The purpose of this research was to evaluate a parent intervention programme, open to parents of children in Year 7, aimed at assisting parents to help their children achieve their full potential. The benefit for parents themselves was also examined. Unlike many existing evaluations of parent intervention programmes, it drew upon statistically…

Besides phonological information, printed words also contain visual, semantic, orthographic and often also syntactic cues. Skilled readers have acquired the command of this variety of cues incidentally, as a consequence of language development. Two naming task experiments assessed the effect of congruent versus incongruent phonological or…

This study examined the effectiveness of phonemic awareness drills on phonological awareness and word reading performance in English of Mainland Chinese students in primary school. Employing a nonequivalent control group design, the research questions explored: (1) whether phonemic awareness drills promoted phonological awareness with the English…

The 1970 International Educational Achievement (IEA) survey placed New Zealand's nine and fourteen year olds first in reading achievement in comparison with all other participating countries. Literacy educators the world over have studied New Zealand's methods and classroom environments, and its approaches to reading/writing instruction have been…

Examined the relationship between reading achievement and birth order in 503 Greek children. Found that birth order was not related to vocabulary knowledge or reading comprehension at second grade, but total reading achievement and reading comprehension were higher for first- and second-born sixth graders than for later-born sixth graders. (KB)

The development and promotion of self-regulatory strategies for comprehending and learning from text were studied in 19 9-year olds using cooperative learning. The experimental group exposed to repeated reading experiences within the cooperative learning teams showed marked development of strategies for dealing with texts in comparison with the…

Compares matched groups of normal and poor readers of Dutch. Assesses the way normal and poor readers automatically process phonological and orthographic incongruencies when comparing singular and plural of nouns. Investigates the automatized processing of uppercase-lowercase letter incongruencies. Concludes that poor readers not only have…

Focuses on modifying children's environment so as to optimize the situational context of reading and emphasizes that three ingredients are basic to reading: time, reading materials, and a purpose for reading. The article also emphasizes that encouraging native speaking students to read at home requires partnership with parents. (CK)

Examined cognitive profile and multiple-deficit hypothesis in Chinese developmental dyslexia. Compared 30 Chinese dyslexic children with average readers of the same chronological age (CA) and 30 average readers at the same reading level (RL) in several rapid naming, visual, phonological, and orthographic tasks. Found that dyslexic children…

Examines reading proficiency and phonological skill using a comprehensive battery of group measures in a Swedish classroom. Suggests that, given sufficient exposure to the majority language, it is possible to assess a range of phonological skills among speakers of minority languages using the same battery of tasks as for native speakers. (SG)

Examines statistical models utilized in earlier studies and attempts to reanalyze the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) reading achievement data for England using a covariance structure model. Shows that, with an appropriate model, school variables do significantly account for reading achievement scores,…

Discusses problems with the 1991 Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs) in reading (given to six and seven year olds in England) and problems in the ways in which the results were interpreted. Suggests that SATs, designed to assess children's reading, may actually have obstructed teachers in their assessment of children. (RS)

Reading and math testing in inner London of 112 Black, 182 White children at end of primary school and 79 and 119 from this sample at age 11 found girls, especially Black girls, progressed more in reading in primary school; and boys progressed more in math initially, girls tended to catch up later, and Black boys fell behind. (SK)

Presents an experimental evaluation of a trial implementation of reciprocal teaching procedures by high school teachers to address reading comprehension deficits. Forty-six students were exposed to 1 of 3 conditions: 12-16 reciprocal teaching sessions, 6-8 sessions, or no treatment. Significant gains were observed with students in the extended…

Uses research data to suggest a new basis for understanding gender differences in girls' and boys' achievements in reading. Argues that raising levels of attainment across the board depends on building an active reading culture in the classroom. Suggests the Literacy Hour and the emphasis on work encompassing word, sentence and text levels for all…