Provides evidence for the utility of schema-based frameworks which assume that schemas and scripts organize information, aid in comprehension, and guide information retrieval. (FL)

The effect of the location, in picture or text, of spatial, contextual, and operational information on comprehension was evaluated. Results showed that textual presentation of spatial information produced fewer errors, pictorial presentation reduced performance times, and pictorial presentation of contextual information reduced assembly times and…

Outlines procedures used in an investigation of college students' thinking aloud protocols and discusses the framework developed for differentiating student-text interactions and identifying the common problems of less able comprehenders. Suggests ways to use protocols to look into the ways students comprehend texts, to identify comprehension…

Argues that teaching students to use pictures in their minds improves their thinking skills. Offers a four step procedure for helping students formulate their own techniques for creating mind pictures. (FL)

Offers a step-by-step procedure for teaching intermediate grade poor readers three important text-based strategies that boost their comprehension of expository prose by stimulating their thinking. (FL)

Investigated the role of "a priori" ideas in planning experiments and data processing leading to inferences. Thirty-one students (ages 11-13) observed a "combustion/candle in a closed container" experiment and were asked to interpret sets of measurements. Findings, among others, show that children preferentially experiment on…

Discusses the theory that reading is more than the searching for meaning within a text. Argues that the meaning of a text actually is in the interaction between reader and text. (FL)

Describes a study that explored the relationship between performance of a schematic concept formation task (SCF) and reading performance in students of English as a second language. Above average readers had significantly higher SCF ranks than below average readers. Offers suggestions for future research with SCF tasks. (SED)

Contains suggestions from two contributors, the first discussing the importance of distinguishing opinion from fact and the second suggesting 12 activities parents can initiate to improve teenagers' reading skills, such as helping them develop resumes or autobiographies and reviewing important business forms together. (DF)

Discusses six advantages to using newspapers in classes for older students, including the relevance of the news and the low cost of newspapers. (DF)

Offers a metacognitive strategy for helping students answer inferential comprehension questions and a research-based rationale for its use. (FL)

Reports findings of study that examined the ways in which third, sixth, and ninth grade students made meaning when they were involved in reading and writing activities. (FL)

Provides an overview of the recent changes in the theoretical conception of memory and language comprehension and how these are influencing reading research, assessment, and teaching. (FL)

Describes an Israeli reading program for disadvantaged adolescents based on verbal exercises using informative, literary, and speculative texts to improve their reading comprehension and cognitive functions. (HOD)

Given the existing literature on text summarization that documents what learners, particularly younger learners, cannot do, a study was designed to assess what fifth-grade students can do. (HOD)