This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 27 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effect of the single-parent family on reading comprehension and attitude toward reading; (2) the relationship between first grade children's reading achievement and their performance on selected metalinguistic tasks; (3) the relationship between the ability to categorize level of concept used and reading achievement; (4) the effects of color and print size on readability; (5) the relationships of the chronological age, psychological type, and reading comprehension of college students; (6) the relationship between selected schooling inputs and processes and gains in elementary school pupil achievement in reading, language arts, and mathematics; (7) the influence of an auditory approach using recorded story telling sessions to improve reading performance; (8) the impact of preschool programs and home factors on the reading readiness of first grade learners; (9) an investigation of physical setting in narrative discourse and its influence on the reading comprehension and reading interest of elementary school students; (10) the effectiveness of direct decoding training for the improvement of achievement with beginning readers; and (11) the effects of visual organizers on learning and retention. (HOD)