Fluency in reading is critical for becoming a successful reader and strongly correlates with reading comprehension. Fluency in reading refers to appropriate reading speed, accurate word recognition, appropriate phrasing, and appropriate expression when reading orally. Reader's Theater (RT) is a reading instructional method that requires readers to…

How does prior context influence lexical and discourse-level processing during real-time language comprehension? Experiment 1 examined whether the referential ambiguity introduced by a repeated, anaphoric expression had an immediate or delayed effect on lexical and discourse processing, using an eye-tracking-while-reading task. Eye movements…

This article describes a study to determine whether assistive technology, specifically text-to-speech software, can be used to help students with dyslexia cope with academic texts in English. Results from the study indicated that the text-to-speech software enhances students' immediate and long-term academic reading performances. A list of…

According to Gough and Tunmer (1986), in a "Simple View of Reading" (SVR), Reading comprehension (RC) = Decoding (D) x Linguistic Comprehension (C). To further evaluate this model, this paper describes an exploratory study of the performance of 60 university students, the majority of whom received academic accommodations at university to…

Explores the validity of the debate on the locus of the word-length effect. Controls two confounding variables: neighborhood size and different perceptual availability between inside and outside letters in a long word. Finds when the two variables were controlled, the word-length effect vanished. (NH)

Investigates how early lexical processing (word recognition) could influence reading. Finds that less-proficient readers could not finish the task of word recognition within time limits and their accuracy rates were quite low, whereas the proficient readers processed the physical words immediately and translated them into meanings quickly in order…

Finds (1) positive phonemic-masking effects occurred for dominant homophones; (2) null phonemic-masking effects occurred for subordinate homophones; and (3) subordinate homophones were much more likely to be falsely identified as their dominant mate. Suggests the source of these null phonemic-masking is itself a phonology effect. Concludes…

Results from 3 experiments in auditory word recognition involving a total of 266 undergraduates supported interactive models of lexical processing, but required additional sublexical processes. The hypothesized sublexical mechanism is fast acting and frequency sensitive and produces top-down effects, but its operation has not yet been fully…

Four experiments investigated the phenomenon of letter migration, the tendency of readers to assign letters from one word to another appearing in close proximity. The experiments, which involved college undergraduate students, revealed several properties of letter migration, including the following: (1) migrations are more frequent when the words…

A study explored the combined effects of morphological clues and contextual clues in the interpretation of novel words while reading in a second language. More specifically, it examined the ability of 74 less-proficient English-speaking learners of Japanese (college students learning Japanese during a summer intensive language program in Japan) to…

Three studies were conducted in an attempt to replicate previous research concluding that semantic meaning is accessed in the absence of conscious awareness. A pattern mask was used to interrupt the processing of stimulus words after 30 milliseconds; at this duration subjects were not able to identify the stimulus words or even to determine…

Three experiments tested contrasting predictions of a dual-representation theory and a context availability model of concreteness effects in verbal processing. Without context, reading times/lexical decision times for abstract sentences/words were longer than for concrete sentences/words. Rated context availability was a good predictor of reaction…

Compares a range of reading-related abilities in two groups of college freshmen with higher and lower reading comprehension abilities. Indicates that abilities that appear to relate to reading comprehension include recognition of the order of phonemes in spoken syllables, recognition of words that are good semantic and syntactic fits for sentence…

A study compared students' cognitive word knowledge of the cognates of "think" and "know" within a theoretical framework focused on hierarchical levels of meaning. Subjects were 31 fifth, 32 seventh, and 21 tenth graders attending single-gender private schools in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and 70 college…

Investigates the influence of sentence context on the processing of concrete and abstract words. Results indicate that abstract words take longer than concrete to comprehend and to judge their meaningfulness when they occur in a neutral context. Concludes that this evidence supports the context availability model. (RS)