The amount of time students spend in classrooms is relatively short--"13% of the student's waking hours in the first 18 years of life" (Walberg, Paschal, and Weinstein, 1985). They are developing intellectually, socially, and emotionally all the time, and parents are their models and teachers most of the time. This report describes and…

Applying reader response theory, a study explored the responses of 19 pregnant adolescents and teenage mothers to two dissimilar young adult novels, one about teenage pregnancy and one about adolescent alcoholism. Quantitative analysis, using a modified version of the Purves-Rippere (1968) system, and qualitative analysis of written answers to…

A study was conducted to describe conceptions of the usefulness of reading (the function or "why" of reading) and conceptions of the reading process (the form or "how" of reading) among preschool and first grade children in Sweden. The research paradigm used--based on the work of Vygotsky and Piaget--was called the "second…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 16 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) attitudes and reading achievement in an innovative high school; (2) the interaction of learning styles and word type as they affect word recognition among…

There are many "truths" concerning reading psychology and pedagogy that teachers accept without questioning and that play an important role in current reading instruction. However, both science and education are deeply affected by the tenor of their times, and present day answers should be regarded only as tentative propositions that may be…

Examines how a literature-based reading workshop incorporating minilessons, sustained silent reading, and responses to literature in dialogue journals affected the reading attitudes and levels of book involvement of learning disabled middle school students. Finds clear demonstration that students' reading attitudes and involvement improved. (RS)

Describes and presents the outcomes of a project conducted at a predominantly African-American, urban elementary school in the southeast that involved having 51 first graders and 19 second graders read to their parents for 15 minutes per evening, Monday through Thursday. Details teachers' and parents' reactions and the impact on children's reading…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a program for improving the recreational reading habits of elementary students through the use of cross-age tutoring in critical reading strategies. The targeted population consisted of a kindergarten and a fourth-grade class in the growing upper-middle-class community of Geneva, Illinois, located…

A study was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of reading comprehension strategies in improving the reading skills of underprepared students at a community college. The instructional strategies, which included determining main ideas of passages, drawing inferences and conclusions, and building vocabulary within the context of readings, were…

To address middle school students' lack of motivation for recreational reading, the practicum reported here integrated activities designed to improve student attitudes toward reading into a middle school reading program. A target group of 75 students in sixth and seventh grades grouped homogeneously in remedial, average, or enrichment classes…

Paying particular attention to the far reaching impact and policies of the goals and ideas identified in the report "America 2000: An Educational Strategy," the papers in this book focus on the strategies, practices, and research that may guide the future of literacy instruction for persons of all ages. Papers in the book are:…

A study explored the effects of individualized, integrated language arts instruction on the attitudes of poor readers. A total of 63 elementary students participated in the study, 33 in the treatment group and 30 in the comparison group. Twice a week for a period of 12 weeks, the treatment group received reading instruction which incorporated…

A cross-curricular comparison focused on learner interpretations of beginning reading and writing instruction in skills-based and whole language inner-city classrooms across kindergarten and first grade. Subjects, 48 low socioeconomic-status students in four classrooms in two midwestern cities, were observed during literacy instruction twice…

Three studies determined if the Summer Step reading program (a residential camping program implemented on the campus of Camp Baskervill Episcopal Outreach of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, using a personalized, contextualized reading approach) was effective, if children's self-esteem was enhanced by participation in the program, and if the…

To provide a differentiated language arts program to meet the needs of highly able and gifted readers and to encourage interest in reading and the development of state reading goals, students in the sixth grade of a middle school in Maryland were grouped by ability for their language arts/reading classes. Students were exposed to a wide variety of…