Considers how the concept of "literacy," especially intensified by the current conservative political climate, has been falsely reified as a clearly distinct "thing" that can be taught and tested in simple and standardized ways. Identifies literacy competencies as "subrosa literacy" and describes detailed performances of these abilities (including…

Focuses on the impact of phonological awareness on reading comprehension. Finds that phonological factors play an independent role in the processing of text. Yields further evidence to previous research showing that phonological awareness is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for reading comprehension. Indicates that there is no clear…

Discusses the impact of the cognitive revolution in psychology on reading research. Cognitive perspectives of reading have revealed complex processes ranging from simple peripheral visual processing in letter recognition to high order processes in text comprehension. It is also argued that a full account of reading skill should include…

Addresses myth that children can comprehend text simply because they can decode the words in it. Provides evidence to support claim that developing readers benefit from explicit teaching of comprehension strategies via direct explanation and modeling of strategies. (Author/JDM)

Three experiments assessed memory skills in good and poor comprehenders, matched for decoding skill. Found that poor comprehenders showed normal sensitivity to phonological manipulations but that their recall of abstract words was poor. Poor comprehenders achieved normal spatial-memory span, but had impaired verbal-memory spans. (Author/KB)

Describes a study in which 100 university students completed tests of spelling production, vocabulary, reading comprehension, reading experience, and reading accuracy. Finds that reading experience, as measured by an adaptation of the Author Recognition Test, and reading accuracy contributed to the prediction of spelling beyond the joint…

Presents a longitudinal study that aims to further understanding of reasons for social class differences in growth of decoding and reading comprehension skills from beginning kindergarten through children's fourth grade year. Finds that the reasons for social class differences in growth of reading skills depended on the time interval that was…

Finds (1) positive phonemic-masking effects occurred for dominant homophones; (2) null phonemic-masking effects occurred for subordinate homophones; and (3) subordinate homophones were much more likely to be falsely identified as their dominant mate. Suggests the source of these null phonemic-masking is itself a phonology effect. Concludes…

Background: The Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA) (Neale, 1997) is widely used in education and research. It provides measures of reading accuracy (decoding) and comprehension, which are frequently interpreted separately. Aims: Three studies were conducted to investigate the degree to which the NARA measures could be separated. Samples:…

The purpose of this mixed-methods research was to examine the impact of mediated cognitive strategy intervention on the reading comprehension and self-efficacy of Palestinian-Arab middle school students with learning disabilities. Eighteen seventh-grade students with LD who were placed in two self-contained special education classrooms and their…

Reading First has been implemented in Nebraska since the 2004-5 academic year. In two rounds of funding and participation, schools have transformed the way they trained their teachers, measured student progress, and taught. This transformation is one of the hardest tasks in education and it has taken the considerable dedication of school personnel…

This literature review provides support for the idea that subtle anatomical and functional deviations in the brain correlate with specific types of reading disorders. It finds evidence that symmetry or reversed asymmetry in the plana temporale may be associated with difficulty in acquiring sound/symbol relationships. Studies are reported to show…

In the most adequate psycholinguistic model of the reading process the proficient silent reader decodes directly from graphic surface structure into deep structure, with no decoding into oral surface structure. Three cue systems used by all proficient readers include graphic cues (letters and words), syntactic cues (the grammatical arrangement of…

Reports on a longitudinal study which found that letter-naming speed was strongly associated with subsequent progress in reading for kindergarten children but not for second grade children. Suggests that code emphasis should not be overlooked in beginning reading. (ARH)

Presents five experiments that examine the ability of first graders, fourth graders, and adults to make causal inferences that explain how an unexpected and inconsistent "outcome" follows from an initial premise in a story. Results indicate that referential and causal coherence are empirically separable and should be distinguished…