Background: A significant portion of adults struggle to read at a basic level. Word reading (defined here as decoding and word recognition) appears to play a pivotal role for this population of readers; however, less is known about how word reading relates to other important semantic processes (e.g., vocabulary, sentence processing) known to…

The study aimed at exploring reading acquisition in Arabic from the perspective of a newly-literate adult native speaker, seeking to improve her reading ability and recite the Quran. Drawing mainly on a participatory cognitive schematic-interactive approach, and accounting for a literacy social view, the study's construct allowed the investigation…

For adults with low literacy skills, the role of phonology in reading has been fairly well researched, but less is known about the role of morphology in reading. We investigated the contribution of morphological awareness to word reading and reading comprehension and found that for adults with low literacy skills and skilled readers, morphological…

This article presents 34 characteristics of texts and tasks ("text features") that can make continuous (prose), noncontinuous (document), and quantitative texts easier or more difficult for adolescents and adults to comprehend and use. The text features were identified by examining the assessment tasks and associated texts in the national…

This study described the reading processes of adults in reading programs by collecting oral reading miscues and retellings from 122 adults at reading levels one through eight. Results of factor and cluster analysis revealed the need to look beyond levels of word identification and comprehension in understanding how adults read. (JOW)

This study's aim was to understand the relationship of the component skills of reading, such as word recognition, vocabulary, and spelling, to large-scale measures of literacy, such as the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) (Kirsch, Jungleblut, Jenkins, & Kolstad, 1993) and the closely related International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS)…

Discusses some of the problems associated with literacy in the United States. Reviews literature and trends related to semiliteracy, assessment, skilled readers, decoding difficulties, and comprehension difficulties. Considers several questions related to literacy and education. (CW)

Reading comprehension was compared in 20 adult illiterates, 20 low-achieving students in grade two, and 21 low achievers in grade four. Results indicated similar processing difficulties in all three groups. Readers were weak in constructing meaning beyond a clause unit, and did not differentiate processing for narrative versus expository material.…

In response to the assertion that reading is a fixed set of processes that can be identified and studied independently of context, a study was initiated based on the following assumptions: that different types of reading (prose comprehension and text search) can be identified and measured, that reading competencies are highly associated with uses…

The first of two volumes, this packet contains four learning exploration activities that hospital workers can use in a classroom setting to improve their reading skills. The instructor's manual contains information about reading instruction, teaching suggestions, and a pre- and post-evaluation, along with a syllabus for the 13-week course that…

The second of two volumes, this packet contains seven learning exploration activities that hospital workers can use in a classroom setting to improve their reading skills. The instructor's manual contains information about reading instruction and teaching suggestions. In the student workbook are activities designed to help students learn…

An Israeli study determined what happens when persons with low-literacy levels read news accounts that presuppose general knowledge that the writer expects them to have, but that they may not necessarily possess. The study sample consisted of about 600 students, mostly women, in 30 literacy centers throughout the country. In each class, adult…

Reflecting the increasing complexity and sophistication in reading research, the papers in this collection represent a wide spectrum of approaches, philosophies, viewpoints, and techniques of scholarly endeavor in their treatment of reading research and instruction. Following an address, by the president of the organization, on reading…

Focusing on new frontiers in college and adult reading, the papers in this volume were drawn from the fifteenth annual meeting of the National Reading Conference held in 1965. Among the topics covered in the 26 papers are the following: reading in the Guatemalan environment, the use of instrumentation in reading, correlates of concentration, the…

This document contains a competency-based workplace literacy curriculum that is intended to develop workers' reading comprehension skills by building on their prior knowledge and integrating job-related reading materials actually used by workers on the job with other academic reading materials and textbooks. Designed to be used in conjunction with…