The phonologically transparent Persian orthography is normally transcribed with two distinct spellings; words spelled with vowels (letters) transcribed as a fixed part of the spelling (transparent) and words spelled with vowels (diacritics) omitted (opaque). Three groups of Persian readers, namely developmental dyslexics (n = 29, mean age = 9.4,…

Purpose: Recent research suggests that nonword repetition (NWR) and sentence repetition (SR) tasks can be used to discriminate between children with SLI and their typically developing age-matched (TDAM) and younger (TDY) peers. Method: Fourteen Cantonese-speaking children with SLI and 30 of their TDAM and TDY peers were compared on NWR and SR…

Purpose: This study examined basic numerical skills in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and how well linguistic factors explain the variance in these children's number skills. Method: The performance of children with SLI (n = 29) was compared with that of typically developing children along a continuum ranging from preschool to 3rd…

Three groups of children with communication disorders were assessed using the CELF (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals). The results were used to compare the language skills of children with specific language impairment (SLI), autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and a middle group who shared some characteristics of both SLI and ASD (Shared…

Memory and information processing were studied with public school students, aged 10-15, who had educable mental handicaps (n=60), trainable mental handicaps (n=60), and no mental handicaps (n=60). Study participants completed a picture recall and relocation test, in order to determine if differences existed between the groups based on…

This study investigates whether color and background information in motion visuals have different effects on memory and comprehension of students in various grade levels. A three-by-three factorial pretest-posttest design was used, comparing levels of visual complexity and grade levels. The instructional content was a 12-minute computer animation…

This document, which was developed as a resource for adult basic education teachers in Victoria, Australia, contains six units of science activities to help students develop literacy and numeracy skills while learning basic scientific concepts. Presented in the introduction are guidelines for using the material and a table detailing those basic…

Computer-based interactive video (CBIV), a hypermedia system that uses the power of the computer to support student interaction with various audio and visual media, can pose such problems for students as the potential for learner disorientation and cognitive overload. Intended to explore the applicability of Wittrock's generative learning…

A study compared the effects of cognitive complexity on the speech production of 14 advanced non-native speakers of English and 14 native English-speakers. Cognitively simple and complex tasks were distinguished based on text type (narrative versus expository). Subjects read one narrative and one expository text in separate sessions, then wrote…

A study investigated connections between reading difficulties and short term memory processes in order to explore the psychological basis for some individual differences in reading comprehension skills. Drawing on previous research indicating that poor readers were inferior to normal ones in judging whether two patterns of long and short tones…

A study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of two procedures (1) in training children to perform sequences of emergency fire responses and (2) in facilitating long-term maintenance of correct responses. Subjects, 47 black third-grade children, were divided into external instruction, self-instruction, and control groups. In the…

The third of four symposium papers argues that, if instructional methods are to improve learning, they must have two aspects: a direct trace to a specific learning process, and empirical support that demonstrates their significance. Focusing on the tracing process, the paper presents an information processing model of learning that can be used by…

A study investigated the role of phonemic (sound-based) information during silent reading to determine whether the visual tongue-twister effect occurs only when readers make judgments of sentence acceptability or whether the visual tongue-twister effect is due to the way sentences are represented in memory. Data were collected from 45 university…

Lexical interference in the recall of adult Finnish/Swedish bilinguals with Finnish dominant is studied. The error patterns of short-term recall of words presented by category in either Swedish or Finnish were examined for translations, lexical substitutions, and intrusions or false recalls of non-occurring words. Individual differences in…

To determine whether reading and writing are as closely related as commonly supposed, a study estimated the amount of overlap that exists between several components of reading and writing knowledge. Data were obtained from 256 second graders and 251 fifth graders. Reading measures included tests of phonics (word knowledge), vocabulary (lexical…