bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Reader Perspective and Cognitive Style on Remembering Important Information from Texts
Authors: Newsome George L.
Published: December 2009

The effects of reader perspective and cognitive style on encoding, storage, and retrieval processes were investigated in two experiments. In both experiments, subjects read a story from one of two different perspectives or from no directed perspective, recalled the story from either the originally assigned perspective or the alternative perspective, and then took a recognition test on the story. In addition, subjects in both experiments were given an embedded figures test. In Experiment 1, subjects took the recall and recognition test immediately after reading the story and in Experiment 2, the recall and recognition tests were given four days later.

In Experiment 1, subjects who read the story from either of the assigned perspectives (burglar or home buyer) correctly recognized more items that were important to the burglar perspective, but subjects who were not assigned a perspective showed no difference in recognition of burglar and home buyer information. It was suggested that perhaps assigning subjects a perspective induces them to think more about the passage and relate it to their world knowledge. The results of the immediate recall test suggest that readers use their knowledge associated with the assigned perspective as a retrieval plan. Individual differences in cognitive style had no effect on subjects' recall or recognition performance in Experiment 1.

In Experiment 2, subjects with either high or low scores on the embedded figures test who recalled the story from either of the assigned perspectives (burglar or home buyer) recalled more burglar than home buyer information. Subjects with intermediate scores, however, showed no difference in recall of burglar and home buyer information. These results, together with those of Experiment 1, were interpreted as suggesting that structural characteristics of the text itself may affect storage and retrieval processes but not encoding processes. Reader perspective showed no effect on the delayed recognition test.
The Effect of Metacognitive Instruction in Outlining and Graphic Organizer Construction on Students' Comprehension in a Tenth-Grade World History Class
Authors: Bean Thomas W. , Singer Harry , Sorter Jack , Frazee Charles
Published: December 2009

The purpose of the present study was to explore the effect of graphic organizer instruction versus outlining on students' text recall in tenth-grade world history. Based on the hierarchical structure of graphic organizers depicting interrelationships among ideas, we hypothesized that students instructed in the use of graphic organizers would display significantly higher text recall than a group using outlines. Seventy-two tenth graders in three sections of world history participated in the study. Two sections received systematic instruction in the development of graphic organizers and a third section received parallel instruction in outlining. One of the two graphic organizer sections had previous instruction in summarization and question generation during an earlier study. Six 15-item multiple-choice quizzes comprised one of the dependent measures. On the first five quizzes there were no significant differences between the three sections. However, when teacher prompting was phased-out on quiz six, the graphic organizer group with previous training in summarization significantly outperformed the other two groups. Additionally, on a second dependent measure involving the development of a written recall protocol based on difficult college level text, the group with previous summarization experience significantly outperformed both the new graphic organizer group and the outlining section. Implications for a cumulative, long-range view of metacognitive instruction are discussed.
Hemispheric Asymmetries in Developmental Dyslexia: Cerebral Structure or Attentional Strategies?
Authors: Underwood Geoffrey , Boot Daphne
Published: December 2009

Two experiments investigated visual processing asymmetries in normal and dyslexic readers, with unilateral tachistoscopic presentations. The experiments employed randomized or blocked presentations of verbal and nonverbal materials to determine whether previously reported differences between dyslexics and normals were due to structural hemispheric differences or to strategical processing differences. The results indicate that if dyslexics are unable to predict the nature of the stimulus, then they behave as normal readers. Their atypical laterality emerges only when they can adopt a strategy in anticipation of a specific type of stimulus. This leads to the suggestion that developmental dyslexia is associated more with inappropriate modes of thought than it is with hemispheric dysfunction.
Vocabulary Difficulty, Prior Knowledge, and Text Comprehension
Authors: Stahl Steven A. , Jacobson Michael G.
Published: December 2009

In order to examine the relative importance of vocabulary difficulty and prior knowledge to the comprehension of a narrative passage taken from a social studies text, 61 sixth graders were given either an easy vocabulary or a difficult vocabulary version of a text. They also were given either relevant or irrelevant preinstruction about the culture described in the text. Both vocabulary difficulty and type of preinstruction had significant effects on comprehension, but the two effects did not significantly interact, partially replicating the findings of Freebody and Anderson (1983b). The results indicate that knowledge-based preinstruction can significantly improve comprehension of a text written about an unfamiliar topic but cannot compensate for the effects of text difficulty in itself.
Learning to Read and Spell Words
Authors: Ehri Linnea C.
Published: December 2009

