The majority of current college freshmen see no place in their lives for reading as an opportunity for intellectual or emotional enjoyment. They read only the most utilitarian texts--appliance instructions or road signs, for example. A teacher cannot "make" students read anything, but he or she can help them find ways to like reading;…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 19 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the relationship between the use of intonation and reading comprehension; (2) developmental and information processing factors in second and third graders'…

A study tested the relative effectiveness of four methods of teaching remedial reading students (grades 6 through 11) how to identify the main idea of expository paragraphs. Forty-seven students were divided according to treatment and were given the same pool of 125 paragraphs about geology and weather to read, and were given pretests and…

Although writing and reading instruction can be integrated regardless of the reading program materials used, teachers need a greater understanding of the similarities and differences in reading and writing processes, as well as knowledge of ways in which instruction can be merged, before integration can take place. Both reading and writing are…

Reflecting the increasing complexity and sophistication in reading research, the papers in this collection represent a wide spectrum of approaches, philosophies, viewpoints, and techniques of scholarly endeavor in their treatment of reading research and instruction. Following an address, by the president of the organization, on reading…

Designed primarily for use with basal reader instruction, this book describes over fifty reading instruction strategies and practices. The book is divided into the following 11 units: (1) "Lesson Frameworks"; (2) "Comprehension and Content Area Reading Strategies"; (3) "Strategies for Responding to Reading as Writers"; (4) "Text-Based…

Designed to reach a varied audience, this catalog provides concise summaries of some of the major commercial programs that teach thinking, and furnishes descriptions in terms of major goal, target audience, assumptions, process/materials, time, and developer. The first section offers programs primarily intended for teachers, including the…

A companion piece to the Resource Guide and the Teaching Strategies Series, Booklets A and B, of "Improving Students' Abilities to Read and Think," this manual is designed to instruct supervisory and training personnel in how to help teachers make the best use of those teaching guides. It describes the role of the curriculum leader and…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 21 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) Victorian ideology and British children's literature from 1850 to 1914, (2) a comparison of passages from books for adults and for children, (3) the use and…

Notes that poor readers often equate reading difficulty with failure and exhibit stress reactions, and suggests that teachers take these feelings into account to help with remediation. (JC)

Gives three activities--journal writing, microteaching partners, and the PLAE model (planning, listing, activating, and evaluating)--that can facilitate learner independence and transfer of efficient and effective study strategies in college developmental reading programs. (NKA)

Examines three strategies designed to help middle school students use text structures to comprehend expository text: (1) hierarchical summaries, (2) conceptual maps, and (3) thematic organizers. Summarizes advantages and disadvantages of each strategy and recommends that teachers consider the outcomes they want and select the most appropriate…

Literacy is a term that has been defined many ways, with definitions ranging from those that are very narrow to those that are very broad. Among the more wide sweeping was that of the 1991 National Literacy Act, which defined literacy as a wide range of language tasks associated with everyday life, including those "necessary to function on…

Intended as a resource for elementary and middle school teachers for use in literature focus units, reading and writing workshop, or thematic units, this book contains new instructional strategies such as interactive writing, story retelling, and word sorts. The book offers a grid recommending the most appropriate usage for each strategy,…

The "Read, Imagine, Decide, and Do" (RIDD) reading strategy was developed based on observations of student behaviors and reading problems while completing academic tasks. The four steps of the RIDD strategy are described. To determine its effectiveness, four elementary teachers in a rural northeastern Nebraska school taught the RIDD strategy. Each…