The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a direct instruction model as a means of enhancing secondary students' schema for expository text. Subjects were seventh- and tenth-grade students in regular reading and English classes in an suburban school district. Students were pre- and posttested on four measures: attitude toward expository text, independent reading comprehension and recall from expository text, organization of information from expository text in notetaking, and expository writing. A nested analysis of covariance procedure was used for data analysis to account for teacher effects and group non-equivalence. The study was conducted over a six-week period in the spring semester. A model of direct instruction in analysis of expository text structure was developed by the researcher, using sample text passages similar to those encountered by seventh- and tenth-grade students in content area reading. Treatment group teachers were provided with lesson plans and materials and were given instruction in the model; comparison group classes were given no particular instructional treatment other than that normally conducted during this period.

This study described the way teachers used questions with skilled and less skilled readers during reading instruction. The cognitive level and functions of questions were analyzed based on data collected through direct observation within the natural environment of the classroom. In addition, the patterns of questioning which included wait-time and sequencing of questions were identified and reported. Twenty sixth grade teachers randomly selected from a metropolitan school district were observed while instructing skilled readers and less skilled readers. Data collected during non-participatory observation of reading instruction through audiotape recordings, a low-inference observation instrument, and field notes were analyzed using the chisquare statistic, log-linear analysis, and descriptive statistics. Each question/response/response loop which occurred during the eighty observations was analyzed as to the cognitive level and function of the question, designation and wait-time of the student's response, the appropriateness, type, and length of the student's response, and the content of the teacher's response. Within the limitations of this study, the following conclusions have been formulated. 1. Teachers use different cognitive levels of questions for particular functions as dictated by the specific needs and characteristics of the students in the skill level. 2. Although teachers ask the majority of questions at the cognitive-memory …

The purpose of this study was to analyze a representative seventy-eight current young adult books to determine the extent to which they contain items which are objectionable to would-be censors. Seventy-eight books were identified which fit the criteria of popularity and literary quality. Content analysis was selected as the quantitative method of research. Each of the seventy-eight young adult books was analyzed for the six categories which were established through prior research. The six categories include profanity, sex, violence, parent conflict, drugs, and condoned bad behavior. These categories were tallied each time they occurred in the books. Reliability was assured with a rating of .98 by a committee of six professionals. The data reveal that profanity occurred more times in the seventy-eight books than the other five categories with a total of 5,616. The category of drugs was noted 4,171 times. References to sex followed in number with 3,174. The categories which occurred the least were violence with 1,849 occurrences and condoned bad behavior with only 489 occurrences. By applying a frequency index formula to determine the number of objections in each book in relation to the number of pages, a comparison among the books could be made. The analysis, …