This guide provides a basic framework that may be implemented in any English as a second language (ESL) program comprised of the following levels: entry pre-literate, entry literate, basic, and intermediate. The program may be implemented in sessions of 5 hours or 3 hours per day of ESL instruction. The modules of instruction are: (1) oral…

In a study that investigated differences in the processing styles of beginning readers, a Pictograph Sentence Memory Test (PSMT) was administered to first and second grade students to determine their processing style as well as to assess instructional effects. Based on their responses to the PSMT, the children were classified as either visual or…

The "yes/no" method of vocabulary assessment requires students to indicate words they know from among a list of words and nonwords. Preliminary evidence gained from a study involving fifth grade students indicates that the method is superior in many ways to the multiple choice method of assessment. Analysis of "false alarms," cases in which…

In order to investigate the factors that affect the ability of children to decode and elaborate television information, a study was conducted in which verbal ability, spatial ability, and amount of home television viewing were examined, along with viewer attention and three levels of instruction, for their direct and interactive effects on…

Part of a series of investigations undertaken at the University of Leiden by Dr. G. A. Kohnstamm to investigate how children process information from audiovisual media, particularly television, this literature review maps out the educational possibilities of television for children up to the age of 12. Research findings reviewed are concerned…

A study was conducted to construct a cloze screening instrument to gain information about the reading capabilities of college students enrolled in specific courses and to find out what support services these students needed. Subjects included 464 college students ranging from entering freshmen to graduate students. Cloze passages were constructed…

Problems related to the structure of the mental lexicon are considered. The single access assumption, the passive memory assumption, and the heterogeneous memory assumption are rejected in favor of the theory which assumes several active memories, each able to store expression based on only one homogenous set of abstract primitives. One lexicon…

Three studies were performed to investigate the effects of training versus instructions in the acquisition of cognitive learning strategies. Groups of undergraduate students were taught to use one or more strategies. The amount and type of training differed for each of the experimental groups. Strategies taught included the method of loci,…

A study was conducted to replicate earlier findings regarding the relationships between letter, word, and text reading times and measures of reading achievement and to establish the stability of reading times measures and their relationships over a one-year period. Subjects included 150 children in eight age cohorts between grades one and six. The…

Information and accompanying exercises in this learning module are provided to reinforce basic reading, spelling, writing, and math skills while at the same time introducing the fundamentals of personal money management. Written at an elementary level, the module covers five areas of personal finance: (1) planning a household budget on the basis…

Nine elementary schools enrolling 852 sixth grade students participated in a study that examined the relationship between the organizational climate of elementary schools (whether the school was "open" or "closed") and the reading achievement of students. Each school's organizational climate was determined by administering the Organizational…

Used as an integral part of the migrant student skills system operated by the Migrant Student Record Transfer System (MSRTS), the reading skills list contains a catalog of reading skills typical of the K-12 grade range. This catalog includes a sample of the MSRTS transmittal record which permits teachers to report the reading skills being worked…

A study was conducted to examine and describe the knowledge and beliefs of elementary school teachers and students regarding the acquisition of reading comprehension skills during reading instruction and the application of those skills during social studies instruction. One teacher and 26 fourth and fifth grade students were observed daily over a…

The task of unscrambling and reordering the sentences for six stories was completed by 455 third, sixth, and ninth grade students from three cultural groups (black, Anglo, and Hispanic) in a study of how sociocultural differences in story schemata affect reading comprehension. The results showed that the greatest effects were for grade level and…

This report presents the rationale and design of a vocabulary program created as the instrument for research exploring the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. The first section of the report reviews the current state of the art of vocabulary instruction and discusses the techniques used in two commercial basal…