This study investigates the relationship between reading ability, working memory capacity, and readers' use and recall of the mechanism of prediction. Reading ability was measured by free recall and by comprehension questions, and working memory capacity was assessed by the Reading Span Test (Daneman and Carpenter, 1980). Twelve Brazilian speakers…

In recent years a growing body of evidence has implicated deficits in the automaticity of fundamental facts such as word and number recognition in a range of disorders: including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, apraxia and autism. Variously described as habits, fluency, chunking and over learning, automatic processes are best…

Summaries of several papers are presented to develop a working theoretical analysis of reading comprehension and an understanding of development in language comprehension based upon empirical studies. Contributions from the areas of assessment, artificial intelligence, cognition (including schema theory), instruction, linguistics, learning…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The seven titles deal with the following topics: (1) the effects of two mathemagenic activities on ninth grade good and poor readers' comprehension, retention, and attitudes; (2) the effectiveness of the cloze procedure in developing…

Understanding a text requires more than the ability to read individual words: it depends greatly on vocabulary knowledge. This important book brings together leading literacy scholars to synthesize cutting-edge research on vocabulary development and its connections to reading comprehension. The volume also reviews an array of approaches to…

Presents a diagnostic teaching unit in general science designed to identify effective learning strategies for seventh-grade students with learning disabilities or behavior disorders. The unit is intended to identify effective strategies for students in reading comprehension, mathematics problem solving, and memory. Detailed instructions for four…

Working memory plays a key role in supporting children's learning over the school years, and beyond this into adulthood. It is proposed here that working memory is crucially required to store information while other material is being mentally manipulated during the classroom learning activities that form the foundations for the acquisition of…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 21 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: children's development of syntactic aspects of reading comprehension, the relative contributions of the individual and the text in the comprehension and retention…

Five articles concerning college reading instruction are included in this special interest journal. Karen L. Pelz, William E. Pelz, and David L. Stritmater present a study of input sequence, exposure, and modality effects on recognition memory, which revealed that students who read assignments and attended lectures performed better on tests on the…

Three empirical studies concerning reflective and rote learning in Finnish schools are described. In the first, a questionnaire given to school beginners reveals that during their first 12 weeks of school the children's estimates of the excitement and pleasure of learning and their conception of the role of understanding in learning decrease. The…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 39 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) oral reading behaviors of early readers; (2) the effects of pictures and mode of presentation on the prose comprehension of third and fifth grade children of…

A total of 168 fourth and sixth grade students participated in a study to examine two aspects of children's ability to apply structure while reading. The first part of the study investigated the amount of detail that must be provided in order for students to apply successfully a desired perspective (schema). Students were identified as either good…

Theatre is a powerful tool for organizing one's experience. It is an instructional technique that motivates students as they seek to understand and communicate their learning. This article provides a foundation for using theatre as a learning strategy in the content areas for students with reading and learning disabilities, using metacognition as…

We study the comprehension of a multimedia technical document about gear functioning by young pupils. The research is focused on the effect of three factors on the construction of a mental model: illustration format (animated versus static) signaling cues (presence versus absence) learner-control of information delivery (three rhythms of…

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'…