Learning to read and spell words is a central part of becoming literate. During text reading, most words are processed, and skilled readers are able to do this effortlessly. How they become skilled at processing graphic cues has been the focus of our research. Findings indicate that prereaders do not acquire graphic skill by learning to read signs and labels in their environment. Rather, mastery of letters is required. Whereas prereaders use visual or context cues to identify words, as soon as children move into reading they shift to letter-sound cues. Initially, words are read by accessing remembered associations between a few letters in spellings and sounds in pronunciations. Later, when decoding skill matures, complete spellings are analyzed as phonemic symbols for pronunciations and are stored in memory. Various studies indicate that having a visual picture of speech in memory is an important part of a person's information-processing equipment. Spellings may influence how words are pronounced, what sounds people think are in words, how quickly people judge spoken word rhymes, how rapidly pronunciations change over time.
Anaphora in Basal Reader Selections: How Frequently do They Occur?
Authors: Baumann James F.
Published: December 2009

Basal reader excerpts were examined for the frequency with which various forms of anaphora occur. Two 1,000-word narrative and two 1,000-word expository excerpts were selected from the second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade levels of four popular basal reader series. This resulted in a total pool of 48,000 running words (12,000 for each publisher, 16,000 at each grade level, and 24,000 for each genre). A slightly modified version of the Baumann and Stevenson (1986a) taxonomy of anaphora was used to calculate frequencies per 1,000-word excerpt for various types of noun, verb, and clause substitutes. Inferential statistics indicated that (a) anaphora frequency did not differ as a function of grade level of text, (b) anaphora occurred more frequently in narrative than in expository text, (c) anaphora differed as a function of publisher, and (d) grade level, genre, and publisher did not interact in any way. Descriptive statistics revealed that (a) noun substitutes comprised the majority of all anaphora forms, (b) pronouns constituted the most frequently occurring form of noun substitute, and (c) personal pronouns accounted for the majority of all anaphora. These findings were interpreted in relation to prior descriptive research on anaphora. Implications for research are discussed.
Developing and Evaluating Measures Associated with Strategic Reading
Authors: Duffyy Gerald G. , Roehler Laura R. , Meloth Michael S. , Polin Ruth , Rackliffe Gary , Tracy Ann , Vavrus Linda
Published: December 2009

This paper describes and evaluates four measures recently developed for use in an instructional study of students' awareness and use of reading skills as strategies. The focus here is on the evaluation of the measures, rather than the study itself. Included are measures of (a) students' awareness of lesson content following skill instruction, (b) students' reasoning as they perform a particular skill task, (c) students' reasoning when reading connected text, and (d) students' awareness of the general need to be strategic when reading. Recommendations are provided regarding the modification and use of these measures in future instructional studies.
Postpassage Questions: Task and Reader Effects on Comprehension and Metacomprehension Processes
Authors: Davey Beth
Published: December 2009

This investigation explored the effects of question task conditions on reading comprehension and metacomprehension for subjects differing in reading ability and English language proficiency. Proficient readers, disabled readers, and deaf readers read expository passages and completed selected-response and constructed-response question tasks under both lookback and no-lookback conditions. In addition, subjects rated their perceived comprehension adequacy both after reading each passage and after responding to the questions. Several significant interaction effects were found for both demonstrated and perceived comprehension performance, most notably with lookback tasks. However, overlaps between comprehension and metacomprehension processes were not comparable across reader groups. Implications are drawn for further research concerning interactions of individual differences with reading comprehension tasks.
The Lexical Development of Kindergarteners: Learning from Written Context
Authors: Eller Rebecca G. , Pappas Christine C. , Brown Elga
Published: December 2009

This paper argues that an important aspect of vocabulary development is readers' understanding of the nature of written language. The purpose of the study was to investigate the process involved in acquiring word knowledge from written context. Prereading kindergarten children were read two picture storybooks on three separate occasions (per book) and were then invited to take their turns to “read” the books. Using an ordinal category system developed for the study, three analyses of the three “readings” of each book were made which identified patterns of vocabulary growth. The results showed the ways that children learned lexicogrammatical information incidentally through exposure to written context.
Does Figurative Language Present a Unique Comprehension Problem?
Authors: O'Brien David G. , Martin Michael A.
Published: December 2009

