In this critique of current reading research and practice, the author contends that the extreme ambiguity of English spelling-sound correspondence has confined reading science to an insular, Anglocentric research agenda addressing theoretical and applied issues with limited relevance for a universal science of reading. The unique problems posed by…

Results of a study of the reading rate of 435 students varying from grade four through college support the theory that individuals typically read at a constant rate rather than adjusting their rate to the difficulty level of the material. (AEA)

Addresses the relationship between four eye movement parameters and reading speed of 20 twelve-year-old children during silent and oral reading. Predicts reading speed by the following variables: recognition span, average fixation duration, and number of regressive saccades. Indicates that in terms of reading speed, significant interrelationships…

A study examined the effect on speed and comprehension performance of one silent rereading following an initial silent reading. Each of 17 fourth grade students silently read two 500-word selections, which were written at the third grade level, and then responded orally to 20 literal and above-literal questions based on the materials. The silent…

Reading rates and comprehension measures that probed recognition of various levels of text structure were collected for passages read orally and silently by 16 college students. Results showed that memory traces of text microstructure created in oral reading were accessed faster during memory-based comprehension tasks than traces established by…

A study investigated whether sustained silent reading encourages college students to increase their reading rate. Subjects were 76 education majors or students otherwise interested in teaching who were enrolled in an undergraduate course in teaching reading/language arts in a university in the southeastern United States. Subjects recorded their…

A biofeedback study found that subvocalization neither hindered reading speed nor aided comprehension. Text readability and conceptual difficulty showed no effects. (AEA)

Suggests that oral and silent sentence reading represent a similar cognitive process. Reports that poor readers, in particular, decrease processing time on difficult words in silent as compared to oral reading. (AEA)

Converts silent reading rates into grade equivalent units. Finds that growth in reading rate is approximately constant each year in school for typical students. Presents grade equivalent data which provides reasonably valid, criterion-referenced grade equivalents that may be used to evaluate the status and progress of individuals or groups. (RS)

Prose passages read aloud or silently were rated for pronounceability and comprehensibility. The relationships of text-derived readability indices to reading rate, comprehensibility ratings and comprehension test scores were explored. Reading rate in syllables per minute was unrelated to readability. The high correlation between rate in words per…

Reports ...an investigation to determine the incidence of vocalism during silent reading by two groups of intermediate grade children: reading achievers and reading retardates. A general conclusion is that vocalism is a natural adjunct of the reading process and that at appropriate times all of us use it as a secondary sensory reinforcement."…

The commonly-used instructional sequence in which children read material silently and then read it orally is simply not effective. The arguments presented by E.A. Betts in 1957 for silent before oral reading can be countered point by point. Studies that have compared various reading conditions have had serious limitations and have failed to show…

Concludes that oral reading should be given additional emphasis in the elementary grades. (FL)

Investigates the role of phonological recoding in third graders' reading of Greek. Revealed a disturbing effect of articulatory suppression on subjects' reading latencies and text retention. Suggested that subjects' (1) reading of text was partly based on prelexical phonological representation and (2) text retention depended partly on a…