The purpose of this study was to determine if third-grade students could learn vocabulary incidentally through silent reading and by listening to stories read aloud as well as which method would produce the greater gain. Students listened to and read silently a total of 16 stories over the course of 8 weeks. Pretest and posttest scores on multiple…

This report describes an action research project designed to improve reading skills of first grade students. The targeted population consisted of two elementary classrooms located in a small, rural Mid-Western town. The problem of difficulty memorizing reading vocabulary words was documented through parent and student surveys and a document…

Written by a counselor-teacher-program coordinator working in an urban elementary school, this practicum aimed to improve the receptive vocabulary development program for second grade students. Specific goals were to: (1) improve second grade students' receptive vocabulary; (2) use students' improved receptive vocabulary to increase their reading…

The study was undertaken to determine whether this particular melding of two independently successful programs, Project Read and Guided Reading, could complement each other as intervention strategies in helping at-risk students develop literacy skills. Subjects were 11 first-grade students identified as "at-risk" of learning to read by…

An experimental study involving 32 second-grade poor readers found that students involved in dyad reading groups (buddy reading groups) made greater achievement gains on all reading outcomes (vocabulary and comprehension) than the matched control students. (IAH)

This report describes a program to increase sight/functional vocabulary to improve reading comprehension. The targeted population consisted of one 2nd-3rd grade and one 6th-8th grade cross-categorical self-contained class, located in an elementary school and a middle school. The schools were located in a northeast suburb of a major city in the…

Measures the effects of two oral reading instructional routines (the Oral Recitation Lesson and Shared Book Experience) on second-grade students' reading development (including word analysis skills, oral reading errors, self-correction rates, oral retellings, vocabulary gains, and fluency). Finds that the Shared Book Experience was superior or…

This paper discusses the relationship between cloze demands and reading comprehension and describes a cloze program used in a third-grade classroom. A series of exercises, including word attack, sentence completion, and vocabulary-development tasks, were given regularly by teachers to the students in their third-grade classrooms. Included in the…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Oral Language and Vocabulary module elaborates on a student's comprehension of text as it relates to the overlap between the student's system of language and the author's system of language.…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Oral Language and Vocabulary module elaborates on a student's comprehension of text as it relates to the overlap between the student's system of language and the author's system of language.…

Describes a summer remedial reading program for first-grade students. Includes discussions of the activities and strategies used to promote comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary development. (FL)

Evidence from existing literature suggests that the decoding and reading comprehension skills of poor readers can be improved by assisting them to read material that is too difficult for them to read by themselves--especially when the reading experiences are focused on the content of the material rather than on the words. A study examined the…

One of a series of four guides developed for use by parents of children enrolled in a Title I reading improvement program, this booklet provides learning activities and suggestions for improving the reading abilities and skills of primary school children. The areas covered are developing the child's interest in reading and encouraging independent…

A practicum was implemented to improve the sight-word vocabulary and attitudes toward reading among 22 second-grade students reading below grade level. The program took approximately 45 minutes a day, 2 days a week. The language experience approach was used in conjunction with word processors. The different types of activities included dictated…

A program was designed and implemented to improve student vocabulary and comprehension. The target population consisted of 59 students in grades 1, 2, and 3 in a low-income area of a large city in central Illinois. The problems of lack of prior knowledge, poor vocabulary, and insufficient comprehension were documented through data collected from…