Performances of 64 sixth-grade readers on a traditional and three alternative types of cloze tests were compared. Results confirm and extend the findings of earlier studies investigating cloze alternatives. Advantages of the alternate forms are discussed. (Author/MT)

Fifty-five poor readers and 58 normal readers in grade six were presented a modified version of B. Hamill's tone pattern-phrase matching procedure. Consistent with Hamill's adults, Ss tended to choose phrases which matched long tone durations to content words and short durations to function words. (Author/CL)

It was hypothesized that teaching poor readers to use a reflective cognitive style would facilitate their reading ability. An experimental group of children was taught to delay their responses and to use more efficient search and scanning techniques. Poor readers' vocabulary and comprehension scores and level of reflectivity improved following…

Two studies investigated (1) the ability of learning disabled children to perform tasks that specifically demand the recognition and production of main-idea statements, and (2) their ability to detect an inappropriate sentence in a paragraph. (PN)

This first annual report describes student performance in reading and writing from the spring 1997 administration of the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP). In this first administration of CSAP, all fourth grade students in Colorado were assessed. The report provides policymakers, educators, parents, and the community with a general…

The stability of subskill scores on the Reading Comprehension Test of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills was studied. It was concluded that the subskills are of limited use in diagnosing specific strengths or weaknesses in a student's reading comprehension skill development. (Author/GK)

In two experiments, fourth, fifth, and sixth-graders and an adult set chose titles and wrote summary sentences for expository paragraphs. All groups were better at detecting sentences that conformed neither to the paragraphs general nor specific topic than sentences conforming only to the general. (CE)

The study evaluated the relative importance of graphic and contextual information in the correction behavior of disabled fourth grade readers who were clinically diagnosed as poor comprehenders. Results indicated that poor comprehenders tended to be more cued to graphic constraints in the text than to semantic constraints. (Author/DB)

The study validated a method of identifying children (in grades four-six) with specific reading disabilities by identifying discrepancies between their reading and listening comprehension abilities. The test requires children to listen to or read alternate sentences. The method may be more appropriate than measures which examine discrepancies…

Examines the effects of 2 levels of prior knowledge and 2 types of text structure on the recall and question performance of 90 fifth graders who were average readers. Finds that prior knowledge has a greater effect on question performance than on recall performance and that it only enhances the recall of one section of the text information. (MG)

Presents an explanation of the K-W-L Plus strategy as it might be used with students in the classroom. Shows how the strategy is used before reading, after reading, with mapping, and with summary writing. Suggests modifications to be used in the classroom. (MG)

Using structural equation modeling the authors evaluated the contribution of morphological awareness, phonological memory, and phonological decoding to reading comprehension, reading vocabulary, spelling, and accuracy and rate of decoding morphologically complex words for 182 4th- and 5th-grade students, 218 6th- and 7th-grade students, and 207…

A study examined three variables derived from earlier research on comprehension and recall of narrative text: time in short-term memory; causal connections allowed; and referential connections allowed. Subjects, 84 randomly selected fourth graders in three suburban public elementary schools, read 8 short texts that each contained 4 embedded goals,…

This paper analyzes the relative contributions of general reading comprehension and domain knowledge to subject matter text learning. The paper points out the limits of each factor in explaining text learning and summarizes some recent studies that support the complementary role played by each factor. A two-factor account of text learning (general…

A new readability formula is designed to work on passages that are 40 to 99 words long, while existing readability formulas require a passage of 300 words or longer. The new formula requires the passage to have at least three sentences and is reliable for the fourth through the twelfth grades. (Four figures which demonstrate the use of the formula…