In order to investigate whether or not the interpretation of figurative passages presented a comprehension problem unique to that of any difficult text, 50 undergraduate education majors were asked to read and interpret a nonliteral comparison passage and two researcher-constructed figurative passages. Subjects took pretests to measure their general vocabulary knowledge and inferencing ability. Performance on these measures was compared with abilities considered unique to the comprehension of figurative expressions. A set of quantitative analyses indicated that the figurative-unique abilities could not definitively account for the interpretation of both figurative passages. However, an additional qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with 10 of the subjects indicated that figurative unique abilities identified in previous research with isolated figurative expressions were operating during the interpretation of the figurative passages used in this study. The study illustrates the benefit of combining quantitative and qualitative methods to answer basic research questions about text comprehension.
An Initial Validation of a Study Strategy System
Authors: Simpson Michele L. , Hayes Christopher G. , Stahl Norman , Connor Robert T. , Weaver Dera
Published: December 2009

This study sought to determine the effectiveness of an integrated study strategy system that used self-assigned student writing as a means of learning psychology content. Sixty-five college freshmen from four sections of a reading/study strategy course were trained over a 3-week period to use either a question-answer recitation format or PORPE (Predict, Organize, Rehearse, Practice, and Evaluate). All subjects took an initial and delayed multiple choice test and an essay exam which were used as the dependent measures. The essays were scored for content, organization, and cohesion. The results indicated that the students trained in PORPE scored significantly better than the Question-Answer students on both the recall and recognition measures. In addition, the PORPE essay answers were significantly more organized and cohesive than the essays of the students trained in answering questions. It was concluded that PORPE can be a potent, durable, and efficient independent study strategy for college students in their efforts to learn content area concepts.
Reading for a Multiple-Choice Test: Headings as Schema Activators
Authors: Wilhite Stephen C.
Published: December 2009

This experiment investigated the effect of headings on memory as a function of the reader's preexisting knowledge about the passage topic. Fifty-five of the 116 college student subjects read a 1,760-word passage on human sexuality with headings present, and the other 61 subjects read the passage with the headings removed. An analysis of the scores on the multiple-choice retention test revealed that the only significant facilitative effect of the headings was in the answering of main-idea retention test questions by subjects with high preexisting knowledge about the topic, as assessed by a pretest, p <.05. Thus, the results suggest that headings facilitate recognition memory by activating schemas and that such an organizational effect of headings is more likely to benefit main-idea information than detail information.
Good and Poor Readers' Use of Explicitly Cued Graphic Aids
Authors: Reinking David , Hayes David A. , McEneaney John E.
Published: December 2009

This study investigated the effects of explicitly cuing graphic aids in accompanying text. Specifically, the study attempted to determine if various cuing conditions would affect differently good and poor readers' comprehension of the text, attention to graphic aids, and recall of information displayed in graphic aids. Three expository passages each accompanied by two graphic aids were developed. One graphic aid displayed information that was redundant to the text; a second graphic aid displayed information that was non-redundant but related to the text. Good and poor seventh- and eighth-grade readers read these passages under five different conditions. Under one condition no graphic aids accompanied the text. Graphic aids accompanied the text in the remaining conditions that represented four levels of cuing: no cuing, general cuing, specific cuing, and combined cuing. Results of comprehension tests for each passage and a post-experiment graphics test were analyzed using analysis of variance procedures. Major conclusions were that explicit cuing increases attention to graphic aids and recall of information displayed in graphic aids that are redundant to the text. In addition, poor readers' comprehension of illustrated text is improved by explicit cuing of graphic aids.
Reading Services and the Classification of Students in Two School Districts
Authors: Hyde Arthur A. , Moore Donald R.
Published: December 2009

This article presents the key findings of a research study conducted in two school districts. Three intertwined policy issues were investigated: (a) the classification of students for various educational services, (b) the impact of these practices on the way students are taught to read, and (c) the implications of the classification- reading relationship for efforts to provide a quality education for all students. One cannot understand school practices in isolation from the particular, dynamic context in which they occur. The two districts in the study erected somewhat different configurations of reading-related programs and services that were found to bear critically on classification practices. This “service structure” was created from an interplay of beliefs, politics, and rationalizations about the validity of past practice. Although reading instruction was a major aspect of each program, administrators responsible for creating the service structure had limited knowledge of reading instruction. Reading coordinators with such knowledge had very limited influence upon the service structure. At the school and classroom levels, wide variations in practices were found both within schools in the same district and within classrooms in the same school. These variations stemmed from the broad discretion allowed school-level staff in certain aspects of program implementation, student classification, and instruction. This discretion was found to cause particular practices that adversely affected children-at-risk.
Oral versus Written Recollections of Prose
Authors: Davis Kathleen A. , Walls Richard T.
Published: December 2009

