Discusses how reading strategies can be successfully taught in second or foreign-language reading instruction, examining research that has been done on reading-strategy training and confronting the issue of how to make reading-strategy instruction appropriately text and context sensitive. Research that emphasizes the five metacognitive elements…

Examines the differences in the reported use of reading strategies of native and non-native English speakers when reading academic materials. Participants were native English speaking and English-as-a-Second-Language college students who completed a survey of reading strategies aimed at discerning the strategies readers report using when coping…

In the past, students with learning disabilities who wished to attend university were unable to meet the entry requirements. With the progress of research in diagnosis, accommodation, and remediation of reading disabilities, many of these students are now able to attend and complete their academic and professional education. Yet in many cases the…

The influence of word recognition and conceptual knowledge on readers' comprehension of narrative text has become a fundamental assumption associated with text processing in the primary grades. Features of conceptual knowledge such as prior knowledge, content knowledge, domain knowledge, and discourse knowledge are believed to be significant…

A study examined the effects that a metacognitive strategy, self-questioning prediction, had on the improvement of reading comprehension. The sample included 17 eighth-grade students in a South Amboy, New Jersey middle school. The Gates MacGinitie Reading Comprehension Tests were administered as both pre- and posttests. There were three weekly…

A study examined whether previous knowledge facilitates the acquisition of a reading comprehension strategy by children who are poor readers. Subjects, 54 fourth- and fifth-grade boys in Palm Beach County, Florida, who were poor readers and baseball experts, were trained in the use of a reading strategy (asking "why" questions), with…

A study examined the content of eight 1989 editions of the major basal reading series--those of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; D.C. Heath and Co.; Holt Rinehart and Winston; Houghton Mifflin; Macmillan; McGraw-Hill; Scott, Foresman and Co.; and Silver Burdett and Ginn. The study determined how and the extent to which lessons and activities that…

An intervention program in the area of sixth grade social studies was implemented for the purpose of increasing reading comprehension levels of average ability students in a large, urban school district. Five metacognitive strategies were employed to improve understanding of the adopted textbook. The strategies included outlining, sentence…

Research on six major issues in reading is organized into charts and a bibliography. For each of the six areas (schema theory, reading strategies and processes, comprehension studies, culture and reading, methods for teaching reading, cognitive/metacognitive issues), relevant research is summarized in a chart. Each chart contains two sections, one…

Empirical and theoretical evidence is presented to support the conclusion that improvement of learning ability is an important and viable educational goal. The improvement of learning ability necessitates development not only of specific learning skills, but also an executive control mechanism that automatically accesses and combines learning…

Shares some of the improvements made on four study/learning procedures. (HOD)

This newsletter covers educational issues affecting schools in the Western Regional Educational Laboratory's 4-state region (Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah) and nationwide. The following articles appear in the Volume 4, Number 1 issue: (1) "The Roots of Reading"; (2) "Breaking the Code: Reading Literacy in K-3"; (3)…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Comprehension Strategies module explains the process of building comprehension in readers so that they read for meaning and understanding. There are six interferences to comprehension that…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Comprehension Strategies module explains the process of building comprehension in readers so that they read for meaning and understanding. There are six interferences to comprehension that…

The goals of this study were to explore how preservice students' use of content area strategies could inform teacher education, to determine what the student teachers learned by implementing content area literacy strategies and completing case studies, and to determine if case studies promoted the use of strategies in fieldwork. Subjects, 24…