Half of a two-part English Language Arts Achievement Test, this test evaluates reading skills in Grade 6. It contains general instructions for the student, and 50 multiple choice questions on nine readings (two poems and seven stories). (SR)

A study tested a theory of inferencing strategies. Subjects were 40 sixth grade students of average intelligence from a large Western Canadian city who were divided according to reading proficiency and background knowledge. Six passages, three familiar to the students and three unfamiliar to them, were written by the researcher in such a manner…

Elementary school students read and recalled normal and scrambled versions of text. Superior recall for expository text was found to be attributable to use of text structure rather than a memory factor as a retrieval cue. Students aware of structure recalled significantly more of normal passages than scrambled text. (Author/DWH)

Twenty-four sixth grade students participated in a study that adapted earlier reading research to determine whether students would demonstrate sensitivity to the presence or absence of a relevant schema in a passage and whether skilled readers would show more use of the schema than would less skilled readers. Six skilled and six less skilled…

Finds support for the efficacy of a direct instruction paradigm for teaching children reading comprehension skills. (FL)

Examines the effectiveness of instructional support provided in three treatments for sixth grade children interpreting metaphor in poetry. (HOD)

To determine whether mastery of one reading comprehension task is a prerequisite to mastery of two or more reading comprehension tasks, a study examined the prerequisite relations existing in the item responses elicited from a sample of sixth grade students who took the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, Form G, Level 12 reading comprehension test. Test…

Compares use of two decoding strategies in fifth-sixth grade normal and dyslexic children, and younger normals reading-aged-matched to the dyslexic students. Finds dyslexics lag behind age-matched normals in use of both strategies, and behind reading-age-matched normals in use of analogies, but not rules. (RS)

A study investigated the effect of training Dutch students to learn to derive word meanings from written context. Subjects, 64 grade 6 primary school children, were randomly divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group followed eight lessons in their mothertongue (Dutch), while the control group followed their regular…

The convergent and discriminant validities of tests designed to measure the subskills of literal and inferential reading comprehension in different content areas were assessed. A multitrait-multimethod matrix was generated, using three measuring methods: (1) a standardized reading test; (2) individually devised tests; and (3) teacher ratings.…

To test the effectiveness of the cloze procedure for developing comprehension skills in reading at the intermediate level, 189 sixth graders were divided into small groups or asked to work independently during this reading program, which lasted five weeks. The materials were presented both as cloze materials and in unmutilated form, followed by…

Describes the ways in which the published results of research can find their way into practical application within the classroom very quickly. (JM)

Reveals high awareness of comparison/contrast structure and low awareness of causation structure. Supports the hypothesis that structure-aware students are more likely to use a structural strategy when reading than unaware students. Reveals that sixth graders have some text structure knowledge and may be promising candidates for instruction in how…

Investigates the effectiveness of study guides (called Expository Passage Organizers) in improving sixth graders' reading and writing. Finds that such study guides, which highlighted the structures of textbooks, made a significant and positive difference in reading and writing performance. (SR)

Illuminates patterns in responses to literature by analyzing one sixth grader's entries written in her literature response journal. Finds that the student's responses reveal her as an active reader and writer with unique thoughts, feelings. and opinions generated by quality children's literature. (MG)