The readings in this collection were prepared to accompany a report of a series of experiments conducted to determine what information readers, both skilled adults and children beginning to read, use when they read to understand a story. Titles of the readings are are (1) "Oral Reading: Does It Reflect Decoding or Comprehension?" (2)…

A study gauged the effects of peer tutoring on the reading skills of first graders. Subjects were 250 children divided into eight experimental and four control classrooms in a school district in Utah. Teachers were trained by researchers, bearing in mind five procedural principles: (1) appropriate modeling by the teacher, (2) extensive dialogue,…

For the purpose of investigating instructional techniques that facilitate children's acquisition of reading comprehension skills in the middle and upper elementary grades, a 2-year inquiry into classroom instruction in reading comprehension was begun at the beginning of 1980. The initial focus of the study was on methods of assessment. Analytic…

A study was conducted to replicate earlier findings regarding the relationships between letter, word, and text reading times and measures of reading achievement and to establish the stability of reading times measures and their relationships over a one-year period. Subjects included 150 children in eight age cohorts between grades one and six. The…

The report describes the operation of a model preservice special education teacher preparation practicum designed from a competency based teacher education frame of reference and utilizing a computer assisted teacher training system (CATTS). Chapter I provides introductory information (including teacher training objectives) and an explanation of…

A study was undertaken to discover whether there were differences between disabled children's linguistic cue use and that of normal readers under controlled conditions. Fifty-one children, 22 learning disabled and 29 control, were drawn from a poor, inner-city school district; 28 children, 14 in each group, from an affluent, suburban area. After…

Since verbal responses are a salient and easily documented index of acquisition of learning skills, a project was undertaken in 1972 to collect and analyze the verbal response of viewers of "The Electric Company." A data collection instrument was designed to tally: (1) reading of print on a television screen; (2) spoken anticipation of…

Two 8-year-old boys, who read 1.7 and 1.5 years below grade level respectively, participated in a program to accelerate their learning rates. Ss' reading levels were incorporated into a 6-year minimum objectives graphing system, and their progress was recorded every 18 days. The program involved daily work from the Ginn 100 Readers, with…

Concludes that cognitive development tasks may primarily evaluate reading readiness and suggests that proficient readers are particularly sensitive to semantic text cues. (FL)

Compares the reading comprehension and accuracy and listening comprehension of West Indian and English children living in England and having equivalent intellectual abilities. Finds no significant differences between the cultural groups. (FL)

An extensive case history of instructional environment and acquisition of reading skills by 50 first-grade students in ten classrooms indicates that the rate at which students mastered decoding depended on classroom instruction with direct instruction appearing most profitable for children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. (MKM)

Examines the error patterns of 26 third grade developmental readers who read and reread extended oral passages at instructional and frustration performance levels. Suggests that consistent word recognition strategies are used by these developmental readers. (RL)

This study examined the effects of instructional match and content overlap on the ability of four students (ages 8-12) with mild disabilities to generalize from passage reading instruction. Results indicated that oral reading accuracy/fluency showed the greatest degree of generalization when instructional materials were matched to skill level…

This study examined the validity of a measure of reading proficiency in content areas with 121 grade-10 students. Correlational analyses revealed low-moderate to moderate correlations between reading measures and scores on a classroom study task, grade point average, and achievement test performance. Recommendations are made for implementation…

Evidence from existing literature suggests that the decoding and reading comprehension skills of poor readers can be improved by assisting them to read material that is too difficult for them to read by themselves--especially when the reading experiences are focused on the content of the material rather than on the words. A study examined the…