Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest explores issues affecting high school literature programs. The digest first explores whether a literature curriculum can be based upon the results of limited surveys of high school reading interests. Next, the digest addresses the question of what literature to include…

Acknowledging that the literary quality of children's stories strongly affects reading comprehension and interest in reading, a study examined how inside view (the insight an author provides about a character's thoughts and feelings) affects the presentation of character beliefs and plans. The study was based on the following premises: (1) basal…

Intended to document the change in attitudes toward adults (parents and teachers) reading aloud to children since the late 1950s and to determine if the practice is strongly correlated to early fluency for young readers, this annotated bibliography also provides a research review, makes recommendations for reading aloud to children, and lists…

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of several techniques for teaching reading to students with mental disabilities. Basic considerations include the following facts: (1) the effectiveness of the teacher is more important than the teaching method used, and (2) the teacher's view of reading should match the reading approach…

Intended for classroom teachers and reading specialists, this monograph features high-interest, easy-to-read materials for readers who experience difficulty with text. The monograph, a revised and updated edition of a 1979 publication, includes an overview and a bibliography that contains reviews of 44 book series and 15 periodicals. The entries…

A study was conducted to discern reading habits of adult basic education (ABE) and General Educational Development (GED) students in two Mississippi junior colleges. A sample of 217 students was administered a questionnaire about reading habits. The sample was studied as a whole and by the demographic variables of race, gender, age (14-19; 20-29;…

A study was conducted to construct measures of reading competencies that are frequently needed in an occupational environment and to describe the influence of the components of reading practice on these competencies based on the conceptual framework of ethnographic psychology. The reading practices of 25 electrical engineers and 30 electronic…

A study was conducted to determine if interest in a basal reader story could be heightened and reading comprehension improved by (1) having the children predict the story content from the title prior to reading the story and (2) having them predict the outcome of the story at a salient midpoint. Subjects, 45 children in 2 fifth grade classes, were…

A total of 230 second through fifth grade boys and girls from five private schools in the San Francisco Bay area were asked to keep a record of the books they read for pleasure over the period of a month to determine whether there were differences between the books chosen across the grades and between sexes. The students recorded the books on a…

As part of the interdisciplinary Turko-Danish Fairytale Project, both an introspection and an essay study were conducted with Turkish university prep-school students and junior college students to determine their responses to three fairytales: "The Snake, the Fox, and the Man,""The Gold Apple," and "Per Smed's Whip."…

Success in the study of literature depends on the student's ability to establish connections between word and object, between words and phrases, and between memorable experiences in all fields of learning and the reading of literature, which is interdisciplinary by nature. In understanding a literary work, a reader must make affective memory…

Three questions guided the preparation of this paper: What are current practices in teaching literature in the elementary school? What research supports these practices? and What research should be conducted to increase knowledge and improve current practices? The first section, "Current Practices," describes the historical background of the…

This paper reviews research about how reading affects behavior. Chapter one gives a general introduction to reading effects and their implications for librarians, educators, and other professionals. The second chapter deals specifically with the 66 studies that have examined reading's influence on attitudes and emotions, analyzing these studies…

This document summarizes 599 reports of reading research published between 1 July 1975 and 30 June 1976. The research studies are categorized in six major areas, four of which have been subcategorized. The majority of studies reported were classified in the area of the physiology and psychology of reading. Large subdivisions under that major…

This paper considers many aspects of children's response to literature. Among the topics discussed are factors within the child (related to age, sex, and intelligence) that teachers and researchers agree may affect a child's enjoyment of literature; a research study on the relationship between story content and a child's psychological and…