After reading prose passages, undergraduate students retrieved and reported information in either the oral mode or written mode of production. Current information processing models indicate that superordinate concepts are recalled better than subordinate ideas from a text. Thus, dependent variables were number of superordinate concepts recalled, number of subordinate ideas recalled, number of readergenerated elaborations, and time taken to respond in each mode. Recalls were scored against an outline, for presence or absence of superordinate, subordinate, and reader-generated ideas contained in the passages. Total number of superordinate concepts, subordinate ideas, or reader-generated elaborations yielded no differences across modes of reporting. However, initial or ending position of information in the original text produced significantly different results when subjects recalled in the oral mode versus the written mode. For end position topics reported in the oral mode, when one level of concept was recalled without the other, it was always the subordinate concept that was recalled alone. These results have valuable implications for generative learning.
Paradigmatic Diversity within the Reading Research Community
Authors: Shannon Patrick
Published: December 2009

Diversity among research paradigms offer us alternative ways to think about and to act upon the apparent crisis in literacy learning and use in the United States. Accordingly, the articles from the Reading Research Quarterly and the Journal of Reading Behavior were classified as examples of Empirical/Analytic, Symbolic, or Critical Science in order to obtain a clearer picture of the types of assumptions which underlie the research most celebrated within the reading research community. Each paradigm includes different goals, different values and social interests, different conceptions of reading and writing, different understanding of causality, and different methods and forms of logic. Results demonstrate that nearly all of the articles employ the assumptions from natural and physical (Empirical/Analytic) science. Discussion centers on possible explanations for and the consequences of this lack of diversity.
Cue System Usage in Oral and Silent Reading
Authors: Schumm Jeanne Shay , Baldwin R. Scott
Published: December 2009

The comparative use of grapho/phonic and syntactic/semantic cues for ongoing word recognition by readers of varying grade levels was examined in both oral and silent reading modes. Twenty-four subjects in each of four grades (2, 4, 6, and 8) read grade-appropriate passages orally and silently. Target passages each had an orthographically altered word embedded in the text. Results included a marked difference in cue system implementation in oral and silent reading modes. A greater number of altered words were identified in the oral reading mode. This difference was statistically significant in three of the four grade levels: Grade 4, F(1, 23) = 19.58, p<.001; in Grade 6, F(1, 23) = 9.38, p<.005; and in Grade 8, F(1, 23) = 6.18, p<.02. These results cast suspicion on diagnostic and instructional practices which assume similar word recognition processing in both reading modes.
Effects of Previews on More Skilled and Less Skilled Readers' Comprehension of Expository Text
Authors: McCormick Sandra
Published: December 2009

Comprehension of expository material by 76 more skilled and less skilled fifth-grade readers was assessed when written previews were used before reading social studies text. The previews were designed to take into account those features of previews that previously had been successful in increasing comprehension of narrative material, but also included features specifically related to exposition. The results indicated that (a) both more skilled and less skilled readers' test scores were significantly increased when previews were used, (b) less skilled readers scored higher on explicit than on implicit questions, and (c) previews did not have a differential effect on question type, or on comprehension type.
Developmental Change in Readers' Responses to Unknown Words
Authors: Baker Linda
Published: December 2009

Two experiments examined factors affecting the likelihood that readers will recognize failures of word comprehension and the basis by which they judge the disruptiveness of an unknown word to sentence comprehension. In Experiment 1, third- and fifth-grade skilled and less skilled readers read and evaluated the comprehensibility of short paragraphs containing nonwords varying in number of syllables (1 vs. 3) and syntactic form class (noun vs. adjective). Third graders were more likely to identify the longer nonwords as problematic than the shorter non-words, but the fifth graders were not influenced by word length. Fifth graders were somewhat more sensitive to the greater disruption in comprehensibility caused by unknown nouns relative to unknown adjectives. In a second task in Experiment 1, and in Experiment 2 (which included adults as well as third- and fifth-grade average readers), subjects evaluated the relative comprehensibility of pairs of sentences in which the nonwords contrasted in number of syllables, syntactic class or both. Whereas the younger readers were more likely to focus on word length in their judgments of comprehensibility, the older readers were more likely to focus on meaning. The results have implications for research and instruction in comprehension monitoring and vocabulary acquisition.
Teaching Sight Vocabulary with and without Context before Silent Reading: A Field Test of the “Focus of Attention” Hypothesis
Authors: Kibby Michael W.
Published: December 2009

