Ever since the early days of its existence, the field of psychology has been trying to achieve two different and somewhat contradictory objectives: to understand the "general principles" of the human mind and to explore the "uniqueness" of the individual mind. The latter direction has formed an independent subdiscipline within…

This paper is an expanded version of a talk given at a Generic Skills Workshop at the University of Wollongong, and was intended for academic staff from any discipline and general staff with an interest in teaching. The issues considered in the paper include the capacity of all to learn, the distinction between learning as understanding and…

The effects of instructions to use imagery, sentence, or repetition strategies were compared on original learning, negative transfer, retroactive interference (RI), and 48-hr. retention. (Editor)

The study investigated whether the recall of prose passages could be improved in a group of 30 learning disabled (LD) junior high students by training them to use visual imagery when they read. Students in an imagery training group received 30 minutes of instruction in using visual imagery to recall what they had read; students in a paraphrase…

Two learning strategies, visual imagery and self questioning, designed to increase reading comprehension were taught to six learning disabled (LD) secondary students. The Visual Imagery Strategy required the student to read a passage and to create visual images representative of the content; while the Self Questioning Strategy taught the student…

On the basis of two experiments on comprehension, it is argued that children go through at least three stages in acquiring the deictic contrasts between "here and there," and between "this and that." Children follow different routes through these states, since they choose different starting points in mastering deitic contrasts.…

Addresses the problem of poor listening skills in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners. A strategy to rectify the problem is suggested, and a set of procedures for a remedial course is outlined. (Author/CB)

Describes the need for school psychologists to know more about learning strategies so as to effectively facilitate the design and implementation of intervention programs and procedures. Four categories of learning strategies are discussed and a case study is presented to demonstrate how knowledge about these strategies can be used by the school…

Methods are suggested to stimulate learning disabled children to develop the metacognitive skills of: (1) reflecting on what they already know, (2) devising a plan for attacking the problem, (3) monitoring progress, and (4) evaluating the outcome of the plan. (DB)

Intended to assist teachers in evaluation of specific learning strategies for learning disabled students, the article summarizes 14 metacognitive strategies (sets of steps used by the student to talk his or her way through a problem) based on principles of rehearsal, transformation, organization, mnemonics, monitoring, motivation, and…

Examines perspectives on language transfer in the light of a body of data regarding a beginning learner of French whose native language was English but who also had some knowledge of Irish, Latin, and Spanish. (Author/CB)

Research based instructional procedures to facilitate generalization of learning strategies by remedial students are offered at four levels of generalization: antecedent, concurrent, subsequent, and independent. Within each level, specific procedures mediated by the special teacher, the regular teacher, peer, and/or student are illustrated.…

Professional computer programmers' mental representations of computer programs were studied. In two experiments, subjects were tested on comprehension and recognition, or asked to modify a program. The influence of procedural relations (control flow) was more dominant than the influence of functional relations (goal hierarchy). (GDC)

Describes Noel Entwhistle's book "Styles of Learning and Teaching," detailing how it can be used to help students learn and store knowledge. Also describes a course on the theory and practice of cognitive processes taught at Carnegie Mellon University. (DH)

A story mapping strategy was used to effectively improve reading comprehension in heterogeneous groups of third/fourth graders, including five learning disabled and low achieving students. Group averages maintained above 80 percent when students were no longer required to use the strategy. (Author/DB)