A study examined the acquisition of a reading vocabulary for abstract and concrete words in 62 second-grade children. Words had been learned as part of a basal reader program or as part of outside reading. Word recognition speed and reading accuracy were examined for abstract and concrete words using lexical decision and word naming tasks. Results…

This study's purpose was to determine if the amount of time spent reading independently at home and at school correlated with oral reading fluency and comprehension. Fifteen heterogeneously grouped second graders logged the amount of minutes they read independently over a 12-week period. The students were pre- and post-tested using the Woodcock…

Describes a literature-based reading program designed around independent reading and writing periods (IRWP) in which children could choose to participate alone or with others in several different literacy tasks. Finds that the physical design of the literacy centers, the modeled behavior by the teachers, and the time for IRWP resulted in increased…

A study of the current expressed reading interests of children in the first two years of school conducted in ten countries--Austria, Canada, England, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Panama, Sweden, and the United States--is reported in this paper. Over 2,000 children drew pictures about what they would best like to read or have read to…

Accelerated Reader is a computer program designed by Advantage Learning Systems to assess students' reading comprehension levels and keep detailed and accurate reports of such findings. This research studied the Accelerated Reader program with a second grade class over a 6-week time frame. One class of 20 students read books picked from the…

The purposes of this study were: (1) to investigate the general interests and the reading interests of pupils in first grade through third grade and (2) to investigate teachers' skills in interpreting interest data and in choosing literature for children. The sample consisted of 521 pupils and 18 teachers. Reading interests of the children were…

Studies the views of parents and teachers on how they might effectively support independent readers. Examines children's views on parental involvement. Finds that the survey heightened interest in reading and literature among children and their parents. (MG)

A review of the literature indicates that instructional differences exist between the instruction given to good and poor readers. A study was conducted to examine the amount of actual reading of connected text, orally or silently, assigned during classroom reading instruction. Twenty-four first and second grade teachers from four school districts…

Three groups of twenty-five children in fourth-grade reading classes were selected for this study. The subjects in class one received plastic tokens for desirable reading responses. The tokens were exchanged for release time from the classroom while reading instruction was in progress. The subjects in class two also received tokens for desirable…

An action research study described and evaluated a program for improving the reading comprehension of targeted first, second, and third grade students, in a progressive suburban community in northern Illinois. The problem was noted by the researchers, who in recent years had observed a need for improvement in reading comprehension as indicated by…

A 2-year study was conducted in 1965-67 for the following purposes: (1) to evaluate the materials and techniques of a new beginning reading program, Listen Look Learn (LLL) Multi-Media Communication Skills System, in order to make revisions where necessary and (2) to compare the LLL system in its formative stage with that of basal reader programs.…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a program for the development of literacy skills among low-achieving kindergarten students. The targeted population consisted of those identified as most at risk in the kindergarten classes at Willard Elementary School located in South Elgin, a village south of Elgin in northern Illinois. The problem of…

Examines effective ways of practicing reading that facilitate the development of efficient reading skills in beginners. Indicates that increases in reading efficiency depend largely on the amount of independent, computer-aided practice with speech feedback, a method that seems promising as a means of improving reading skills in beginners. (JK)

A literature-based reading program was introduced to 98 students in 5 second-grade classrooms in an urban school district with a socioeconomic status ranging from middle class to disadvantaged. Students were primarily African American or Hispanic. Of the total, 22% had previously been classified as "at risk" as determined by state regulations. The…