Two studies evaluated the Process-Based Reading Enhancement Program (PREP) with 150 grade 4 economically disadvantaged children. Pre- and posttesting with the Word Attack and Word Identification subtests of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised found significant group-by-time interactions. Results support the efficacy of the PREP to improve…

Examines effects of several lexical and sublexical variables (lexical category and frequency, syllabic structure, word length) in reading acquisition in a transparent language--Spanish. Compares effects of variables in 140 normal and poor young readers. Finds that all variables produced a significant effect on the number of errors made by the…

Merges the Simple View of reading with rauding theory by advancing a revision, called Simple View II. Presents empirical evidence that, when the Simple View II is merged with rauding theory, the result is a theoretical framework which includes interrelationships among all of the important constructs involved in reading ability, for students in…

This article reviews research on effective classroom reading instruction that finds dramatic reduction in reading failure occurs when explicit instruction is provided in phonemic awareness and decoding skills, word recognition and text processing, construction of meaning, vocabulary, spelling, and writing. The need for small-group instruction for…

This paper investigates the intentional creation of ambiguity by composers of cryptic crossword puzzles. Taking a research question of "what makes a cryptic clue more difficult to solve than a simple crossword clue," it compares a sample of cryptic and quick crosswords from "The Guardian" and attempts to isolate the linguistic…

A descriptive study examined the nature of compensatory education (CE) reading instruction and its relationship to the classroom setting. Subjects were 28 second-grade children and 5 pairs of second-grade and compensatory education reading teachers at 5 elementary schools in a school district located in a small community. Data on the teachers,…

A literature review examined research on the acquisition of word identification and vocabulary understanding. One of its major themes was that children's understanding of words is best understood from the perspective of developing sensitivities to the English language. A second major theme is that acquisition of word identification skills and…

Recognizing a word in a meaningful text involves processes that combine information from many different sources, and both bottom-up processes (such as feature extraction and letter recognition) and top-down processes (contextual information) are thought to interact when skilled readers recognize words. Two similar experiments investigated word…

The reading research and relevant literature examined in this paper focus on the role that "orthographic regularity" plays in word recognition. Orthographic regularities are those features of printed English words that reduce the uncertainty of what letters might be present. The paper considers three theses: rapid word recognition, which…

A model of cognitive operations that children use in reading and comprehending a sentence was tested by using Sternberg's independent-process analysis on 64 second and fifth graders who were either high- or low-ability readers. Three specific component processes were examined: a decoding process, a word meaning process, and a comprehension…

To determine whether increasing decoding speed affects the comprehension of poor readers, two experiments were designed to test two groups consisting of seven good readers and eleven poor readers chosen from fourth and fifth grade. In the first experiment, poor readers were trained to read a list of words as rapidly as the good readers and were…

The development of children's metalinguistic understanding of the basic unit of reading--the word--was examined. Subjects were 45 children from preschool, kindergarten, and first grade who were reclassified according to reading ability (nonreadiness, readiness, reader). The children's understanding of the word as a linguistic segment was measured…

The Decoding Skills Test (DST) was developed to provide a detailed measurement of decoding skills which could be used in research on developmental dyslexia. Another purpose of the test is to provide a diagnostic-prescriptive instrument to be used in the evaluation of, and program planning for, children needing remedial reading. The test is…

The reading responses of 80 second grade students to words in context and words in isolation were analyzed. The children were tested individually with four oral reading selections (kindergarten through third grade levels), a set of comprehension questions, and a word list. The children recognized fewer words in isolation than in context. The…

This investigation describes a field test of the materials entitled "Reading: An Educational Approach to Disability" (READ), which were developed to aid disabled readers in the beginning stages of learning to decode English print. The subjects were 15 Title I reading teachers working in small groups with 183 second-grade children. The…