Within the framework of new study programs for Portuguese mandatory education, we carried out a research program at the school "Nossa Senhora do Rosario," under the coordination of this article's first author. Self-regulation of learning is the conceptual framework for the project, called "(Des)venturas do Testas"…

The authors assessed the extent to which a generative prereading activity known as Story Impressions (SI), or composing a guess from clues, influences passage recall relative to a more passive prereading activity of reading a Content Preview (CP). The results from 74 eighth-grade students indicated the CP groups equaled the reading-only control…

The psychological report is a particular genre of writing, incorporating elements of content and style shared by other literary genres, and appearing in many different forms. These forms range from terse, profile driven description of strengths and weaknesses, characteristic of computer generated psychological reports, to more descriptive,…

A semi-annual refereed publication of research and instructional practices in English/language arts and allied fields, preschool through adult levels, this volume of "Maryland English Journal" presents articles on a variety of subjects and showcases the work of young writers. Articles in volume 29, number 1 are: "Expertise in…

This study was conducted to investigate how literature and literacy could merge, what effect immersion in a particular type of literature had on the writing and oral stories the children were producing, and what effect spontaneous talk and storymaking had on the classroom literacy process. Each day for 8 weeks, 10 fifth-grade students met…

To determine the relationship between oral and written language conventions at the macro and micro levels, a study analyzed various elements of stories generated by children. Subjects, nine above average readers between grades 4 and 9, were asked to tell a story and then to write a story. Sources of stories, overall plot organization, and number…

The nature of children's communication processes of listening, speaking, reading, and drawing/writing that occur during story time is explored in this paper, which describes story time as a literacy event. The framework that children develop during story-time can serve as a vehicle for language arts instruction. In helping children cultivate…

Presents reading/writing units based on story grammar techniques and intended for students in grades one through six. (FL)

Discusses the use of story frames as a strategy for teaching reading comprehension to first grade students, and includes examples of student responses. (JC)

Part of a series, the purpose of this low-readability/high interest book is to provide instruction and practice in using higher order thinking to develop students' reading comprehension skills. The reading skills addressed in the book are based on state reading standards and assessment tests for grades seven and eight. The goal of this series of…

This study compared the effects of two computer-based writing tools (text-based "FrEd Writer" and graphics-based "Once Upon a Time") on the story-writing skills of nine students (grades four through eight) with language-related learning disabilities. Group results did not clearly favor either tool; however, individual…

Examines four factors in the operation of formal schemata in the recall of written narrative texts in English by students in Hong Kong: quantity of recall; temporal sequence of recall from story-schematic and input versions of stories; the effects of second language proficiency level on quantity of recall; and the quality of recall. (31…

Investigates the effects of explicit story structure instruction on below-average fourth and fifth grade readers' narrative writing performance. Finds that explicit story structure instruction positively influenced the narrative writing performance in terms of both quality and quantity of their writing. (MG)

The effects of 3 methods of prewriting organization on revision of compositions using word processors were studied for 36 fourth grade private school students. The methods were brainstorming; outlining; and cognitive mapping. Stories by the mapping group were rated more highly for organization than were those from the other groups. (SLD)

A study compared the narrative structures in stories told by monolingual Swedish-speaking children (n=19) and Finnish-speaking immersion students of Swedish (n=19), all in fifth grade. The immersion students had been taught in immersion since kindergarten. Subjects each told a story based on a wordless picture book, which was then analyzed for a…