivist view of both reading comprehension and social…