Employed extensively in some Soviet bloc countries to teach a variety of subjects, the Suggestive-Accelerative Learning and Teaching (SALT) method uses a combination of physical and mental relaxation exercises, music, and suggestive principles to increase learning. However, in spite of research showing its effectiveness in teaching reading skills…

A survey was conducted with 166 undergraduate students enrolled in teacher education and developmental reading classes to determine student background knowledge in three major areas: study and coping skills; current events, geography, and history; and general vocabulary. Among the findings were the following: (1) Students in both groups spent more…

Describes two experiments that were designed to test the effectiveness of a microcomputer-based vocabulary program for high school students. Pretest and posttest methodologies are described for learning-disabled, remedial, and general students, and results for the experimental and control groups are compared. (18 references) (Author/LRW)

This study compared the performances of four groups of Hong Kong teachers of English as a Second Language on a language teaching task. Subjects were two groups of native English-speaking teachers, one of expert teachers and one of novices, and two groups of non-native English-speakers, one of experts and one of novices. All were asked to preview…

A study examined the use of cloze procedure as a measure of learning from content instruction. Subjects were 35 physician assistant (PA) students in a cancer prevention course and 31 education students (ED) enrolled in reading instruction courses. Cloze passages were constructed from published selections on the reading process and occupationally…

An experiment was conducted with twenty native French speakers using a set of four reading passages, each followed by five multiple choice comprehension questions. Each subject was tested twice when reading aloud and twice when reading silently. Other test materials included a pre-test designed to check whether certain lexical items from the…

RESEARCH WAS FOCUSED ON THREE QUESTIONS--(1) TO WHAT DEGREE PARTICIPANTS UTILIZED CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE, (2) WHAT PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS DIFFERENTIATED CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS FROM NONPARTICIPANTS, AND (3) WHAT SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP EXISTED BETWEEN THESE CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONAL TRANSFER. DATA WERE PROVIDED ON 665 PARTICIPANTS…

The relationships between reading proficiency and field independence/field dependence and sex were studied in 84 male and 79 female second graders. There were no significant gender differences in achievement or with the reading measures. Field-independent subjects were more proficient readers in the separate skill areas of reading than were…

There were declines on achievement tests between 1972 and 1980. This study, the first part of A Study of High School Excellence, was designed to document changes in the achievement of high school seniors between 1972 and 1980, to identify the school and student factors related to these changes, and to examine the policy implications of the…

Examined the foreign-language-learning abilities of 14- to 15-year olds in Britain, Germany, and Greece. Comparison of results from tests of students' foreign vocabulary knowledge indicated that British students had only one-third to one-half of the foreign language vocabulary knowledge of Greek and German students. They also spent less time…

To compare the effects of two different comprehension treatments on the reading of university students enrolled in a developmental reading laboratory, 74 students were administered pretests measuring reading achievement and reading attitudes and were given five weeks of instruction in text organizing strategies and vocabulary development. After…

The stability of reading performance, as measured by the Metropolitan Achievement Tests, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, and Iowa Tests of Educational Development, was studied using students in grades 1 through 7 and grades 9 and 11. A reading vocabulary test and a reading comprehension test are included in all three test batteries. The standard…

We study the benefits of junior kindergarten for linguistic-minority 4-year-olds compared to their linguistic-majority classmates from the same low-income neighborhoods. At the end of the school year, linguistic-minority children made significantly greater improvements in language skills than their host society classmates. At the mid-year point,…

To determine whether disabled readers can benefit from letter-sound instruction if attention to individual regular words is increased, 38 male and 16 female disabled readers aged 7 to 13 years participated in whole word, letter-sound, or control training programs. Implications of improvement by both experimental groups are discussed. (SLD)

To assess the impact of economic deprivation on students' reading scores in standardized tests, the vocabulary and reading comprehension portions of the California Achievement Test and the Degree of Reading Power test were admininstered to two groups of eighth grade students--60 students participating in the federal free lunch program and 60…