Five modified cloze procedures useful in intermediate-level reading-comprehension instruction are described. They include exercises where clues to the missing word come before the blank, clues come after the blank, clues are labels for groups of ideas, clues are pronouns, and clues signal readers to look for something important. (Author/JDD)

Examined the effect of lateral preference on passage comprehension and short-term memory function for 48 normal fourth-grade males. Lateralized readers recalled more information under auditory than written conditions; bilateral readers showed no preference. Between-group comparisons showed bilateral readers to comprehend significantly more than…

Using eight intermediate grade remedial reading students as subjects, a study was conducted to (1) validate the method of repeated readings to determine if improvements in fluency could be achieved, (2) identify aspects of reading and fluency that change with repeated practice, and (3) determine if improvements in any of these areas had any…

Latent inferential comprehension scores were calculated for fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students in a study that investigated cognitive styles as mediating variables in comprehension processes. (HOD)

Fifty fifth-grade students read passages at three readability levels from four content areas, then answered vocabulary, literal, and interpretive questions based on each passage. Significant differences in comprehension were found across ability levels and content areas. One sample passage is appended. (FL)

Concludes that when presented stories, some of which were inconsistent because of missing pages, less skilled readers were poorer at reporting a missing page, placing it correctly, and fixing the story than were skilled readers. Stories are appended. (FL)

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

Details two experiments that assessed the effect of vocabulary difficulty on three measures of text comprehension--free recall, summary recall, and sentence recognition. (FL)

Details a study designed to determine the effects of passage content (schemata) and syntactic structure (clause order) on the inferential comprehension of causal relations of fifth grade students. (FL)

This report describes a project for improving reading comprehension through the use of multiple intelligences. The action research took place from September 2001 to January 2002. The targeted population consisted of fourth grade students living in two suburbs of a major metropolitan city. The two communities range from low income to upper middle…

Attempts to obtain information in regard to children's willingness to skip passages when answering reading comprehension test questions. (RB)

The study, involving 39 intermediate-grade disabled readers, found that visualization instruction plus pictorial display, in which subjects were instructed to make pictures in their minds and were shown a pictorial display that illustrated the temporal-spatial sequence of the reading text, was particularly effective in facilitating subjects'…

Examines the effect of key concept mapping strategies on reading comprehension and writing performance of fifth grade students using basal reading materials. Concludes that key concept mapping enhances comprehension of factual/informative text, but has no effect on written composition. Finds that literary mapping strategies enhanced neither…

Examines the influence of pre-reading instruction versus prior experience on factual and inferential comprehension. Concludes that prior experience affects factual and inferential comprehension more than does pre-reading instruction, and that younger students need to have relevant knowledge externally activated, while older students can activate…

Examines the relative importance of vocabulary difficulty and prior knowledge on comprehension of narrative passages. Finds that knowledge-based preinstruction can significantly improve comprehension of a text dealing with an unfamiliar topic, but cannot compensate for difficult text vocabulary. (RS)