A study was conducted to determine the effect of a program of listening skills on the reading comprehension of fourth grade students. After a pretest, an experimental group of 12 boys and 12 girls was selected randomly from four classrooms and a control group was selected with matched pretest scores. The experimental group was taught using…

Four intact classrooms containing 68 grade four students were involved in a three-month study of the effects of varied amounts and frequency of exposure to oral reading of children's literature on reading and listening comprehension. Pretest and posttest scores from the Durrell Listening-Reading Series were obtained from all students; attitudes…

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of a companion text on the comprehension, vocabulary acquisition and fluency of students during teacher read alouds. Data were collected over a period of six days in an upper-middle class suburban school district in northern New Jersey. The students involved in the study consisted of eighteen…

A study compared the effects of words in isolation (WI) and words in context (WC) instruction on the word learning and retention of word meanings of 11 average readers from a multi-age classroom (grades 4 and 5). To investigate whether WC instruction improved a child's ability to use context cues to determine the meaning of an unknown word…

Past research shows the imperative nature of students having a high knowledge of vocabulary, particularly as it relates to their level of reading comprehension. This is especially true in the areas of science and social studies because of the nature of the subjects and their corresponding texts. Students' ability to retain and recall vocabulary…

This study describes a program for improving student's reading skills. The targeted population consisted of students in a self-contained inclusion fourth grade classroom in a rural community, located in the Midwest. The lack of reading skills had been demonstrated through standardized achievement tests and the Developmental Reading Assessment.…

A study focused on whether literary character sex role stereotyping in children's literature had a negative or positive effect on reading comprehension. It was hypothesized that no significant differences exist in the comprehension of a mixed gender population when reading about characters in non-traditional sex roles. It was further hypothesized…

This report describes a program for advancing reading comprehension skills. The targeted population consisted of second and fourth grade students in an affluent northern suburb of a large midwestern community. The problem of a lack of comprehension skills was documented through teacher observations, student and parent surveys, comprehension…

This practicum sought to improve reading vocabulary and comprehension in fourth-grade students by using comic books 30 minutes per day as a supplement to the regular basal reading program. High-interest comic books were used by a class section of 18 students in the experimental group, for a period of four months. Another class section of 20…

This study describes a program designed to increase student academic performance through the use of reading strategies. The targeted population consists of third and fourth grade students in three separate communities located in northern Illinois. All three communities are part of one major metropolitan area, and the status of family income ranges…

A study determined if regular listening to oral reading by the teacher affected fourth-grade students' level of comprehension. Subjects were 47 students from an elementary school in central New Jersey. Twenty-five students were read to for 30 minutes daily for 8 weeks in addition to their regular classroom reading instruction. The remaining 22…

This study examines gains in comprehension and vocabulary as measured by the "Gates MacGinitie Reading Tests" among students in grades two, four, and six, placed for reading instruction according to three systematic determinations of measured instructional level and students not placed other than by teacher judgment. No significant differences…

This report describes a program for increasing reading motivation and comprehension. The targeted population consisted of two heterogeneous groups of fourth grade students who attended a public school located in a northwest suburb of a large metropolitan area. The students' lack of motivation and poor comprehension skills were documented by low…

Three groups of twenty-five children in fourth-grade reading classes were selected for this study. The subjects in class one received plastic tokens for desirable reading responses. The tokens were exchanged for release time from the classroom while reading instruction was in progress. The subjects in class two also received tokens for desirable…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether an intermodal training technique known as visual-haptic had any effect on the reading achievement of a group of disabled readers. The technique itself did not teach reading. Used in conjunction with a conventional remedial reading program, visual-haptic training was expected to serve as an…