Recent literature in cognitive psychology depicts mental constructs through which processes and strategies are employed by the learner to facilitate learning. A remedial curriculum structured to enhance the development of the general constructs theorized, was evaluated for its effect on a cognitive component of reading. Inferential comprehension strategies of 4th-6th grade students in the experimental computer-based higher order thinking skills program and in a traditional program of drill and practice in reading skills were assessed using the strategy stories of Goodman and Burke (1980). A MANOVA design revealed a difference between the two treatment groups (p >.001) on eleven dependent measures. Univariate results indicate that the experimental students performed better on five out of the eleven individual measures. Qualitative analysis on the contextual cues utilized in forming hypotheses did not reveal great differences in the amount of contextual cues used by the two groups.

In recent years, many composition teachers and theorists have turned to the process approach to writing in an attempt to better understand both the act of writing and the writers themselves. Even though various theorists have made headway in the analysis of students' writing processes, further research is needed to explore whether college basic writers are aware of their own writing processes and whether this awareness can lead to discovery of the self as a writer and to diminished writing anxiety.One way for students to become aware of their composing processes is through process journals, in which they write about their actions in creating and revising their papers. Using process journals as an independent variable, this project studied differences among three groups of basic writers at Ball State University: those who wrote process journals frequently, infrequently, and not at all. I evaluated effects of process journals on self-reported awareness of process, as measured by a Writing Skills Questionnaire, and on writing apprehension, as measured by the Writing Apprehension Test (WAT). To measure changes among groups over two semesters, I analyzed students' questionnaire responses using mean scores and two Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests.Results showed that process journals did have a significant impact on students' attitudes about themselves as writers and on their awareness and control of writing processes. This study did not find, however, that process journals significantly decreased students' writing apprehension scores. In addition, it did not find Ball State University's basic writing students to be highly apprehensive writers. Although further research is needed to verify these results and expand the scope of research in process journals, the initial findings here suggest that process journals can be an important part of many students' writing experiences. / Department of English

The problem of this study is to demonstrate the effectiveness of certain recommended procedures in the improvement of reading skills in a sixth-grade class in the Lewisville Elementary School, Lewisville, Texas.

This study investigated the factors related to student retention in a comprehensive community college developmental education mathematics program. The purpose was to identify and describe these factors and to develop strategies for improving retention in the community college developmental education mathematics program. Tinto's 1975 model of institutional departure was employed to examine different factors relating to retention in developmental education mathematics courses. In accordance with established criteria, data were collected using the Institutional Integration Scale (IIS) and Students Existing Records (SER). The IIS survey instrument questionnaire was completed by 41 students from a sample of 56 developmental education students enrolled in college level mathematics, and the data thus collected were used for analysis. Data were analyzed using frequency count, percentage, and the chi-square statistical analysis with a significant level of 0.05. The analysis of the data showed that the responding sample was primarily white, females aged 18 to 45. Most of the respondents had high grade point averages, did not miss any developmental education mathematics classes, and attended extra curricular activities infrequently. More fathers than mothers of the sample population had received a college education. Academic goal commitment, institutional experience, academic involvement, and placement grades were not statistically significant factors influencing retention. Among the major findings were: Development education instructors appeared to make the difference, institutional experience, academic goal commitment, and placement grades did not appear to play a major role; the students' academic involvement beyond classes appeared negligible; age, gender, grade point average, and parental educational levels were not significant factors for student retention in developmental education mathematics courses. Although statistical evidence did not support reversal of the proposed null hypotheses, pertinent issues for further research were raised.

The purpose of this study was to determine if students who participated in language arts remediation which was infused with critical thinking activities and metacognition would make greater gains in skills and achievement than those students who were remediated with a regular language arts curriculum. The population for this study was a group of at risk students who were fourteen to sixteen years old and who were participants in the 1987 summer Youth Opportunities Unlimited project at the University of North Texas. Their progress was measured with California Achievement Test and Iowa Test of Basic Skills pretests and posttests. The organization of the study includes a statement of the problem, a review of the literature, the methods and procedures used to collect the data, the analysis of data, and a summary of the findings, conclusions, educational implications, and recommendations tor additional research. Data from the eight hypotheses were treated with an analysis of covariance. The analysis of data revealed the following: 1. The infusion of critical thinking activities and metacognition did not improve students' skills or achievement in the following areas: spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. 2. The infusion of critical thinking activities and metacognition did not improve students' skills in usage and expression as tested with items focusing on subject/verb agreement, verb tense, pronoun case, and pronoun degree. 3. The critical thinking activities and metacognition made a significant difference in students' achievement in language expression. The education implications are that lessons designed with mechanics objectives such as capitalization and punctuation should include independent practice. However, lessons designed with objectives focusing on usage, subject/verb agreement, double negatives, verb tense, and pronoun case and degree should include critical thinking activities and metacognition.

Stress is being linked increasingly to physiological, psychological, sociological, and educational problems. However, scant attention has been given to stress in recent reading research. This study investigated referral and evaluation statements and diagnostic data from parents, teachers, reading specialists, and counselors regarding signs of stress and potential stressors as factors in the reading difficulties of seventy-seven primary schoolchildren referred for evaluation at the pupil Appraisal Center (PAC) at North Texas State University between 1977 and 1984. Qualitative methods, specifically situational analysis, were employed to obtain a holistic view of each subject's reading difficulties. The researcher collected data from documented files at PAC. Data analysis via a categorical coding system produced thirty-nine stress related categories, organized under broad headings of family and school environment, readiness for reading/ learning, general stress reactions, and responses to stress when reading/learning becomes a problem.

The present study had three purposes. The first was to determine which of seven variables were significantly correlated with improvement in reading in a representative sample of elementary school children who had received remedial reading instruction. The second was to ascertain whether these variables could be used in developing an equation for predicting improvement that would be simple and quick enough to be of practical value in the remedial clinic. The final purpose was to determine whether the relationship between intelligence and reading improvement was the same over three different intelligence ranges.

The purpose of this experiment was to study the effect of audio feedback from an electromyograph on reading speed and comprehension. The subject reduced as much audio feedback, and thus laryngeal tension, as possible, thus permitting more efficient reading. After baseline, the subject received twelve half-hour practice sessions, six ten-minute testing sessions on easy, or light, material and six ten-minute testing sessions on difficult material. A post-test without feedback was given after training and a follow-up test, without feedback, was given. This method of training permits a higher rate of reading speed, while allowing the subject to process complex information and maintain a constant level of recall.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Education, 1999. / The rationale for this study was to match the remedial needs of children with appropriate programmes. The aims were (1) To test the usefulness of screening instruments modelled on subtestr of the Naglieri-Das Cognitive Assessment System in identifying South African children with specific learning disabilities. (2) To study the effects of the PASS Remedial Programme (PREP) in addressing the needs of children with deficits in successive processing. (3) To study the effects of a programme based on Whole Language (WL) principles when used with children with reading problems due to extrinsic factors. Screening instruments were used to identify seven children with a successive processing deficit for the PREP experimental treatment group. Seven children who showed a general delay in beginning reading skills were selected for the WL experimental group. A PREP control group and a WL control group were also identified. Both treatment groups received twenty-four intervention sessions. When the PREP and WL experimental groups were compared, there were significant differences in gains in successive processing for the PREP group but gains in word reading skills were statistically the same for the two groups. This was an indication that the remedial programmes were suited to the needs of the children in the groups. General implications for specialised education programmes in South Africa and future directions for research on remediation are also presented.

by Barbara Wei-hao Shen Costin. / Bibliography: leaves 169-174 / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1986