Explores the ways in which 11- and 12-year-old students used intertextuality within diverse literacy events in a classroom context. Reveals different patterns of intertextual connections depending on discourse mode (oral or written) and the functional context of discourse (literary or informational) in terms of the types of sources to which…

Describes two studies designed to determine if a sentence verification technique would detect differences in performance when subjects read material of varying difficulty. Concludes that the technique was sensitive to differences in text difficulty and suggests several possible uses and advantages of the technique. (HOD)

Examines the relative effectiveness of dictionary definitions and definitions revised to address problems found in traditional definitions. Finds that revised definitions led to significantly more responses that demonstrated a characteristic use of the word. Concludes that revised definitions were more effective in helping students understand…

Reports on the second phase of a two-phase, two cohort componential analysis of reading. Finds a good fit for the grade four data, a reasonable fit for grade five, and a less unambiguous fit for grade six. Finds results are generally confirmed with the simultaneous structural analyses of phase one and phase two multisamples. (RS)

Finds that (1) exposure to correctly spelled words improved spelling accuracy for immediate and delayed posttests; (2) exposure to misspelled words did not significantly affect the spelling accuracy of the sample as a whole; and (3) no interaction was found between spelling ability and spelling accuracy improvement as the result of proofreading…

Examines the reading standards of eight cohorts (years 1989 to 1996) of Year 6 children from five randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority in England. Finds little movement in the mean scores of the eight cohorts over time and, in fact, there has been a slight but significant decline in mean scores. (RS)

A study examined the dimensions of children's motivation for reading. Eleven different dimensions of reading motivations were proposed, including intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for reading, perceptions of reading efficacy, social aspects of reading, and reading disincentives. An 82-item questionnaire was developed to measure each dimension,…

This study examined whether post-reading comprehension would be affected by the inclusion of pictorial material with a story and a prereading prediction questionnaire. Subjects, 75 heterogeneously grouped fourth grade students randomly assigned to one of three groups, either (1) read a basal reader passage with pictorial material; or (2) read the…

The purpose of this study was to determine the strength of the relationship between syllabication ability and reading comprehension. Pre- and posttests using the syllabication and comprehension subtests of the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Tests were administered to 275 middle school children involved in corrective and developmental reading…

Tests the effect of using written metacognitive awareness guidance (MCAG) as a tool for activating and engaging learners'"Habits of Mind" while processing authentic reading assessment tasks taken from Israeli kits of assessment tasks. Confirms that applying metacognitive awareness guidance to reading assessment tasks makes a difference in the…

Examines the ability of children to evaluate their comprehension of text using lexical, external, and internal consistency standards. Finds that children more often use lexical and external consistency than internal consistency and that the results of verbal report measures are inconsistent with performance measures. (RS)

Examines the effect of self-instruction on error detection in short essays. Finds that above average readers in the self-instruction group performed significantly better than those in a control group, and that average readers displayed a similar but not statistically significant trend. (RS)

A study investigated the development of vocabulary knowledge in elementary school children as a function of story reading for partially known and unknown words. Subjects, 43 fourth-grade low-middle to middle-class children from a rural elementary school in the southeastern United States, participated in a vocabulary checklist in which they…

This study was done to see if readability levels printed on recreational reading books were as accurate as when the Fry formula and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level were applied to them. Three descriptive passages from each of 60 recreational reading books were analyzed using the Fry formula and the Flesch-Kincaid formula. The data was compared to…

A study examined the effectiveness of semantic mapping instruction as a technique for increasing vocabulary. Subjects, 38 fourth grade students in two classrooms, were divided into experimental and control groups. Both groups were pretested for their knowledge of selected words taken from the Scott, Foresman Reading Program, Grade Four. The…