The central activity of literary criticism, the understanding of literature, is related to the process of establishing a context for the works of literature being studied. Choosing not to discuss the factual elements of literary criticism, the author clarifies and concentrates on the "lower" and "upper" limits of criticism. While the "lower" limit…

The facilitation observed when paired-associates (PA) are presented or generated in a meaningful string is a phenomenon that is well-documented, and raises a number of developmental issues. The principal objective of the current research was to examine the relationship between performance on an auditory PA task and the linguistic components of…

This review, based on a survey of more than 1200 items in the research literature, begins by attempting to outline a theory of language comprehension and learning from language. A lengthy chapter is devoted to problems in the measurement of comprehension and of learning from connected discourse. Also considered, in successive chapters, are the…

The frequency theory of verbal discrimination learning makes no distinction between silent and spoken rehearsal. Further, the frequency theory predicts that the study-test method of list presentation is superior to the anticipation method. College students, performing under silent and spoken rehearsal conditions, learned 16 low-frequency…

This annotated bibliography lists journal articles, dissertations, books, and ERIC documents related to research in the teaching of English published between July 1, 1976, and December 31, 1976. Documents covering all levels of education are listed in six sections: bilingual and bidialectal studies; language and verbal learning; literature,…

This study was designed to examine the effects of auditory memory, visual memory, and vocabulary knowledge on intramodal and intermodal delayed matching-to-sample tasks. A secondary objective was to assess the value of task performance and trait measures in predicting reading achievement. A total of 52 first graders were randomly selected as…

This article explores the effect of augmentative and alternative communication systems on literacy acquisition by young children with severe speech and physical impairments. The possibility of a relationship between the type of graphic symbols used for communication as a preschooler and the child's early reading competency is considered. (DB)

This study examined: (1) the effectiveness of integrating verbal elaboration (metaphors) and different visual presentation strategies (still and animated graphics) in learning biotechnology concepts; (2) whether the use of verbal elaboration with different visual presentation strategies facilitates cognitive processes; and (3) how students employ…

A major challenge to developing therapeutic interventions for cognitive loss and dementia in aging individuals with Down syndrome (DS) is the selection of appropriate outcome measures. This report describes the adaptation of the Brief Praxis Test (a nonverbal cognitive test) as a primary outcome measure, as well as the selection of secondary…

To what extent can photographic readability be formalized for use as a criterion in the evaluation of instructional materials? The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot test a readability index for evaluating photographic illustrations in instructional materials. The index uses an interdisciplinary battery of methods adapted from the…

The spring-summer and fall-winter 1983 numbers of the journal include these articles: "Body-Mind Integration Through Yoga" (Marie Paulyn); "The Effectiveness of Three Classroom Teaching Methods: Programmed Instruction, Simulation, and Guided Fantasy" (Elizabeth B. Groff, Gary F. Render); "Teaching Relaxation in School: A…

This investigation examined the effectiveness of training Japanese and American children with a visual animation/construction or verbal labelling strategy for solving computerized geometric matrices that were correctly or incorrectly completed and varied in number of elements (l to 3) and number of transformations (0 to 2). Subjects were 209…

Focusing on research about children's acquisition of reading and spelling skills, this paper discusses the larger picture of reading acquisition, issues addressed by research, and results of this research. The paper cites numerous studies on the subject, including studies on whether environmental print experiences enable young children to process…

Forty blind children (ages 6 to 14, IQ's 65 to 132) in residential schools were studied to discover the relationship of verbalism to age, intelligence, experience, and personal adjustment. The children were given 40 selected words to obtain definitions, experience claims, and visually oriented verbalism scores. They then tried to identify items…

Sixty-five grade 5-6 children were tested on a verbal recall task involving material of varying semantic and syntactic content. There was no difference between best and poorest readers in their performance on random lists of words, but there were clear differences on meaningful sentences and on syntactically well-formed but semantically anomalous…