Examines whether the comprehension of English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students who were trained to summarize improved more than that of students who responded to short-answer questions. Finds that since the reading comprehension of all classes improved significantly, the study could not prove that either approach was the major cause of this…

Two notions from cognitive psychology were examined in relation to the transfer of reading comprehension skills from L1 to L2: (1) the notion that reading comprehension proceeds by the comprehender's building of a mental structure representing the text and (2) the notion of working memory. Two groups of French learners of English (at…

A study was undertaken to identify the prerequisite relations (or hierarchies among the items) existing in the item responses of a sample of 86 foreign students who took the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) vocabulary and reading comprehension test, Form 3JTF1. The form contains 30 vocabulary items and 30 reading comprehension items.…

Explains how the writing process approach utilizing hypermedia software can help non-native speakers develop an awareness of English-language composition structures. Discusses the pedagogical basis for the writing process, as well as the benefits computers and specialized software can bring to the language classroom. (Author/VWL)

Identifies and describes the genres that a group of tertiary level English-as-a-Second-Language students produced during a process writing class in which they were free to decide their own topics, purposes, and audiences. Characteristics of these genres, the relationships among them, and their schematic structures are described. (Author/VWL)

This paper presents preliminary results from classroom-initiated research using text-graphing to develop metacognitive awareness among English-as-a-Second-Language engineering students writing the literature review section of their master's theses. Results found that text graphing can raise students' awareness of the rhetorical structure of…

The author presents a study that employs a modified version of Swales' (1990) move analysis to investigates the generic structure of introductions in a total of 120 writing samples of Ghanaian undergraduates in English and Sociology. The study reveals differences between the two groups in their use of move-structures.

Discusses strategies that teachers can use to support children with and without disabilities in comprehending reading material. Factors contributing to text readability, language learning for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, and strategies for in-class text reading and independent text reading are described. (CR)

Investigates the usefulness of using grammatical cohesion to evaluate the macro- or discourse-level, and the micro-level reading comprehension of English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students. Finds a relationship between anaphora and coherence that contributes to reading difficulty. (MG)

Examines introductions to research articles written by three international graduate students and identifies three basic problems. Student and nonnative writers may have difficulty with handling both the hierarchical as well as the linear structure of written discourse, especially introductions that create problems for both the writer and the…

Describes three pilot projects carried out with a special version of a computer-assisted language-learning activity, known as SEQUITUR, that seeks to develop awareness of cohesive devices and coherence features by displaying the start of a text and offering possible continuations. Usage logs of responses given by native and nonnative speakers of…

Schemata based notions need not replace, but should be reflected in, product-centered reading tests. The contributions of schema theory to the psycholinguistic model of reading has been thoroughly reviewed. Schemata-based reading tests provide several advantages: (1) they engage the appropriate conceptual processes for the student which frees the…

Analysis of 72 reports comparing first- (L1) and (L2) second-language writing indicate differences between L1 and L2 writing with regard to composing processing and features of written text. Implications for L2 and L1 writing theory, comparative writing research, and assessment, placement, staffing, and instruction are discussed. (Contains 77…

Deaf and hearing children at two grade levels (fourth and eighth) provided written texts for an analysis of text structure and quality. Deaf writers used as many cohesive devices as hearing writers but used fewer different lexical terms per device. The deaf children's texts are discussed in terms of possible language transference. (66 references)…

In 3 experiments, a total of 48 native English speaking and 55 English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) college students chose alternatives to replace missing logical connectors in expository passages. Differences in meaning and use of the four connector types and implications for improving ESL programing are discussed. (SLD)