An approach to teaching top-down comprehension of spoken language in business Spanish instruction is presented. The approach is based on a model of reading comprehension using successful reading strategies that use-top-down processing, and relies on development of learners' understanding of certain important concepts they will encounter in…

Describing how the experiences of nine cognitive researchers have influenced college writing classrooms, this book demonstrates the critical role of the learner in interpreting and responding to the texts they read, the tasks they are assigned, and the feedback they receive from instructors, readers, and collaborators. Growing out of a project at…

English instructors must discover methods that inspire culturally diverse university students to utilize intelligent reading strategies, even when students feel like inferior outcasts. A class was designed at the University of Alaska to teach reading strategies. The typical class consisted of 20-25 students ranging in age from 18 to 60 and…

Developmental reading instructors bear the responsibility for preparing students to handle the challenge of difficult college reading. Reading is thinking, re-thinking, and coming to a conclusion that takes into account all the various parts of the text. An excellent tool for helping students with the demands of college-level reading, the journal…

Explores issues arising from a research project which studied ways of meeting the reading needs of trainee primary school teachers (from Malawi and Tanzania) of English as a foreign language. Topics discussed include: the classroom teaching situation; teaching "quality"; and integration of materials and methods. (CB)

An innovative foreign language methodology, " Read-and-Speak," was tried in a year-long pilot section of beginning French. The method involves: (1) massive easy readings assigned from the outset; (2) speaking the foreign language from the start; (3) delaying formal grammar instruction until April, when an entire introductory text is…

Explores opposing theoretical views on the effects of text underlining and reports on a study of 67 college freshmen. Finds that the subjects who generated their own underlining did not perform significantly better than those who were given experimenter-generated marking. (SKC)

Presents a method for improving reading comprehension through direct instruction of inductive reasoning. Students gather clues to personality of characters as play progresses and from these arrive at an overall generalization concerning the complexities of the character. (SRT)

Describes an informal inventory that gives underprepared college freshmen the opportunity to express their own perceptions of their reading needs and interests. Finds that students are most concerned with reading rate. Suggests that speed-reading activities play to students' interests while at the same time giving practice in comprehension skills.…

Maintains that student reading often is seen as a major component of university study, yet the amount actually undertaken frequently falls short of teacher expectations. Describes the use of course readers, or teacher-compiled reading packets, in geography courses and provides a set of recommendations regarding the approach. (CFR)

Description of a course in hypertext literacy developed for an advertising and communications department describes the two instructional methods used; argues that hypertext is a unique computer application that can be a valuable learning tool; and discusses hypertext reading and writing skills and barriers to the use of this technology. (21…

Reviews research streams in metacognition, reading strategies, and training of reading strategies that are converging in the field of English as a foreign or second language (EFL/ESL) and impacting the teaching of English to non-native speakers for academic purposes. A research design for investigating the efficacy of metacognitive strategy…

Investigated Jordanian college students' evaluation of the impact learning and using five reading strategies in their English-language course had on performing academic tasks required in English for subject courses. Students believed formal instruction in these strategies helped them perform academic tasks required in English in their subject…

Presents case studies of four college students applying new study strategies, taught and demonstrated in class during one semester, to improve reading and learning. Finds that students need to see a correlation between a study strategy and their final grade before they will utilize deep-level study strategies in place of surface-level strategies.…

This study tested the hypothesis that more proficient language learners are more aware of the strategies they use in reading. Subjects were 28 native speakers of Mandarin Chinese who learned English as a Second Language (ESL). All were university students; experienced readers were recruited from among fourth-year English majors and inexperienced…