A book-length study described the metacognitive components of good and poor reading ability, with special reference to comprehension. Subjects were 53 Swedish students in grade 5 or 8 and were either good or poor comprehenders as defined by a combination of a reading test and teacher ratings. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews…

This paper presents a brief survey of interdisciplinary Danish studies in experimental reader response since 1965. The paper describes nine projects or studies, including information on their purposes and methods, stages, persons responsible, supporters, funding institutions, internal reports, and publications. Project titles include…

This paper presents a history of Danish studies in reader response research, including the addition of questionnaires to the research. The paper describes nine studies in reader response research, including information on their stages, persons responsible, supporters, funding institutions, internal reports, and publications. Five additional…

Aliteracy, the ability to read but the unwillingness to do so, is a growing problem in American society. Aliteracy crosses all socioeconomic levels, thereby allowing autocratic, charismatic leaders to influence thinking and decision-making. Social changes that have contributed to the problem of aliteracy include the influence of television on…

To determine the progress that adult students in Belfast, Ireland, were making under a literacy tutoring program, questionnaires were sent to all 160 tutors who were involved in the program. The questions dealt with the tutors' backgrounds, their deployment, their views on the organization of the program, and with tutoring processes and results.…

Notes that the African oral tradition of storytelling is giving way to an expansion of published works for children. (JC)

To encourage the students in her French class to read books in French, a teacher implemented a project involving literary journals. Students recorded their reflections on their reading, first of a novel chosen by the teacher, then of individually chosen novels. Appropriate evaluation of the journals posed a particular dilemma. (JLR)

Tested the hypothesis that individual differences in reading ability increase over time, by assessing children, at seven occasions between kindergarten and third grade, on various measures of reading ability, reading behavior, and attitudes toward reading. Found that individual differences among children in word recognition, but not reading…

"Wahkohtowin," a Cree word meaning kinship or the state of being related, is a fundamental concept for understanding Indigenous culture and traditional beliefs (Ermine 2001). This article describes how three researchers in western Canada incorporated this concept into a research project that compared Indigenous and non-Indigenous…

Reporting on small-scale classroom research projects dealing with diverse aspects of literacy, this collection of 13 research reports from Canada emphasizes common themes. These themes are: the need for parental participation in literacy and numeracy development, the beneficial effects of tutoring, the need for a wide and varied classroom…

Representing the expertise of university education professors and public school teachers, the articles in these proceedings focus on encouraging reading and fostering lifelong reading habits. Titles of the papers and their authors are as follows: (1) "Television and Books: Friends or Foes" (Jeannetta H. Caplan); (2) "Encouraging the…

Describes a teacher's development of a "book-share" reading program for nursery school children which involves students, parents, and teacher in a process of sharing books, responses to books, and concerns about reading skills. Suggests that such a program increases children's confidence about reading. (ARH)

Describes an effort to improve reading attitudes of Native student teachers during field center participation in the University of British Columbia's Native Indian Teacher Education Program through a developmental reading course requiring a daily 20-30 minute uninterrupted, sustained silent reading period. Evaluation shows significant positive…

This paper details a research project in Brunei Darussalam that explored vocational education teacher trainees' and their future students' views about the function of reading in vocational education and about reading in English. Part A, a review of current theoretical perspectives in literacy as a socially constructed phenomenon, is organized by…

This follow-up of the effects of the national Bookstart pilot study compared samples of urban families through structured interviews. It found that two years later those families whose babies had been introduced to books in the original experiment gave more priority to looking at books, buying books as presents, and book sharing between parents…