This study examines the role of written context and word meaning-emphasis procedures in teaching children sight vocabulary. It serves as a field test of Samuels' (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974; Samuels, 1967; Singer, Samuels, & Spiroff, 1973–74) “focus of attention” hypothesis. This hypothesis argues that introducing sight vocabulary in the presence of written context or pictures distracts learners, and precludes their focusing all of their attention on the important visual or graphic characteristics of the word. This position is in conflict with the traditional, context approach to teaching sight vocabulary, which advocates presenting the words in the context of a written sentence, discussing the word's meaning, or presenting the word in association with a picture. Previous research in this area is limited by such factors as presenting words printed in artificial alphabets; not teaching words, but simply exposing and pronouncing them; and isolated word instruction not followed by meaningful, silent reading. In the present study, 16 disabled readers were taught sight words by one of two methods: context, which emphasized context, meaning, usage, and the visual characteristics of the words; and minimal-context, which emphasized only the visual characteristics. Each subject was taught 80 words during 4 weeks of individual remedial instruction. Using number of words learned or retained per minute of instruction as the dependent variable, children in the minimal-context method learned at twice the rate, though there was no significant difference between the two groups in actual number of words learned or retained. It was concluded from this field study, that sight vocabulary teaching procedures that emphasize context, meaning and usage do not facilitate learning sight vocabulary. The findings are interpreted as supporting Samuels' “focus of attention” hypothesis.
Learning Goals and Children's Reading Comprehension
Authors: Schunk Dale H. , Rice Jo Mary
Published: December 2009

This experiment investigated the effects of goal setting on children's self-efficacy and reading comprehension. Remedial readers participated in a comprehension strategy instructional program on finding main ideas. Some subjects received a product goal of answering questions, others were given a process goal of learning to use the strategy, and subjects in an instructional control condition were told to work productively. Compared with control subjects, process and product goal children judged self-efficacy significantly higher, and process goal children demonstrated higher comprehension skill. On a measure of goal perceptions, process goal children placed significantly greater emphasis on learning to use the strategy compared with children in the other two conditions, and judged becoming a better reader more important than did product goal subjects. These results suggest the usefulness of goal setting with remedial readers and of employing goals relating to learning processes.
Some Prerequisites for Interpreting Results from Reading Level Matched Designs
Authors: Vellutino Frank R. , Scanlon Donna M.
Published: December 2009

The present paper discusses conflicting interpretations of specific patterns of results from contrasts of poor and normal readers matched either for chronological age (CA) or reading level (RL). Of general concern is the ambiguity inherent in interpreting results comparing CA- and RL-matched groups on cognitive tasks that could be affected by reading ability. It is argued that causal inferences that might be prompted by a given pattern of results are permissible only when (a) that pattern is observed with a high degree of consistency on a wide variety of relevant cognitive tasks; at least some of which are not readily influenced by experience in reading, (b) if the data are organized by a reasonably plausible theory of reading disability; and (c) if the hypotheses generated by this theory are supported by independent research.
Teaching Technical Vocabulary: Before, During, or after the Reading Assignment?
Authors: Memory David M.
Published: December 2009

When to teach technical terms in content area classes to maximize learning of their meanings was studied using 36 ninth-grade biology classes, 12 twelfth-grade government classes, and 12 twelfth-grade economics classes assigned randomly by subject area to one of three treatment conditions: (1) vocabulary instruction before reading, (2)glossary available during reading, or (3) vocabulary instruction after reading. The teacher of each class used investigator-constructed materials to teach 11 terms from a chapter in the assigned textbook while continuing to provide regular instruction related to the chapter. The materials of the “before” and “after” groups differed from those of the “during” group primarily by being presented with an overhead projector rather than on paper. Learning was assessed by requiring the students to write each definition when cued solely by the term itself. Posttest raw scores were converted to z-scores within each subject area, and z-scores of class means were used in four main analyses of variance—one involving all 60 classes, two focusing on one grade level at a time, and one involving nine sets of 3 classes taught by the same teacher. No significant differences attributable to the time of instruction were found. Further analyses with student as the unit of analysis revealed a strong teacher effect. The main conclusion drawn was that, if the objective is the learning of definitions, the manner in which a content area teacher delivers vocabulary instruction is more important than when it is delivered.
Imagination in Story Reading: The Role of Imagery, Verbal Recall, Story Analysis, and Processing Levels
Authors: Sadoski Mark , Goetz Ernest T. , Olivarez Arturo , Lee Sharon , Roberts Nancy M.
Published: December 2009

