Following a discussion of the differences between oral and written speech, this paper examines the act of reading written speech and the role that contextual information plays in reading comprehension. It notes the interaction that occurs between reader and text, points out the way in which written language makes demands upon readers'…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles deal with the following topics: (1) a hierarchy of purposes for reading assignments applied to secondary school social studies; (2) the effects of sentence combining practice on reading comprehension; (3) the effects of…

The following award-winning dissertations in bilingual education are included here: (1) "The 1974 Bilingual Education Amendments: Revolution, Reaction, or Reform" by Susan Gilbert Schneider; (2) "(Memory Organization, Bilingualism, and Interlingual Interference: A Comparative Analysis of the Semantic Distance and Semantic Judgment…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 30 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effect of a series of lessons based on real life experiences for improving reading achievement; (2) reading achievement and the transition from letter to…

Three experimental studies were carried out to examine the ability of groups of learners of English as a second language to solve problems of deductive reasoning (three term linear syllogisms) in their native and second languages. In the first study involving Canadian francophones studying English, subjects solved problems more effectively in…

IN PROJECT I, A FREE ASSOCIATION TECHNIQUE WAS USED TO ANALYZE CHILDREN'S VOCABULARIES IN TERMS OF DERIVATIONS OF WORDS USED, THE RELATION OF WORD DERIVATIONS TO THE CHILD'S LANGUAGE LEARNING, AND THE EFFECTS OF DERIVATIONAL STRUCTURE ON COGNITION. IT WAS FOUND THAT "FREE" ASSOCIATIONS TEND TO OCCUR WITHIN "SETS" DEFINED BY WORD SOURCES. PROJECT…

A STUDY OF ACHIEVEMENT-RELATED BEHAVIOR SOUGHT TO IDENTIFY PARENT BEHAVIOR AS A SOURCE OF VARIANCE WITHIN A HOMOGENEOUS GROUP OF CHILDREN. SUBJECTS WERE 72 SETS OF NEGRO PARENTS OF FIFTH-GRADE CHILDREN IN A PREDOMINANTLY LOWER-CLASS NEGRO SCHOOL. THE INTERACTIONS OF PARENTS AND CHILD AS THE YOUNGSTER SOLVED EIGHT TASKS WERE OBSERVED IN THE HOME BY…

This study was undertaken to determine motivational factors connected with the learning of English by francophone students living in a milieu where there is little contact with anglophones. Research is reviewed which supports the contention that the attitudinal/motivational dimension, or integrative motivation, bears an important relationship to…

During the past decade, it has become fashionable to include an evaluation component with each new bilingual education program. The proliferation of empirical evaluation studies seems, however, not yet to have shed much light on very basic issues, such as the relationship between language of instruction and cognitive growth, academic achievement…

This report presents the preliminary findings of an in-depth study of small samples of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, and Hawaiian children and their families living in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Children's learning characteristics and style as well as their socialization for schooling prior to their entry into formal public schools…

In past Head Start evaluations, cognitive measures have been weighed heavily. This has not accurately reflected the relative unimportance of cognitive program goals; child performance gains are not an objective with high priority for most Head Start programs. Evaluation planners need to weigh previously encountered measurement problems carefully…

The document reports an outside evaluation of a Niagara Falls Adult Basic Education Program special project entitled "Identification of Preferred Cognitive Styles and Matching Adult Reading Program Alternatives for the 0-4 Grade Levels." It was concerned with (1) research, training in cognitive style mapping, and development of a survey…

It was hypothesized that there are significant differences in intellectual patterns between black and white populations which can be demonstrated on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). A one-way analysis of variance was performed on the subjects' scores on the WAIS subtests and the Verbal, Peformance and Full Scale IQ using the ethnic…

The purpose of this publication is to help teachers identify the levels which children have attained in their thinking as they express their attitudes, values, and behaviors through oral language. Provided are (1) sample questions applicable to various maturity levels to enable teachers to gauge the level of difficulty of their classroom…

Based on the more general principle that all thinking (including reasoning) is basically perceptual in nature, the author proposes that visual perception is not a passive recording of stimulus material but an active concern of the mind. He delineates the task of visually distinguishing changes in size, shape, and position and points out the…