Examines the effects of modified instruction and high ability fifth-grade students' use of metacognition on spelling achievement. Notes that the instruction was modified to match the visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic preferences of the group. Finds positive results. (RS)

Investigates whether teacher modeling improves fifth-grade students' attitudes toward poetry. Finds that students exposed to modeling had a greater enthusiasm/appreciation of poetry. Acknowledges that appreciation of literature, including poetry, must be developed over a long period of time through a variety of means. (RS)

Investigates fifth-grade children's expectations for stories in relation to knowledge of literature/reading ability. Shows "high readers" included more high-level story propositions and structurally important story information than did low readers; students who included structurally important story information scored higher on knowledge…

The scores of fifth- and sixth-grade students on the "Survey of Reading Attitudes" revealed significant gender differences. (FL)

Documents the multicultural children's literature preferences of low-ability African and Hispanic American fifth graders. Finds that while the African American students showed a strong preference for culturally conscious (authentic) literature, the Hispanic American students rated these books less favorably. (RS)

Examines students' perceptions of self, family, peers, and teachers in three construct areas: study skills, attitudes toward school, and future academic expectations. Finds that a decline occurs in students' self-perceptions between fifth and eighth grades and that female students were notably more positive in their perceptions of education than…

Examines the effects of exposures to children's literature through reading aloud and an inferencing strategy on low-reading-ability fifth-grade readers' sense of story structure and reading comprehension. Uses an experimental/control group repeated measures design. Finds that this study is consistent with other research that indicates the…

Describes some of the ways early adolescents respond to reading and thinking tasks and details the development of procedures for observing and analyzing children as they complete such tasks. (FL)