Explicit strategy instruction combined with student-directed self-regulation in conjunction with cognitive strategies has proven effective in supporting low-achieving students' reading comprehension. Experts have extended 1 such approach, self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) for the expository reading comprehension Think before reading,…

We tested the effects of teaching reading skills through U.S. History content for 38 eighth-grade poor readers whose reading ability ranged from 2nd to 4th grade levels. Half of the students received special education services and half of the students were English Language Learners. Students were taught to decode multisyllabic words, learn…

This was a qualitative case study that compared data across six district-level literacy coaches' epistemological and ontological beliefs about how to teach reading. All six coaches were working as a cohort of literacy coaches on the development and implementation of a secondary reading intervention program for seventh-grade struggling readers.…

Second language (L2) reading research suggests that there is a complex interplay between L2 proficiency, first language (L1) reading and L2 reading. However, not much is known about the effect of L1 proficiency on L1 reading, and of L1 reading on L2 reading, or vice versa, in bilingual settings when readers have few opportunities for extensive…

Describes an approach to assisting seventh-grade students' comprehension of individual texts with a Scaffolded Reading Experience (SRE). Includes an outline of the scaffolded reading experience. Describes a classroom study of the effect of using SREs. Finds SREs can increase students' comprehension of short stories. (SG)

This paper describes the development of a reading program based on popular television broadcasts. The project was carried out in one inner-city middle school--seventh and eighth grades--(Rhodes Middle School, Philadelphia). The aims of the project were to use television as a means for children to read and for drawing administrators and teachers…

Examines whether some of the problems that average and below average readers have in comprehending expository texts stem primarily from lack of familiarity with conjunctions or a tendency to ignore them. Reports that all reading levels benefited from the highlighting of explicit conjunctions. (MM)

A study examined the effect of reading ability on 60 seventh-grade students' narrative writing quality, use of descriptive and evaluative t-units, use of storytelling linguistic cues, degree of revision, and between draft self-assessing inferences about intentions, problems in fulfilling intentions, and predicted revisions. Subjects wrote two…

Concludes that good comprehenders are far more likely to use lookbacks (rereadings) than are poor comprehenders and that training improves performance of both groups. (FL)

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)

To gain insight into the relationship between computer graphics (computer generated visuals used for the purpose of illustrating text) and computer assisted instruction (CAI), a study examined the effects of two levels of microcomputer graphics on three measures of reading comprehension using a teacher made CAI reading program. Subjects included…

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effectiveness of training students to generate their own questions prior to reading. The subjects were 116 seventh grade students enrolled in a junior high school developmental reading course. Three groups were formed: subjects receiving experimental treatment A, subjects receiving…

A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the ability to comprehend in reading has no effect on mathematical problem solving ability of seventh grade students. Two seventh grade classes were administered a standardized test of reading comprehension and knowledge of mathematical concepts and application at the beginning of a school year.…

A study investigated the relationship between text organization and children's reading comprehension of expository material. Upgraded and downgraded versions of both macrostructures and microstructures were combined to produce four texts on the topic of insect-eating plants. Forty-three seventh grade students were randomly assigned to one of the…

A study was conducted to determine whether the interests of seventh grade students were reflected in the content of the basal stories used in the classroom. Subjects were 48 seventh graders enrolled in developmental reading in an upper middle-class socioeconomic region of New Jersey. On a questionnaire, students were asked to select from a list of…