A study investigated how students' mental representation of an expository text and the inferences they used in summarizing varied as a function of text difficulty and of differences in the task. Subjects, 96 college students and students from grades 6 and 10, wrote summaries of expository texts and answered orally several probe questions about the…

A cost benefit study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of a computer assisted instruction/computer management system (CAI/CMS) as an alternative to conventional methods of teaching reading within Chapter 1 and DPPF funded programs of the Columbus (Ohio) Public Schools. The Chapter 1 funded Compensatory Language Experiences and Reading…

A study examined the beliefs of parents in relation to their responsibilities and the school's responsibilities in the area of teaching reading. Parent interviews were conducted with three sets of parents of children receiving remedial instruction and two sets of parents of gifted children, all in fifth grade. All parents were from a rural area…

The first in a three year sequence, the study reported here investigated how knowledge of text structure affects reading comprehension and writing production. Specifically, the focus was on the development of an appropriate scaffold for teaching fifth and sixth grade students to use text structures effectively in comprehending social studies texts…

An action research project implemented a program for improving the reading skills of at-risk middle school students. The targeted population consisted of fifth- and seventh-grade students in a rural, middle class community located in northeastern Illinois. Evidence for the problem includes teacher observation, checklists, standardized tests, and…

Focusing on grades 4-12, this book supplies content area teachers with the information they need to function as reading and writing teachers within their subject/academic discipline. Chapters in the book usually begin with a summary or overview, showing the major concerns and unique features of language use in that area. Some of the chapters in…

Based on the premise that comprehension must be the true and final goal of all instruction in reading, this book is designed to provoke teachers' reflections about their own ideas, reading, language, and experiences as teachers of reading comprehension and to help them base their teaching decisions on a knowledge of theory and research about how…

A study investigated the effect of instruction about conventional expository text structure on fifth-graders' ability to learn from similarly structured social studies material. Subjects, 82 fifth graders from four heterogeneous classrooms in two schools in a small midwestern city, were assigned to either a structure training group which received…

A practicum was implemented over an 8-month period to improve the literacy development of sixth-grade poor readers in a regular classroom. The primary goals were to empower sixth-grade classroom teachers in supporting literacy development, to strengthen the communication bond between parents and teachers, and to increase parental involvement in…

A study examined whether writing modeled from children's picture books would improve reading comprehension of fourth and fifth graders as much as traditional skills instruction. Subjects, 69 children reading at least one year below grade level from six Chapter 1 Colorado schools, were pretested for reading comprehension levels. Subjects were then…

A research project was carried out to investigate the reading situation in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of French-language schools in Ontario. Specifically, the project sought to determine the nature of reading deficiencies found in these schools, the percentage of the student body affected by these deficiencies, and the psychological,…

The second phase of a 3-year project examining the effect of a process approach to writing instruction on students' expository reading and writing skills, a study determined the impact of three writing programs that emphasized different aspects of a process-oriented writing environment. Data were gathered from 159 fifth and sixth grade students…

This bulletin presents reading research studies in the upper elementary grades during the period from 1955 through 1960. It represents an attempt to bring together the unpublished as well as published studies for that period. This compilation was undertaken by the U.S. Office of Education in response to requests from reading and language arts…