As a follow-up to an original study reported by Hershberger (1963), the present study assessed the instructional effectiveness of typographical cueing in both conventional and programed texts as a function of reading ability, reading instructions, and cueing complexity. A total of 118 eighth graders were divided into eight groups. Each group read…

The Reading Comprehension and Spelling subtests of the Stanford Achievement Test were administered to 170 eighth grade students to test four null hypotheses about the differences between reading ability, spelling ability, and phonic generalization spelling errors. In addition, a specially constructed Phonics Generalization Spelling Test was…

Good and poor student readers and adults read texts in normal format and with 13 spaces between words. Wide spacing improved comprehension for poor readers but did not affect their reading efficiency, while it substantially impaired the efficiency of the other groups. Text difficulty did not interact significantly with spacing. (SJL)

Using eighth-grade subjects, a study examined the strategy differences between good and poor readers as they summarized what they had read. (HOD)

A study examined the effects of prior knowledge and the explicitness of text connectivity on various measures of reading ability. Subjects were 130 eighth grade students who read 6 prose passages that had been manipulated for content familiarity and for use of explicit connectives and implied connectives (those brought about by the author's…

Examines differences in eighth graders' vocabulary learning from two history text passages with two versions of contextual information. Finds that the "considerate" text characteristics of proximity, connectivity, explicitness, and completeness were important in increasing comprehension. (MM)

The National Assessment of Educational Progress' (NAEP) 1992 reading assessment was administered to nationally representative samples of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students attending public and private schools, and to state representative public-school samples of fourth graders in 43 jurisdictions. Nearly 140,000 students were assessed in…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress' (NAEP) 1992 reading assessment was administered to nationally representative samples of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students attending public and private schools, and to state representative public-school samples of fourth graders in 43 jurisdictions. Nearly 140,000 students were assessed in…

A study examined the use of context clues in identifying unknown words embedded in three types of text (fiction, exposition, and science). Subjects were 24 eighth grade students who read three passages at the fifth grade level, each with four content words deleted from them and replaced with pseudowords. Context clues for these pseudowords were…

Supports findings from earlier research showing that older students are more aware of organizational structure, more precise in assessing information, and better able to deal with logical relationships than are younger students. (FL)

A book-length study described the metacognitive components of good and poor reading ability, with special reference to comprehension. Subjects were 53 Swedish students in grade 5 or 8 and were either good or poor comprehenders as defined by a combination of a reading test and teacher ratings. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews…

Classroom teachers in the 1990s are encountering more and more students who are uninterested in learning. In fact, some students begrudge even opening up their books whether it be to read, spell or solve math problems. These negative attitudes are believed by many teachers to have a significant bearing on the students' ability to perform well in…

The 1994 NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) reading assessment was administered to approximately 27,400 public and non-public school students at grades 4, 8, and 12. Across the 3 grades assessed, there were a total of 96 multiple-choice, 144 short constructed-response, and 33 extended constructed-response questions. Information for…

This study compared the reading comprehension abilities of learning disabled (LD) students with the performance of both their age-peers and their reading-level peers. Subjects were 16 seventh- and eighth-grade LD students, 16 normal achieving eighth graders, and 16 normal achieving fifth graders. To assess the use of prior knowledge under varying…

Two experiments examined the effects of definition and synonym as context clues embedded in three types of text (fiction, exposition, and science). It was predicted that (1) type of text would influence clue usage; (2) difficulty of the text, based on increasingly more detailed complex information, would interfere with the use of clues; (3) clue…