In the early 1990s good readers in low-achieving countries saw reading mostly as a difficult, effortful process while those in high-achieving countries saw reading more as a pleasant, imaginative activity: for them reading was first and foremost enjoyable. This paper attempts to elucidate this concept of reading as enjoyment and tries to determine…

Explores the development of students' knowledge of the meanings of 10 common English suffixes. Finds that knowledge of the meanings of the common English suffixes underwent significant development between fourth grade and high school. Notes that the test can be used to identify students who have particular difficulties with English suffixes. (RS)

A study compared students' cognitive word knowledge of the cognates of "think" and "know" within a theoretical framework focused on hierarchical levels of meaning. Subjects were 31 fifth, 32 seventh, and 21 tenth graders attending single-gender private schools in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and 70 college…

Finds that Chilean students (grades 4-8) rarely related what they were reading to what they had just read, integrated meanings assigned to the text with prior knowledge, or used textual cues to attain a coherent interpretation. Finds that these problems are related to methods of reading instruction, opportunities they are given to develop…

Presents evidence from the W. H. Smith Children's Reading Choices Project research in order to examine the relationship between achievement in English and the reading habits of 10- to 14-year-old children. Argues for the importance of recognizing and respecting the range of reading children engage in, and the popular reading cultures in which they…

A study explored the question of the development of recall for narrative and informative texts. Subjects, 60 5th- 8th-, and 11th-grade students from a rural area of Quebec, representing all levels of achievement, were presented with an informative text and a narrative text. Results indicated that: (1) the narrative text elicited a longer recall…

The ability to select (a) suitable retrieval cues and (b) the main ideas of prose passages was examined in college students and in school students between fifth and twelfth grades. The ability to select the main elements of texts improved over the entire age range studied and was not affected by experience studying and recalling the passage.…

Examines the association of reading instruction with the amount and breadth of students' reading activities, taking account of social, cognitive, and home factors. Finds that, for students aged 9, 13, and 17, amount of reading was associated with levels of social interaction surrounding reading, cognitive strategies for reading, and…

Describes three studies funded by the ALAN Foundation: the first study examines the potential impact that young adult literature has on a group of high school students; the second examines use of young adult literature in middle school classes in New York City; and the third study surveys 60 professors about their young adult literature courses.…

A study examined English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and native English speaking (L1) students' recall of propositional knowledge, story structure elements, inferential comprehension, and the types and frequencies of oral reading miscues. Reading tasks were administered to 30 students (aged 9 to 13) from each of the three linguistic groups…

The strategies of children and college students were examined as they attempted to study texts. College students, under various intentional learning instructions, displayed a repetitive diagnostic pattern. Following extended study they improved recall of important, but not unimportant, elements of texts. Eleventh and twelfth graders conformed to…

The 1994 NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) Reading Assessment was administered to a national sample of students in grades 4, 8, and 12. National reading proficiency results were reported for students at each grade and within various subgroups of the population. State-level results were reported for individual states or…

A study examined the association of reading instruction with the amount and breadth of students' reading activities, taking account of social, cognitive, and home factors in the educative process. A secondary analysis of a large national data base for students aged 9, 13, and 17 was conducted. Using answers from student questionnaires, conceptual…

Knowledge of morphology--the ability to gain information about the meaning, pronunciation, and part of speech of new words from their prefixes, roots, and suffixes--is an important component of skilled reading. As part of a larger program of research on morphology, a study explored the development of students' knowledge of common English suffixes.…