A pilot case study addressed how a reader engages aesthetically with text. The main thrust theoretically is from the notion that "there are possible worlds other than the one we inhabit." Four subjects were chosen out of a total of 63 subjects in grades four through six in an elementary school in Western Canada. Out of the four subjects,…

A study was conducted to evaluate the level of difficulty of textbooks (French and Sciences) written in French for use with sixth grade students. A cloze test was administered to a sample of sixth grade students in two francophone districts in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, and the Henry readability formula was applied to the same texts.…

As part of a larger study of developmental deficits in the skills of automaticity of name retrieval, phonological awareness, and memory span and their role in reading disabilities, a study tested 13 average and 14 poor fourth-grade readers for digit and letter naming speed, phonological awareness, and digit span. Among the reading skills assessed…

Results of a Canadian study show that students with mild to medium reading disabilities benefited from tutorial remediation and continued to make normal progress the next nine months. (Author/RL)

Two studies examined the effectiveness of the PASS (Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive cognitive processes) theory of intelligence in predicting reading achievement scores of normally achieving children and distinguishing children with reading disabilities from normally achieving children. The first study dealt with predicting…

A study explored the question of the development of recall for narrative and informative texts. Subjects, 60 5th- 8th-, and 11th-grade students from a rural area of Quebec, representing all levels of achievement, were presented with an informative text and a narrative text. Results indicated that: (1) the narrative text elicited a longer recall…

A study examined English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and native English speaking (L1) students' recall of propositional knowledge, story structure elements, inferential comprehension, and the types and frequencies of oral reading miscues. Reading tasks were administered to 30 students (aged 9 to 13) from each of the three linguistic groups…

An instrument structured around Kenneth Burke's "dramatistic pentad" (agent-act-scene-agency-purpose) was used to analyze and compare children's stories in Indian and Canadian fourth, fifth, and sixth grade reading series. The selections included 77 stories from the Madhya Pradesh, India, reading series and 196 stories from two reading…

Used paired comparison to construct a reading preference inventory based on 14 reading themes drawn from previous research. Tested it using intermediate-grade children in three Canadian communities. (FL)

To identify and compare prominent symbols of social relationships used in children's reading materials, a sociological analysis was made of literary materials used for developing children's reading in grades four, five, and six in India and Canada. (HOD)

A study hypothesized that if prediction, clarification, question-generation, and summarization strategies were taught using scaffolded instruction, then poor comprehenders might be able to learn the strategies so that they could apply them to text on their own and thereby improve their performance on standardized comprehension measures. Subjects…

This study attempted to verify a strategic metacognition model of an efficient, successful science reader based on an analytical induction of reading research results; develop a valid objective assessment instrument; and provide a profile of middle school students' metacognitive knowledge about science reading, science test, and text reading…

A study assessed the strengths, weaknesses, and degree of implementation of the reading dimension in the English Language Arts curriculum in grades 4, 8, and 11 of English language schools in Manitoba, Canada. At each grade, the student test assessed five major areas of reading performance. Assessment materials consisted of a student test, a…

A study assessed the strengths, weaknesses, and degree of implementation of the reading dimension in the English Language Arts curriculum in grades 4, 8, and 11 of English language schools in Manitoba (Canada). At each grade, the student test assessed five major areas of reading performance. Assessment materials consisted of a student test, a…

A study assessed the strengths, weaknesses, and degree of implementation of the reading dimension in the English Language Arts curriculum in grades 4, 8, and 11 of English language schools in Manitoba, Canada. At each grade, the student test assessed five major areas of reading performance. Assessment materials consisted of a student test, a…