Reports a study, using sixth graders' introspective self-reports, to determine the context in which students use knowledge about narrative text structure, how they use this knowledge, and why they do not always employ this knowledge. (RAE)

To investigate the role of context in reading development, a comparison of reading comprehension and processes was conducted between learners of Japanese as a second language in study abroad (SA; n = 15) and intensive domestic (in the United States) immersion (IM; n = 15) contexts. A significant difference was found between contexts in pretest to…

A study focused on enhancing the validity of foreign language (L2) reading comprehension assessment measures. Subjects included 131 cadets (88 beginners and 43 non-beginners) enrolled in French courses at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. First language (L1) reading comprehension was measured using the…

A study investigated the strategies used by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to comprehend texts written in English. Subjects were 15 student teachers enrolled at a state university in Indonesia. Data were gathered using think-aloud tasks, retellings, a reading comprehension test, in-depth interviews, and casual observation. Two…

Current theory posits that comprehension and meaning involve not only text but also what the reader brings to the text and the contextual elements of the reading. A study investigated how eight students in grade 9 read and created meaning from short story assignments in their English classrooms. Concurrent think-aloud protocols from four short…

A study examined good and poor readers' inferencing strategies as they read unambiguous texts. Subjects, 42 fifth-grade students from 11 classrooms in a Boston metropolitan area urban school district, read 2 well-constructed mystery stories divided into 6 episodes--each episode ended with the introduction of a new clue related to solving the case.…

A series of three studies examined the influence of prior knowledge on expert readers' main idea construction processes. Eight expert readers read texts from familiar and unfamiliar content domains, and gave verbal reports of the processes they used for constructing main ideas. Five distinct main idea construction processes were reported: (1)…

Generally, experts agree on what good readers do to comprehend text--they connect new text with past experiences, interpret, evaluate, synthesize, and consider alternative interpretations. Yet, traditional measures of reading comprehension only provide a general indicator of how well a student understands text. They do not provide information…

Deaf students' reading strategies were identified by investigating these students' self-reported thinking during reading. In an earlier study (Schirmer, 2003), 10 elementary-level students attending a state school for the deaf had constructed meaning, monitored comprehension and activated strategies to improve comprehension, and evaluated…

The importance of reading for academic study cannot be overemphasized. At the postgraduate level, students are faced with complex text interpretation processes. Yet, while concerns have been expressed regarding the English as a second language literacy (Fitzgerald, 1995), few international students have been asked for their views on their…

A study explored how writers with extensive experience and learning in an academic discipline used both topical and rhetorical knowledge to construct synthesis essays. Subjects, 20 psychology graduate students and 20 business graduate students, wrote synthesis essays on either the topics of "supply-side economics" or "rehearsal in…

Numerous studies have shown that thinking aloud while reading can be an effective instructional technique in helping students improve their reading comprehension. However, most of the studies that examined the effects of think-aloud involve subjects reading individually and carried out in isolation away from the classroom context. Recently,…

Using a newspaper article about a ceremony marking the retirement of baseball player Tom Seaver's uniform number, a study examined: (1) the effects of knowledge of baseball in general and of the career of Tom Seaver in particular; and (2) the effects of knowledge of word meanings in general and of words used in the passage specifically on 10th…

A study was conducted to identify strategies used by successful readers in comprehending and interpreting various kinds of texts. Seventy-three graduate students were asked to keep a journal (unedited and freely written) of what they were thinking as they were reading Umberto Eco's novel "The Name of the Rose." Selected journal entries…

In response to the tradition of examining a new test's validity by comparing it with a well-established multiple-choice test, a study investigated whether multiple-choice tests with one right answer can measure the reading comprehension process as defined by constructivists. The study compared the information obtained from two different…