The spontaneous use of imagery and its relationship to free verbal recall were investigated. Community college students read a 2,100-word story under one of three sets of instructions and then recalled the story and reported their images immediately and 48 hours later. A new methodology for classifying imagery reports was developed. Results indicated that separate categories of imagery reports and verbal recalls were not highly correlated. Principal components analysis yielded factors predominated by imagery variables. Further, whereas total verbal recall declined over the retention interval (i.e., forgetting), imagery did not. Experimental instructions to readers designed to manipulate processing depth in an externally valid fashion did not result in significant differences in imagery reporting and recall, suggesting that a strict levels of processing view may be untenable for ecologically valid reading situations. Other results indicated that a significant relationship existed between imaging a story segment and the story grammar macro-structure of that segment, and that imagery of the climactic event was the most common. This study contributes to a series of studies using various texts and methodologies that suggest that imagery is a distinctive aspect of reading, viable for study in its own right.
Student Factors Related to Variability in Learning Word Meanings from Context
Authors: Shefelbine John L.
Published: December 2009

This study examined how vocabulary knowledge, the familiarity of concepts, and analytic reasoning affect sixth-grade students' ability to learn word meanings from the context of natural passages in a basal reading textbook. The results indicated that students with higher levels of general vocabulary knowledge learned relatively more, even though they had less room for improvement. Low students were at a disadvantage not only because they initially knew fewer words but also because they understood words less well. Also among low vocabulary students, words representing familiar concepts were more likely to be learned than those representing unfamiliar concepts. The study suggested that general and passage specific vocabulary knowledge are important variables influencing learning from context. General analytic reasoning was not a significant factor.
A Semiotic Perspective of Text: The Picture Story Book Event
Authors: Golden Joanne M. , Gerber Annyce
Published: December 2009

The focus of this paper is on the exploration of the nature of the picture story book event from a semiotic perspective. One purpose of the study was to examine how pictures and words relate in picture books. A second purpose was to explore how one picture story book was constructed during teacher-student-text interaction in a second-grade classroom. The classroom event involved an oral reading and discussion of the text, interpretations of the main character's traits, letters to the author, and illustrations of dream worlds. The picture book was viewed as a potential text in terms of verbal, visual, and performance cues and as a realized text in terms of students' interpretations. The inquiry illustrates the value of semiotic theory for providing insights into the nature of text and text events.
Effects of Importance and Interest on Recall of Biographical Text
Authors: Wade Suzanne E. , Adams Robert B.
Published: December 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate two characteristics of texts—structural importance and text-based interest—that affect what students remember from their reading. Two experiments were conducted. In the first, college students rated sentences in a biographical text for both interest and importance, which were found to be highly related. As a result, four categories of sentences were established: high importance/high interest (the main ideas), high importance/low interest (supporting details), low importance/high interest (seductive details), and low importance/low interest (common events in a person's life history that are unrelated to the main ideas). The second experiment examined the recall of an equivalent group of college students, either immediately after reading the passage or one week later. Interest was found to have a powerful effect on recall for both good and poorer readers. The two categories of information that were best remembered were seductive details and main ideas, both of which had been rated as interesting. Least well remembered were the details supporting the main ideas, which had been rated as important but uninteresting.
The Effects of Computer-Mediated Texts on the Vocabulary Learning and Comprehension of Intermediate-Grade Readers
Authors: Reinking David , Rickman Sharon Salmon
Published: December 2009

The authors investigated whether intermediate-grade readers' vocabulary learning and comprehension would be affected by displaying texts on a computer screen that provided the meanings of difficult words. Sixty sixth-grade subjects read two informational passages containing several target words that had been identified as difficult. Subjects were assigned to four treatment conditions. In two of the conditions they read the passages on printed pages accompanied by either a standard dictionary or a glossary comprised of the target words. In the remaining two conditions they read the passages on a computer screen that provided either optional or mandatory assistance with the meanings of the target words. The results indicate that subjects who read passages with computer assistance scored significantly higher on a vocabulary test that measured subjects' knowledge of the target words. Subjects who read the passages on the computer screen with mandatory assistance also outperformed other subjects on a test measuring comprehension of the experimental passages. In addition, subjects free to select which of the target words they would investigate chose to do so more often when the computer provided assistance. The authors conclude that these results support and help explain previous studies that have found increases in comprehension when computer-mediated texts have been used to expand or control readers' options for acquiring information.
Children's Spontaneous Utterances during Early Reading and Writing Instruction in Whole-Language Classrooms
Authors: Dahl Karin L.
Published: December 2009

