The language of hearing impaired students differs from that of their hearing peers, and can affect their ability to comprehend printed material. Language can be defined as the knowledge of the integration of semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. Hearing impaired children will have difficulty in acquiring language at a normal developmental rate…

To determine how textbook publishers have changed the content of teachers' manuals designed to accompany basal reading series, a study was undertaken to examine manuals published by two different publishers since the l920s. Ten fifth grade manuals were reviewed for physical characteristics, tests, number of stories, instructional suggestions,…

Drawing upon data from a series of studies, this paper analyzes children's verbalizations about a wordless picture book to discover any relationships between a child's learning style and his or her comprehension of events in the book. Using the definitions of learning style established by M. Rosenberg, the paper also compares the behavior of…

The purpose of this book is to show how teaching reading involves all teachers. The book first explains how decades of change in Britain have affected school organization, knowledge, teacher education, and the concept of reading. Chapter 2 examines an expanded concept of reading, while chapter 3 explores language development and reading, including…

A review of the research on the effects of parental influence and parental involvement on children's reading achievement indicates that when parents take an active and positive part in their child's education the results often turn out well for the student. Parental influence is defined as any opinion, attitude, or action (other than direct…

A survey examined the attitudes of reading teachers to determine how teachers felt about (1) their undergraduate education in reading and their undergraduate reading instructors, (2) any graduate instructors or professional reading educators, and (3) their own teaching strengths and weaknesses. In addition, the study investigated the attitudes of…

To measure the effectiveness of the Basic Skills Education Program (BSEP) reading curriculum--eight reading skill modules employing military job-specific reading materials and used by the U.S. Army in Europe (USAREUR)--and to provide information for improving it, a study examined 183 soldiers from 38 European posts who were enrolled in the BSEP…

Once every three years, school districts receiving Chapter 1 funds are required to conduct a study of the sustained effects of their Chapter 1 programs. To meet this requirement, the Columbus (Ohio) Public Schools employed a fall-spring test design to determine the degree to which pupils who participated in the Compensatory Language Experiences…

Investigating the effects of a 1984 West Virginia State Board of Education (WVBE) policy which specified the use of instructional time, a study examined the effects of this policy on reading instruction in the primary grades by surveying a random representative sample of primary teachers and principals in West Virginia. In September 1986, 410…

To understand better how readers learn and recall text information, a study examined one prose learning approach--the selective attention strategy (SAS)--in which text elements are processed, given various degrees of attention, and learned according to their perceived importance. Fifty sixth grade students from an inner city school in a large…

The proceedings of the fourth annual meeting of the College Reading Association (a fledgling organization in 1961 when this meeting was held) consisted of two symposia, a number of papers, and special reports on research related to reading, as follows: (1) "Opening Remarks" (Albert J. Mazurkiewicz); (2) "Improving Reading in the…

A study examined the types of questions teachers asked and the types of responses they elicited from prestory and poststory portions of reading comprehension lessons. The Question Response Interaction instrument was used to gather data from teachers and their inner city third, fourth, and sixth grade students in both high and low reading groups.…

The domino effect of illiteracy can be halted if students are given opportunity early in life to develop a positive attitude toward reading. Research supports the notion that reading interests lead to knowledge, which leads, in turn, to increased comprehension. Motivational ideas include using trade books and literature as collateral material in…

A study examined the relationship between types of miscues made by readers during oral reading and the errors made by the same readers on a cloze task. Subjects were 79 third and 78 fifth grade students in eight intact classrooms. Both the oral reading miscues and the cloze replacements were categorized using a modification of Y. Goodman's miscue…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 26 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) individual differences in the use of comprehension strategies; (2) field dependence-independence and text comprehension; (3) automaticity of word…