The word-identification approach has long been the basis for teaching reading in both native and second languages. Recent work has a new approach, particularly that of Frank Smith, who developed a feature analysis model of reading. As we can identify letters in different configurations or before all the strokes are completed, so can we identify…

A programed reading curriculum involving map-graph skill acquisition was evaluated experimentally with 77 rural adolescents. Subjects, who were financially impoverished and three to four years behind national reading norms, were assigned randomly to the reading program alone or to the reading program supplemented by self-instructional exercises…

Two prose passeges (one English, one Yoruba) were used as reading texts in a study of 29 undergraduates in the University of Ibadan to determine whether native speakers of Yoruba read English texts faster and more efficiently than they read equivalent texts in Yoruba. Most read Yoruba more slowly than in English. (LBH)

Describes four computer program features to avoid when using microcomputers for instruction: (1) fill-justified text, which may slow reading rate; (2) drill randomization, which may increase learning time needed; (3) timed pauses, which are based on averages that are seldom realized; and (4) flashing text, which may create negative attitudes among…

Compared comprehension of kindergarten-age precocious readers (who read at the third-grade level) with second- and third-grade-age children. Results on measures of letter, scrambled word, and text reading times indicated that, for precocious readers, efficiency in lower-order tasks is not a prerequisite for rapid text reading and good…

Suggests that teachers can develop students' study-reading skills more successfully using investigative processes rather than workbook-type exercises. (AEA)

The human cognitive system may have a developmental property that makes acquisition of fluent reading skills difficult after a certain age. This problem may be seen to affect two different populations: participants in adult literacy programs who lacked access to schools as children and educated adults fluent in languages with non-Latin scripts.…

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

Describes a minimal training program designed to improve the reading skills of adults in the business world. Concludes that the program had a significant effect of the vocabulary development, comprehension, and reading rates of the participants. (FL)

Describes a classroom activity designed to teach students how to skim and to read critically that is applicable to all content subjects. (MKM)

Two experiments designed to examine the effects on poor readers' comprehension of increasing their decoding speed indicated that the decoding training on single words and phrases increased the speed of word recognition but did not improve comprehension performance. (MKM)

The relationships of two cognitive styles to reading speed and comprehension were investigated by administering a measure of ability to disregard irrelevent stimuli (closure flexibility) and a measure of ability to move fluently from one stimulus to another (fluency) to 94 fifth-grade children. (CM)