An integrated, three-dimensional cognitive model of reading comprehension was used to investigate the relationship between Piagetian theory (classificational reasoning abilities that emphasize the tacit use of metalinguistic concepts), and reading acquisition (word recognition and reading comprehension). Twenty-four second and third grade remedial…

A series of studies was conducted to: (1) examine the effects of headings on both recall (a memory task) and retrieval (a search task) from the same text; and (2) distinguish between retrieval from unfamiliar text and retrieval from familiar text. Pupils aged between 14 and 15 years of mixed reading ability took part in six separate studies, each…

The schema theory of comprehension as it relates to understanding while reading is reviewed in this report. Several techniques for the study of on-line measurement of comprehension are described that are based on a series of ten stories, each with two versions. The report notes that when subjects were asked to generate interpretations of stories…

Expository passages containing either main point inconsistencies, detail inconsistencies, or no inconsistencies were presented sentence by sentence to 90 college students. Subjects read through the passages at their own pace and were encouraged to reread sections of text whenever they wished. As expected, subjects spent more time on sentences…

Research into the reading process has shaped an understanding of how readers "make meaning" when they are engaged in a reading activity. This research has highlighted a learning triad--the reader, the text, and the context (or learning environment)--that interactively affects the manner in which the student will comprehend a particular…

Most popular strategies, including illustrations, for improving prose processing consist of procedures that force attention either to the text's macrostructure or to the organization and interconnections of its propositions. These strategies are assumed to enhance students' comprehension of the text as encoded, as well as to afford students an…

A study assessed whether young readers might be induced to use a memory strategy. Subjects were an intact class of 25 fifth grade students taught to use text structure as an organizational strategy, and 29 students in a second class who received no instructional intervention. On three occasions, the 54 students were required to read a test…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a story structure questioning strategy upon the reading comprehension of sixth grade students. An alternate questioning strategy was used as a comparison treatment, and involved more traditional literal, interpretative, and problem solving questions. On the basis of reading level scores, 100 students were…

Hitherto, theories of similarity have restricted themselves to judgments of what might be called literal similarity. A central thesis of this paper is that a complete account of similarity needs also to be sensitive to nonliteralness, or metaphoricity, an aspect of similarity statements that is most evident in similes, but that actually underlies…

Suggesting that the ability to identify words depends as much on contextual information available when one is reading for meaning as on decoding skills, this paper challenges traditional, mechanistic skills approaches to reading instruction. In addition, it contends that comprehending (relating written material to what one already knows) is a…

A total of 411 elementary school children seven to twelve years old read short prose passages and selected the most appropriate continuation sentence from four alternatives. The completion sentences were constructed so that the correct (target) response involved either an explicit (simile) or an implicit (metaphor) metaphorical comparison. It was…

Forty-eight first grade students participated in a three-fold study to (1) examine the effect of repeated exposure to text on memory for prose as determined through retelling, (2) determine how low and high comprehending students performed on this task, and (3) determine if males would perform as well as females on the task. The subjects were…

This paper is intended as an introduction to the concept of comprehension monitoring, which is an important component of reading and involves evaluating and regulating one's ongoing comprehension processes. A discussion of research that investigated comprehension monitoring with both children and adults is presented and the implications for…

Three studies were conducted with three groups of eighteen autistic children (3-11 years old) matched by age and IQ to developmental aphasic Ss to examine the nature of the cognitive deficit underlying autism. Two experiments were concerned with language comprehension using real and anomalous sentences, while the third investigation was an…

Reading lessons were observed, taped, and analyzed to determine how teachers' questioning strategies contribute to students' ability to comprehend materials read. The kinds of thinking elicited by teachers' questions were investigated by means of a classification scheme developed which included recognition, recall, translation, conjecture,…