A study examined the relative comprehension difficulty and the influence of reader and text characteristics on reading comprehension for texts presented in traditional print or on the microcomputer screen. Two urban samples of mixed ethnicity were used, 95 low reading level high school students (grades 9 through 12) and 112 high ability eighth…

To help college reading teachers develop an awareness of what standardized reading tests do and do not reveal about students' reading abilities, a study examined the testing of reading and criticized four major standardized tests. Results indicated that reading is tested through (1) reading passages accompanied by multiple choice questions, (2)…

Eight case studies representing valid and extensive reading research were reviewed to determine the impact of school principals on student reading achievement. In all eight studies, principal leadership behavior was positively associated with reading achievement and school outcomes. Evidence indicated that reading effectiveness was enhanced by…

A study investigated the inference strategies used by sixth grade students reading narratives, and the results were compared with the inference strategies identified as those used by skilled adult readers. Subjects, 80 sixth grade students from two Canadian urban centers were divided into two groups: 40 high-proficiency readers and 40…

The reading skill development of anglophone kindergarten children in French immersion programs in Canada is the subject of the two papers included in this document. The first paper describes a study that examined the English reading ability of both kindergarten and first grade children in immersion programs and compared the results with those of…

A study was conducted in fall 1985 to determine how well students at San Joaquin Delta College (SJDC) were prepared in reading, writing, and mathematics, comparing students by ethnicity, high school status, and age. SJDC uses the Comparative Guidance Placement (CGP) Tests to to assess all new students who do not have an Associate of Arts degree or…

A longitudinal survey that was part of a larger British research project on the perception of textual cohesion has yielded some insights into the reading problems of students on both sides of the primary/secondary school line. Subjects were 1,355 children, ages 8, 10, and 13. Two booklets for junior school and two for secondary school students…

The reading recall protocols of 24 tenth grade and 24 twelfth grade students were used in a study that investigated the relationship of average reading ability and high school grade placement to recall of expository text with adversative and attributive structures. Two test passages were written in an adversative structure with contrasting…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether good and poor readers of the same age levels differed in their performance on a task which required the integration of semantic-syntactic and grapho-phonic information. Fifteen fourth grade good readers, 15 fourth grade poor readers, and 15 second grade good readers read six sentences that had one…

The Distar and Open Court reading programs illustrate contrasting definitions and emphases of reading instruction that are part of a larger concern--how children are expected to use their literacy skills. Both programs teach phonics, but they define phonics in different ways. Each relies on teacher-directed group instruction, but Open Court was…

A study was conducted at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College (DSLCC) to examine the relationships between reading achievement, academic major, selected personality variables, grade point average (GPA), and scores on the College Guidance and Placement Test (CGPT). The Iowa Silent Reading Test, the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes, and the…

Teachers from the Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, completed a black vernacular inservice program during the 1979-80 academic year. This final report of the program was submitted to the superintendent of schools in compliance with a court order and is divided into four sections. The overview summarizes the…

A manual for use in training French and Spanish language examiners at the Foreign Service Institute is presented here. After a discussion of the history of the language proficiency test and of the testing procedure and evaluation techniques, the following topics are covered: (1) language proficiency ratings based on the absolute criterion of the…

Five articles concerning college reading instruction are included in this special interest journal. Bill Fowler and Barry M. Kroll investigate hidden factors in tests of reading comprehension, revealing that most conventional tests have question-design weaknesses allowing students to perform successfully by the use of test wisdom alone. Imogene…

A total of 373 teachers participated in a study designed to compare the reading attitudes, awareness, and abilities of elementary school and secondary school teachers. The subjects were administered four instruments to measure their reading abilities, reading habits, perceptions of the reading process (including perceptions of their own reading…