This study examined the spontaneous utterances of first-grade inner-city children in whole-language classrooms in two urban sites. Data were gathered across the first-grade year for 12 learners who were observed twice-weekly across the school year. The context for each utterance was documented in field notes recording instructional context, learner behavior, and social interactions. Three selection criteria were used for utterances; spontaneity, being embedded in acts of reading and writing, and explanatory value. The 87 categorized utterances revealed five trends in terms of learner perceptions of beginning reading and writing: (a) nearly half of the utterances were metacognitive statements reporting learner self-appraisal and self-management; (b) learners were concerned with sound/symbol relations and argued with peers about them; (c) hypotheses about reading reflected learner patterns of development, teacher demonstrations, and classroom experiences; (d) learners paid close attention to patterns in letters and words, and (e) learners' interpretations of their whole-language classrooms included notions about the interrelatedness of reading and writing.
On the outside Looking in: A Study of Remedial Readers' Meaning-Making While Reading Literature
Authors: Purcell-Gates Victoria
Published: December 2009

This study compared remedial readers to more proficient readers in their meaning-making processes during the reading of literary text. Six children attending a university-based Literacy Center read aloud two stories and verbalized their thoughts during reading. Langer's categories (1990) were used to compare the resulting think alouds. Langer found readers assume four stances as they make meaning while reading literature: (a) being out and stepping into an envisionment, (b) being in and moving through an envisionment, (c) stepping back and rethinking what one knows, and (d) stepping out and objectifying the experience. Langer described readers as always working toward an evolving understanding of the whole, and their envisionment of the whole affects their momentary understandings. A qualitative analysis was also conducted as other categories emerged and all the responses were recategorized for difficulties experienced by remedial readers. Analysis revealed that the remedial readers spend a disproportionate amount of being out of envisionments—either attempting to step into one or failing to step in. Also, these readers consistently failed to construct evolving wholes and struggled with the language of literary discourse. The overall picture of remedial readers gained from this study is one of being on the outside looking in. Implications for and of instruction are discussed.
The Relation between Text Type, Tone, and Written Response
Authors: Hynd Cynthia R. , Chase Nancy D.
Published: December 2009

Researchers generally study expository and narrative text separately, even though some theorists maintain that a text's discourse type has little to do with a reader's processing of that text and that other variables may account for more differences in the way texts are read. The research described here investigates the relation between text type, tone, and readers' responses. Fifty-eight students described their expectations about text type. Three weeks later, they wrote free written responses to informational text that was expository, narrative, and descriptive and had either a personal or an impersonal tone. The texts were similar in content, and familiarity with the content was statistically controlled. The results indicated that narrative and expository text were not responded to differently. However, although subjects made significantly more text-based than reader-based statements regardless of text type, they made fewer text-based and more reader-based statements when reading descriptive text than when reading expository or narrative text. Further, subjects who read text with an impersonal tone made significantly more improvement from pre- to posttest on knowledge measures than subjects who read text with a personal tone.
A Review of Research in Revising Instructional Text
Authors: Sawyer Mary H.
Published: December 2009

School textbooks are commonly criticized. This article reviews research in revising instructional text by examining multidisciplinary research in readability, text structure, text interestingness, expert revisers' strategies, and readers' comprehension strategies. Findings are that much of this research is limited by a simplistic view of reading, the use of experimentally contrived texts and contexts, and a dependency on recall as a measure of comprehension. A promising line of recent research uses readers' verbal protocols to guide revision and develop revision principles. Further research needs to: (a) develop other innovative ways of measuring comprehension, (b) focus on subject specific concerns, and (c) examine classroom contexts of textbook use.
Asking Students about the Nature of Their Reading Difficulties
Authors: Miller Samuel D. , Yochum Nina
Published: December 2009

This study examined students' perceptions of themselves as readers and the strategies they used to solve reading problems. Data was collected over a two-year period at two reading clinics from elementary grade level students ( N = 72). Subjects were interviewed about the types of reading difficulties they experienced and described how they attempted to remediate these difficulties. Additionally, subjects described the type of reader they wanted to become, how they might improve, and why a particular classmate was a good reader. All subjects except one was able to describe a reading difficulty. The most frequently stated perception was the ability to read words (77%), followed by the ability to comprehend text (14%). Most perceptions were confirmed by assessment data (75%). Whenever perceptions were not confirmed, problems either were found in another domain (word recognition vs. comprehension or vice versa) or were school-related (e.g., the inability to work successfully as a member of a reading group). A comparison of the word recognition and comprehension strategies students generated revealed differences in levels of knowledge they possessed. Students with word recognition difficulties knew that they had difficulty reading words and had developed strategies to deal with their problems; however, they lacked sufficient knowledge about why their strategies were ineffective and when they should use another one. Students with comprehension problems generally were unaware of their reading difficulties and frequently lacked any strategy to remediate them. Regardless of their reading difficulties and the strategies they used to remediate them, most students viewed word recognition as central to the reading process. Discussion focuses on how these findings can be used by clinicians to develop alternative assessments and by classroom teachers to develop strategy-based instruction.
The Relationship between Teachers' Beliefs and Practices during Literacy Instruction for Non-Native Speakers of English
Authors: Johnson Karen E.
Published: December 2009

