William S. Gray, first president of the International Reading Association, is the focus of this booklet. Sections are devoted to "The Person," which includes Gray's family background, early schooling and teaching jobs, and his further education at Illinois State University, the University of Chicago, and Teachers College (Columbia…

Language comprehension is an immensely complex process involving the dynamic interaction of diverse sources of knowledge. In order to model this process, tools are needed which allow detailed specification of the process components. In this paper, the essential characteristics of a model of reading comprehension are discussed in the context of the…

Reports on a study that found an alternative cloze test format both valid and practical when compared to the conventional cloze format. (HOD)

After reviewing the information that teachers and other decision makers need to have about student achievement and some recent advances in the theory and practice of reading assessment, the author makes a number of recommendations for improving assessment programs. These include: do less massive, broad-band testing, but improve the reliability and…

Four papers on reading in a second language are reviewed and discussed. They include a study of assessment and the difficulties inherent in the measurement of a construct as complex as reading comprehension. The other three deal with variables facilitating comprehension in reading. One supports an interactive model of reading rather than a…

This study was designed to determine whether the scores obtained from the Kindergarten Diagnostic Instrument (KDI) Test given to children prior to their enrollment in kindergarten would allow educators to identify those children who would eventually qualify for a first grade reading intervention program. A total of 346 children were randomly…

Investigates whether standardized tests measure the same comprehension construct as free recall assessment techniques. (FL)

More than 1,000 studies of reading research published between July 1, 1982, and June 30, 1983 are summarized in this report. The studies are arranged into six categories: (1) Summaries of Reading Research, (2) Teacher Preparation and Practice, (3) The Sociolgy of Reading, (4) Physiology and Psychology of Reading, (5) The Teaching of Reading, and…

Drawing on study strategy, metacognition, and attribution research, a model of strategy use was presented and evaluated via a series of regression analyses. Data analysis was conducted in three stages: identifying frequency of stragegy use, relating strategy use to test performance, and predicting reported use of strategies that were related to…

The Wisconsin Design for Reading Skill Development is a vehicle for implementing a skills-centered approach to reading instruction. The components of the design are (1) management guidelines; (2) an essential skills list for six areas (word attack, comprehension, study skills, self-directed reading, interpretive reading, and creative reading) and…

Traditionally, studies of beginning reading have focused either on between-subjects' differences or on changes in reading performance characteristics induced by specific training procedures. A third approach to reading is a within-subjects' comparison of individual performance characteristics at varying difficulty levels. The present study…

During the last 20 years, the relationship between reading instruction and assessment has been framed by the logic of mastery learning. The ultimate goal of mastery learning is assuring a given achievement outcome across students by varying input characteristics such as the amount and kind of instruction and practice, or the attention paid to…

Noting that accurate procedures for predicting reading ability in school settings are necessary for a variety of purposes, this paper reviews methods for predicting reading ability and presents a new, more precise model for use at the second grade level. First, the paper defines reading expectancy as an informed estimate of the level of reading…