The effects on reading speed and comprehension of window proportions and page turning in electronic text were investigated in this study. Subjects--61 undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin--Whitewater--were administered a standardized reading text displayed as photocopied dot matrix print in simulation of electronic text. There…

A study examined adult readers' phrasing ability to determine (1) if passage difficulty was a salient variable in readers' sensitivity to phrase boundaries in reading; (2) if phrase sensitivity was an issue of concern for young adult readers; and (3) if difficulties in phrasing were due to an overabundant or an inadequate sensitivity to phrase…

A longitudinal study was conducted to determine the relative effectiveness of a developmental reading course taught to students in a college of nursing. Forty-two students in the experimental group were enrolled in a ten-week developmental reading course during the first semester of their freshman year; the control group, also composed of 42…

According to a theory of textual cohesion, anaphoric references and noun phrase organizers may serve as cohesive ties linking separate sentences into unified paragraphs. This study revealed that only the noun phrase organizer condition was significant in promoting comprehension and indicated no difference in time scores by paragraph condition.…

Examines expository text processing abilities of fourth- and sixth-grade students and college students. Reports these major findings: topic sentence reading times were shorter if a transition question informed the reader of the next topic; topic sentence reading times were shorter if the new topic was directly related to the immediately preceding…

Examines how spelling-to-sound irregularity affects pronunciation latencies when words are presented in a sentence, and concludes that pronunciation latencies are strongly affected by the type of preceding sentence, with the specific sentences producing shorter latencies than the general sentences. (HOD)

Concludes that individuals can read unfamiliar but relatively easy material at high rates with high accuracy of comprehension, but they do not provide strong support for rauding theory. (FL)

Describes a college reading rate improvement course in which students review reading research regarding the variables involved in reading and explicitly analyze their own reading behavior. Argues that students aware of their own reading behavior can better plan their reading assignments. (RS)

Evaluation of 16 college students with dyslexia found no significant differences between listening comprehension and reading comprehension. Comparison of the 16 dyslexic students with 16 nondyslexic students revealed significant differences on reading achievement and reading time but not on untimed reading comprehension. (JDD)

Examines information-processing differences among four types of readers differing in reading comprehension and speed. Finds that good comprehenders outperformed poor comprehenders on all types of tasks, but the results were less clear for the high- and low-speed readers. Proposes differences in working memory as a source of individual differences…

Investigates the extent to which readers make inferences and integrations during reading. Finds that slow readers and readers with "careful-reading" instructions appear to infer script-arguments and integrate arguments to a high degree. Finds that fast readers and readers with "fluent-reading" instructions do not infer script-information and show…

This study involved the use of interspersed questions as an instructional procedure to aid improvement in reading efficiency. Subjects, 86 college students enrolled in an undergraduate course in methods for teaching secondary reading, practiced (five times) reading nonfiction narrative selections, trying to increase their reading speed. The…

The development of rapid word processing skills was investigated using a visual search task. Visual displays of varying orthographic structure (words, pseudowords, nonwords) were presented to college students and to kindergarten, second-grade, and fourth-grade children. Response latencies were measured as subjects indicated whether a previously…

Reaction time to reading sentences which were not clearly interrelated was longer when a paragraph was titled to give it to more discourse (paragraph) level meaning. The presence of titles had no effect on reaction times for meaningful paragraphs, however. (CP)