Encourages teachers to use imitative reading, choral reading, and repeated readings in the classroom to improve intonation, speaking skills, word recognition, reading rate, and comprehension, while boosting self-confidence. (RAE)

Presents a study which examines elementary school students' performance on the JAT (Joels, Anderson, and Thompson) Reading Inventory, noting variable student performance on the different question types. Reports that the validity of the JAT as a diagnostic instrument is established. (ARH)

Explains that teachers must understand that discussion is not a simple collection of listening and speaking skills but a dynamic event that requires children to orchestrate a number of language skills. Offers suggestions for improving discussions. (FL)

Reviews the literature relevant to investigating the effects of textual phrasing on the efforts of children to comprehend and addresses the issue of whether the use of a word processor can have an impact on helping children improve comprehension. (FL)

Shows how older, largely context-free models of reading and its instruction became changed into a multidimensional, context-dependent orientation toward written language and the reading process and concludes with suggestions for using a variety of contextual strategies to increase reading comprehension. (HOD)

Discusses research supporting the instructional validity of three comprehension monitoring strategies: (1) summarization of text, (2) self-initiated questioning, and (3) differentiation of reader-based and text-based questions. (FL)

Offers suggestions for the systematic study of characters that can help children develop skills in understanding stories. Describes two activities that can be used for this purpose. (FL)

Describes Project READ:S (Reading Education Accountability Design: Secondary), which is designed to improve the teaching of reading in the content areas. Notes that this project has been approved by the National Diffusion Network for exemplary program status. (FL)

Offers a technique for use with films or filmstrips that transforms passive learning situations in content area classrooms into interactive ones. Contains a sample "reasoning guide." (FL)

Discusses learning needs specific to bilingual students that may interfere with their understanding of what they read. Describes several instructional activities in which audiovisual stories are used as prereading exercises to increase student comprehension of English text. (FL)

Suggests an instructional technique called sentence building as a means of developing the ability to write more complex sentences and to read more complex sentences with understanding. (MKM)

Describes a process of chunking information whereby information is clustered into more compact thought units, such as phrases or clauses, and is then reformed into increasingly larger units of information. Notes that this technique is useful in aiding students to read subject area material. (MKM)

Examines the processing order between the comprehension of a text and the use of comprehended ideas for such thinking tasks as comparing, evaluating, and problem solving. Finds that readers with limited background knowledge read in a more linear fashion than those with extensive background, who read in a parallel manner. (RS)

Advocates using the newspaper to improve reading and writing skills of remedial secondary students. Discusses using the newspaper with regard to disabled readers, enhancement of comprehension, critical thinking skills, increased vocabulary, creative writing opportunities, increased general knowledge, and extension activities. (SR)