Reviews current research on free voluntary reading and discusses its benefits for vocabulary development, reading ability, writing style, spelling, grammar, pleasure, personal discovery, and literacy. Positive correlations are made between free voluntary reading and academic achievement and second-language acquisition. Eleven relevant documents…

Interviews with 16 deaf high school students and 9 teachers found that teachers underestimated the extent of students' independent comprehension of 3 types of text. The text perceived to be most difficult by both teachers and students was the most interesting to students (but not teachers) and fostered use of a greater variety of metacognitive…

Maintains that student reading often is seen as a major component of university study, yet the amount actually undertaken frequently falls short of teacher expectations. Describes the use of course readers, or teacher-compiled reading packets, in geography courses and provides a set of recommendations regarding the approach. (CFR)

A series of classroom instructional exercises to be used before, during, and after reading materials from the French press are described. The exercises are designed to develop a variety of reading strategies, and focus on format, construction, content, meaning, and vocabulary. Both reading and writing activities are included. (MSE)

Description of a course in hypertext literacy developed for an advertising and communications department describes the two instructional methods used; argues that hypertext is a unique computer application that can be a valuable learning tool; and discusses hypertext reading and writing skills and barriers to the use of this technology. (21…

Reviews research streams in metacognition, reading strategies, and training of reading strategies that are converging in the field of English as a foreign or second language (EFL/ESL) and impacting the teaching of English to non-native speakers for academic purposes. A research design for investigating the efficacy of metacognitive strategy…

Investigated Jordanian college students' evaluation of the impact learning and using five reading strategies in their English-language course had on performing academic tasks required in English for subject courses. Students believed formal instruction in these strategies helped them perform academic tasks required in English in their subject…

Finds the most effective schools and teachers to be distinguished from moderately and less effective schools by the following: time spent in small-group reading instruction, with much teacher collaboration; coaching children in strategies to figure out unknown words as part of phonics instruction; higher-level comprehension questions; more…

This article describes the Comprehensive Assessment of Reading Strategies, a six-level diagnostic series for evaluating mastery of 12 reading strategies at each level by students in grades 3 through 8, as well as allowing for their metacognitive self-assessment. Its administration, standardization; reliability, and validity are discussed.…

Argues that schools and teachers underestimate the demands that particular texts place on readers, especially as students reach middle school. Describes how the author uses think-alouds as one particular technique to actively give contextualized strategic knowledge over to students. Shows how this helps readers overcome their struggles to develop…

This article reviews 27 legal decisions published between 1989 and 1998 involving students with learning disabilities and parental requests for specific methods selected and used by the school district. Rationales employed by hearing officers, judges, and federal agencies in reaching decisions related to educational methods are discussed and…

Outlines a case study of how one teacher attempted to incorporate strategy training into his secondary school English reading classes. The teacher attempted strategy training in questioning, clarifying, and predicting strategies and vocabulary recognition techniques for less proficient English students with mixed success. The teacher was…

Presents case studies of four college students applying new study strategies, taught and demonstrated in class during one semester, to improve reading and learning. Finds that students need to see a correlation between a study strategy and their final grade before they will utilize deep-level study strategies in place of surface-level strategies.…

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) to explore the nature of elementary school children's metacognitive knowledge of strategies appropriate for before, during, and after reading; and (b) to determine whether children who had participated in Reading Recovery instruction in the first grade had similar understandings as their current third-…

This article examines studies that have attempted to help increase comprehension of expository text for students who are struggling readers and/or have reading disabilities. In doing so, this review reveals that (a) few studies have explicitly claimed to include these students in their work and (b) future research needs to include larger numbers…