The problem of this study was to investigate how good and poor comprehenders utilize passage structure and task instructions to acquire information from a prose passage. To give a more detailed picture of what type of information processing occurred during reading, both verbatim and paraphrase items were used to assess comprehension.There were two strong but nonsignificant patterns in the data for task instructions. Poor readers were sensitive to both attribute and relation instructions. Good readers, however, were not affected by attribute instructions, but were sensitive to relation instructions. The results for good readers tentatively suggest that they encode attributes as a natural part of reading, but only encode relationships when they are specifically instructed to do so. Based on these results, three observations were made. First, good readers appear not to be easily affected by text organization, but poor readers may be aided in comprehension by slight improvements in the organization of the text. Second, all students need more assistance and practice in drawing inferences from the text. Third, written instructions may be a weak aid for increasing the comprehension of poor readers and may help good readers attend to information they would normally miss.

This investigation was concerned with whether linguistic competence with printed material is related to the retention of information contained in prose passages of high readability. The specific purpose of the study was to investigate relationships between linguistic competence and free recall, immediate, delayed, and practiced, after the reading of a passage of high readability. In a review of related literature, indications were found that linguistic competence could be expressed by test scores of reading achievement. Therefore, in this study linguistic competence was operationally defined by scores of literal and inferential reading comprehension.

This study examined correlations between assessed intelligence and two major categories of reading comprehension: literal-explicit and inferential-implicit. In addition, efficiency of prediction for criterion variables was investigated by utilizing two regression models which incorporated intelligence scores squared and the square root of intelligence scores. Since it is generally accepted that the higher the assessed intelligence of an individual, the higher will be his achievement in all areas of reading comprehension, the present study sought to discover whether there was a curvilinear relationship between intelligence and the two categories of reading comprehension with the factor of intelligence statistically controlled. It was felt that the hypothesized curvilinear relationship would result in significantly better performance by brighter students on inferential questions and significantly better performance by less-bright students on literal questions. Although no cause and effect has been established, based on the data presented in this study and within the. limitations of this study, the following conclusions seem tenable. 1. Since reading comprehension may be viewed as a thinking process, it is important to note that a relationship exists between the assessed intelligence of an individual and his performance on both literal and inferential tests of that process. 2. This study has demonstrated …

The purpose of this study was to describe the nature of reading instruction in a program using children's trade books instead of basal readers, and to identify patterns resulting in hypotheses regarding the nature of instruction. The study informs practitioners by providing descriptions of actual instruction, enabling readers to envision how reading instruction is accomplished using children's trade books, and it informs the research community by developing grounded theory concerning the nature of instruction in one literature-based reading program. The study can help bridge the polarization between traditionalists and whole language advocates through the descriptions of how traditionally accepted academic domains of reading instruction were accomplished. Also, it provides a model of a successful way to structure instructional time so that students spend more time actually reading, and it documents the social dimensions of instruction as important domain of reading instruction.

This study compared strategy use and beliefs about language learning, and the relationship between beliefs and use reported by 428 monolingual Korean and 420 bilingual Korean-Chinese university students. This study also examined the influence of background variables (e.g., gender, self-rated English proficiency, and academic major) on learners' beliefs and strategy use. Data was collected using three questionnaires, the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI), and the Individual Background Questionnaire (IBQ). Data were analyzed using descriptive analyses, principal-component analyses, factor analyses, Pearson r correlation analyses, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and the Scheffé post-hoc test. Monolinguals reported using compensation strategies most, followed by cognitive, metacognitive, memory, social/practical practice, and affective strategies. Bilinguals preferred to use cognitive strategies most, followed by metacognitive and affective, compensation, memory, social, and independent practice strategies. Students from both groups reported low use of social and memory strategies. Despite a less favorable formal English education environment in the Korean-Chinese community and fewer English learning experiences, bilingual Korean-Chinese reported higher use of learning strategies, which indicates bilinguals' superior language learning abilities. Students from both groups had strong instrumental motivation for learning English. Bilinguals held stronger beliefs about the importance of formal …

Living in the United States creates unique challenges in biliteracy and bilingualism for the Arab family. While extant literature provides insight into the literacy interactions and experiences of families from many other cultures now living in the U.S. , there is next to nothing regarding the Arab family literacy experience. Thus, knowledge about the literacy activities Arab families engage in as they gain access to and knowledge of a new culture and language is important. The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the literacy practices of the Arab families raising bilingual and biliterate children in the U.S. This study , using methodology based on ethnographic approaches, investigated the literacy events, behaviors and interactions which occurred within one Arab family over a 16-week period. A second group of participants were 5 other Arab families living in the U.S. Data sources included video and audio recordings, field notes, observations, journals, informal interviews, and artifacts of children's literacy. The researcher and the participants engaged as co-participants in the research. Findings showed that driving factors behind home literacy practices were religious beliefs and the imminence of return to the home country. Arab mothers were found to yield a heavy influence on …

Although studies have addressed high school English language arts (ELA) instruction, little is known about the decision-making process of ELA teachers. How do teachers decide between the resources and instructional strategies at their disposal? This study focused on two monolingual teachers who were in different schools and grades. They were teaching mainstream students or English Language Learners. Both employed an approach to writing instruction that emphasized cultural mediation. Two questions guided this study: How does the enactment of culturally mediated writing instruction (CMWI) in a mainstream classroom compare to the enactment in an ESL classroom? What is the nature of teacher decision-making in these high school classrooms during English language arts instruction? Data were collected and analyzed using qualitative methodologies. The findings suggest that one teacher, who was familiar with CMWI’s principles and practices and saw students as partners, focused her decisions on engagement and participation. The other teacher deliberately embedded CMWI as an instructional stance. Her decisions focused on empathy, caring and meaningful connections. These teachers enacted CMWI in different ways to meet their students’ needs. They embraced the students’ cultural resources, used and built on their linguistic knowledge, expanded thinking strategies to make difficult information comprehensible, provided authentic …