Examines the relative importance of vocabulary difficulty and prior knowledge on comprehension of narrative passages. Finds that knowledge-based preinstruction can significantly improve comprehension of a text dealing with an unfamiliar topic, but cannot compensate for difficult text vocabulary. (RS)

Reports a study of readers' use of context and letter sound as polysyllabic decoding strategies, and a study of the effect of intervention strategies on subjects who do not effectively use context. Concludes that intervention strategies do not improve the performances of students who are not good users of context. (RS)

Examines whether some of the problems that average and below average readers have in comprehending expository texts stem primarily from lack of familiarity with conjunctions or a tendency to ignore them. Reports that all reading levels benefited from the highlighting of explicit conjunctions. (MM)

Examines effects on recall and comprehension of a passage from a fourth-grade textbook and versions revised for greater coherence or to exhibit voice. Finds that, immediately after reading, the voiced coherent passage held significant advantage over all other passages in both recall and comprehension. Finds similar, though statistically…

Finds that fourth graders were more likely than fifth and sixth graders to understand story characters in terms of immediate situation rather than overall story context and in terms of individual perspectives rather than social relationships. Finds that adults differ from fifth and sixth graders in the same way. (SR)

Describes a study in a fourth grade class which investigated students' reactions to the literacy program, providing the teacher with information regarding students' attitudes toward types of materials and specific strategies used. (SR)

Investigates the effects of text absent and text present conditions during summary writing. Suggests that text absent summarization may be beneficial but only for subjects who are competent summary writers or able readers. (SR)

Describes the remedial reading instruction received by students in in-class or pull-out programs with respect to the instructional behaviors of teachers, the nature of lessons, and the reading behaviors of students. Finds overall differences between what students experienced in each setting, although students received a great deal of skill-related…

Investigates how Hispanic bilingual students' knowledge of Spanish vocabulary and ability to identify Spanish-English cognates relate to their comprehension of English expository text. Finds that performance on a multiple-choice test was related to students' ability to recognize cognate relationships, as was the relationship between Spanish…

Notes that three groups of fifth graders either read an original social studies text, read a revised version, or were asked questions while reading the original text. Finds no differences among the three groups in amount of information recalled and the number of questions answered correctly, but students who were asked questions tended to recall…

Examines the relationships between what intermediate-grade children ask, how their questions come about, and the purpose for asking questions in reading. Finds that only with much effort did children succeed in raising questions for discussion. (RS)

Compares reading-disabled students' instructional levels yielded by the Ekwall Reading Inventory and the Metropolitan Achievement Test. Finds that both instruments provide instructional-level designations to help place students in appropriate materials but little correspondence between the instructional levels of the two measures. Suggests that…

Investigates the relationship between phonological awareness, short-term memory, grammatical awareness, and reading accuracy in a follow-up study of 34 nine-year-olds originally studied as preschoolers. Finds the best concurrent predictor set for reading accuracy at age nine was grammatic knowledge, phoneme awareness, and speech rate, which…

Investigates fifth-grade children's expectations for stories in relation to knowledge of literature/reading ability. Shows "high readers" included more high-level story propositions and structurally important story information than did low readers; students who included structurally important story information scored higher on knowledge…

Compares fifth-grade teachers' views of teaching a content area literacy lesson with those of literacy professors. Finds that the majority of teachers followed the text closely and took a dominant role as transmitter of knowledge, while professors were not constrained by the text and emphasized a constructivist view of learning. Discusses…