Although literacy achievement has improved in Chile, adolescents' underperformance in reading comprehension is still a serious concern. In English, core academic-language skills (CALS) have been found to significantly predict reading comprehension, even controlling for academic vocabulary knowledge. CALS are high-utility language skills that…

The primary objective of this special issue is to synthesize results from recent reading fluency research endeavors, and to link these findings to practical uses of reading curriculum-based measurement (R-CBM) tools. Taken together, the manuscripts presented in this issue discuss measurement work related to new metrics of indexing student reading…

The relationships between reading scores of seventh-grade readers and their scores on the Zaslow Concept Formation Test were studied. The Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test and Tests of General Ability scores were obtained from school records on 118 students of which 32 were considered high-scoring readers (upper 27 percent) and 32 low-scoring readers…

Surveys the reading attitudes of 85 seventh graders in a predominantly Hispanic East Los Angeles school, and relates them to reading achievement. Finds that students doing well in reading have a higher positive correlation between attitude and achievement, but that many students reading far below grade level manifest very positive attitudes toward…

Reports on a survey of 78 seventh-grade students, conducted to investigate the relationship between television viewing and reading achievement. Notes that good readers' viewing habits were not significantly different from those of poor readers. (JT)

Describes a study designed to assess students' reading maturity, involving such factors as achievement, interests, attitudes, and leisure reading habits. (MKM)

Describes a reading scheme in which seventh-grade students engage in sustained silent reading for one class period per week and the reading gains made by the students in the first six months of the year. (HTH)

Examines the memory coding processes of skilled and less skilled readers during the reading of connected text. Finds that, along with phonological coding, semantic processing contributes an important amount of variance to deficiencies in the reading of connected text. (RS)

A study examined the effects on comprehension of interspersing questions in text. The subjects, 103 seventh grade students in an urban school, were identified by scores on the California Achievement Test as either good or poor readers. They were then divided into four groups receiving the following treatments: passages without experimental…

A study was conducted to determine the relationship between the reading attitudes of seventh grade high achievers and their teachers' perceptions of those attitudes. The 178 students and 12 teachers in the study completed a reading attitudes survey, with the teachers responding as they believed a high achieving student would answer. When a t-test…

A study examined the effect of extended use of computers on reading achievement. The study population consisted of 75 seventh-grade students at the J. N. Thorp Elementary School located in a predominantly low income socio-economic neighborhood of South Chicago. Of this total, 15 students were subjected to an intensive computer assisted instruction…

This longitudinal study was a replication of two disparate studies, one of dominance and one of control, which had as subjects 277 seventh- and eighth-grade pupils remaining from an original dominance study of over 500. Eye dominance was determined through hole-in-paper and V-scope; eye control at near and far point, through the telebinocular;…

Examines the effect of sustained silent reading and writing on achievement of seventh and eighth grade students reading two or more years below grade level. Finds significant improvement in reading achievement, writing, and attitude toward reading for both seventh and eighth grade students. (RS)

A study examined whether there is a relationship between students' reading grades and the amount of time they spend watching television. Subjects, seventh grade students from three classes (and four reading levels) of a public elementary school in Jersey City were given 84 charts to record their viewing habits for each of the three weeks of the…