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'…

This report evaluates the special education component of the 1986-87 Attendance Improvement/Dropout Prevention program of the New York City Board of Education. The program was designed to provide intensive services to special education students at risk of dropping out of school. The report presents characteristics of students in the program,…

A study examined the processes and results of children's involvement in interrelated reading/writing activities. First, descriptions of 23 children's reading and writing behavior were drawn from a group of case studies of children who were participating in Reading Recovery, an early intervention program that targets first grade children at risk of…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 22 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) visual imagery training and encoding (spelling) performance in third grade students; (2) collaborative education in high school English classes and its…

The Bradford Book Flood--an experiment in which large numbers of additional books were made available to middle school children in England to see whether easy access to books improved reading skills and developed a taste for reading--is detailed in this book. The first chapter discusses the purpose and methodology of the experiment, while the…

This paper suggests an approach to communication skills which views these skills, in first and second language acquisition, as related, integrated "language-experiences." Three examples of language-experience situations are presented, the first dealing with native language acquisition, and the other two with second language learning. Thirty-two…

To determine the effect of books in Spanish and free reading time on reading abilities and attitudes of Hispanic students, 114 Hispanic children enrolled in grades 2 (Level I), 3 and 4 (Level II) in Tempe, Arizona, were placed in either experimental groups or control groups. Teachers in the experimental classes (E) were provided with books in…

THIS PROPOSAL OUTLINES PLANS FOR A PROGRAM FOR MEXICAN-AMERICAN CHILDREN IN PRESCHOOL THROUGH THIRD GRADE AT THE MALABAR STREET SCHOOL IN EAST LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. IN CONTRAST TO THE TRADITIONAL PRIMARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM, THE PROGRAM WILL EMPHASIZE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, PARTICULARLY VERBAL MEDIATION SKILLS. READING INSTRUCTION WILL BE BASED ON…

IN AN EFFORT TO DEVELOP ACCURATE FORMULAS FOR PREDICTING AND CONTROLLING THE READABILITY OF LANGUAGE, FIVE BASIC PROBLEMS WERE STUDIED--(1) THE VARIOUS FEATURES OF WRITING STYLE AS LINEARLY RELATED TO COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTIES, (2) THE CHANGE OF STRENGTHS OF RELATIONSHIPS AS A FUNCTION OF READING ABILITY, (3) READABILITY PREDICTION MADE UPON…

This demonstration project provides intensive instruction in reading and mathematics to selected fifth graders in the 1974-75 year and for selected fifth and sixth graders in 1975-76, in order to raise the reading and mathematics performance of underachievers to a level commensurate with measured ability. Aimed at the intermediate teacher in…

The present study examined some effects of literacy achievement on the lives of 184 of the 215 adults who had successfully completed literacy training between 1962 and 1966 in the Flint, Michigan, Adult High School. Interviews and public records were used to gather data on student background, experiences during literary training, participants'…

Examination of the Intelligence Quotient of 46 Black children, half of whom had been adopted by White families and half by Black families, reveals that it is not just the ethnicity of the family of rearing that influences the development of the child's skills, but also the ethnic milieu that surrounds the family. (BJV)

Rauding theory states that two factors, accuracy and rate, explain nearly all the variance in the general reading ability of American schoolchildren (Carver, 1999). Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and regression, this dissertation investigated to what extent the Rauding model could be applied to 92 Japanese university aged young adults…

Explores the dilemmas and constraints faced by kindergarten teachers in trying to bridge home and school learning for the early reader. Suggests possible resolutions for teachers to meet the varied needs of kindergarten students. (MG)

An eighth-grade science teacher shares her successes and strategies for designing and implementing an individualized scientific investigation approach for students with three major problems: (1) low reading ability, (2) high absenteeism, and (3) limited background in science. (ZWH)