A Multidimensional TESL Theoretical Orientation Profile, consisting of an Ideal Instructional Protocol, a Lesson Plan Analysis Task, and a Beliefs Inventory, was created to determine the extent to which 30 English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teachers possess theoretical beliefs about second-language learning and teaching which reflect the methodological divisions of skill-based, rule-based, and function-based approaches toward second-language teaching. The results suggest that the majority of these teachers possess clearly defined theoretical beliefs which consistently reflect one particular methodological approach. To determine the extent to which ESL teachers' instructional practices are consistent with their theoretical beliefs, three secondary-level ESL teachers identified as having different theoretical orientations were observed during literacy instruction. Careful analysis of transcribed classroom observations revealed that literacy instruction for non-native speakers of English was consistent with each teacher's theoretical orientation. Overall, these results support previous research which recognizes the importance of teachers' theoretical beliefs on instructional practices within literacy contexts. Pedagogical implications for the field of second-language teacher education are discussed.
Orthographic Analogy Training with Kindergarten Children: Effects on Analogy Use, Phonemic Segmentation, and Letter-Sound Knowledge
Authors: Peterson Margareth E. , Haines Leonard P.
Published: December 2009

This study investigated the effect of teaching children orthographic analogies based on onset and rime units (words that rhyme). Forty-eight kindergarten children were selected for the study and classified as high, middle, or low segmenters based on their performance on the Test of Awareness of Language Segments (TALS) (Sawyer, 1987). Pretraining and posttraining measures consisted of segmentation ability, letter-sound knowledge, and reading words by analogy. Although the experimental group showed significant gains on each measure over no-training controls, analogy training affected children differently depending upon their prior segmentation level. Low segmenters gained most in segmentation ability with small, but significant, effects in letter-sound knowledge. Middle and high segmenters showed greatest improvement in their ability to perform the word reading by analogy task and in their letter-sound knowledge. This study provides support for a role for onset and rime units in beginning reading and may indicate how rhymes contribute to children's awareness of phonemes.
The Effects of Text Absent and Text Present Conditions on Summarization and Recall of Text
Authors: Stein Bonnie L. , Kirby John R.
Published: December 2009

The effects of text absent and text present conditions during summary writing were investigated. It has been hypothesized that: (a) text absent summarization (i.e., instructing subjects to read a text and then summarize it without referring back to the text) increases the quality of processing during summarization, and (b) this higher qualify processing enhances recall. Sixth-grade students summarized an expository text in either a text absent or text present condition, and subsequently were asked to do an oral free recall of the text. Regression analyses indicated that text absent summarization resulted in lower summary content in general, but in greater summary depth for more able readers. Further regression analyses indicated that summary depth resulted in increased recall in general, whereas summary content was only associated with recall for text absent summarizers; text absence alone did not result in greater recall. These findings suggest that text absent summarization may be beneficial, but only for subjects who are competent summary writers or able readers.
Effect of Phoneme Awareness Instruction on Kindergarten Children's Invented Spelling
Authors: Tangel Darlene M. , Blachman Benita A.
Published: December 2009

The purpose of this study was to determine if children trained in phoneme awareness in kindergarten would differ in invented spelling from children who did not have this training. A reliable scoring system was created to evaluate the invented spelling of the kindergarten children. The children were selected from 18, all-day kindergartens in four, demographically comparable low-income, inner-city schools. Prior to the intervention, the 77 treatment children and the 72 control children did not differ in age, sex, race, PPVT-R, phoneme segmentation, letter name and letter sound knowledge, or word recognition. During March, April, and May of the kindergarten year, treatment children participated in an 11-week phoneme awareness intervention that included instruction in letter names and sounds. After the intervention, the treatment children significantly outperformed the control children in phoneme segmentation, letter name and sound knowledge, and reading phonetically regular words and nonwords. Of primary interest in this study is the fact that the treatment children produced invented spellings that were rated developmentally superior to those of the control children. The 7-point scale created for scoring the developmental spelling test was found to be highly reliable using either correlation ( r = .98) or percent of agreement (93%).