The effect of the ortographic structure of the stimulus field on the visual search performance of third and sixth graders and adults was examined in three experiments. (BD)

Studies are reviewed on the interactive-compensatory model of reading, which explains developmental and individual differences in the use of context to facilitate word recognition. One major implication reported is that, with context adequately instantiated, less-skilled readers utilize context to facilitate word recognitions as much, if not more,…

The last 25 years have seen tremendous advances in the study of the reading process and reading acquisition. The growing body of knowledge on the reading process and reading acquisition has applications to such important problems as the prevention of reading difficulties and the identification of effective instructional practices. This book…

The literature on individual differences in cognitive processes that operate at the text level is reviewed. Poor readers display comprehension deficits independent of word-decoding skill, due to deficient syntactic abilities and to more general metacognitive strategies. The general conclusions from this review and from Part One (ED 150 706) are…

A discrete-trial reaction time methodology was employed measuring speeds of skilled and less skilled readers in naming colors, pictures, numbers, letters, and words. Less skilled nondyslexic children don't exhibit a general name retrieval deficit; rather, research shows phonological analysis skills are integral in early reading acquisition.…

A review of interactive models of reading combined with the assumption of compensatory processes indicates that compared to poor readers, good readers appear to have superior strategies for comprehending and remembering large units of text and are superior at context-free word recognition. (MKM)

In view of assertions that reading is a form of constrained reasoning, evidence is presented that indicates that lexical access in fluent readers is not at all like reasoning or problem solving. Reading theory is discussed in terms of cognitive science, connectionism, context use in word recognition, modularity, constructivism, and phonological…

Three groups of elementary school students, matched on reading ability and with similar cognitive profiles, were administered tasks assessing their inventory of reading skills. Results support a developmental lag model of reading problems of nondyslexic children. (Author/RWB)

Third- and fifth-graders, like adults, quickly named words preceded by either an incongruous or a normal incomplete sentence. Results (1) support the assumption that context effects on children's word recognition are caused by spreading-activation and expectancy-based-attentional processes operating simultaneously and (2) indicate that word…

Reports that although the traditional domain of developmental lag models has been dyslexia, this type of model is actually more helpful as an aid to understanding the normal achievement variations found among nondyslexic children. (FL)

Two experiments suggest that a sharp increase in reading automaticity occurs during the first grade, but that by the end of the year the development of automaticity begins to level off. (HOD)

Finds a significant correlation between Reaction Time (RT) and reading ability; however, the zero-order correlation between RT and word recognition ability was largely due to variance shared with phonological awareness and general cognitive ability. Concludes RT explained almost no unique variance after phonological sensitivity and general…

Two studies investigated the use of graphic and contextual information in word recognition, and the extent to which good and poor fourth grade readers were flexible in their ability to trade off one type of information for another as situations warranted. The subjects orally read stories containing ten altered words, with a single letter…

Fourth and sixth graders and adults read words preceded by either a congruous, incongruous, or no-sentence context, and then completed another task where they named the color of the target word. Results suggested that context effects are mediated by automatic processes which decrease in importance with age and reading ability. (Author/JMB)

Different tasks were compared using the same subjects, stimuli, and experimental methodology. The results indicate that the lexical-decision task does tend to produce greater inhibition effects than the naming task. (Author/PN)