Phonological skills and comprehension failure: A test of the phonological processing deficit hypothesis

Shankweiler and colleagues argue that text comprehensionproblems in young children arise from phonological processingdifficulties. Their work has focused on children with poor wordreading ability. We investigated this hypothesis for children whoexperience comprehension difficulties in the presence of age-appropriate word reading skills. We found that good and poorcomprehenders performed comparably on various measures ofphonological processing and differed on a task that made greaterdemands on working memory, Bradley and Bryant's odd-word-outtask. In a final study, hierarchical regression analyses supportedthis distinction: the odd-word-out task was a strong predictor ofreading comprehension performance even after IQ, vocabulary and single word reading had been controlled for, but a lessmemory-dependent phonological task was not. These studiessupport previous work which indicates that poor comprehenders'problems arise from higher-level processing difficulties.     

Investigating the causes of reading comprehension failure: The comprehension-age match design

The reading-level (or reading-age) match design has become a widely-used tool for investigating the possible direction of the relation between particular skills and word reading ability: Cause or consequence. This paper outlines an analogous method for identifying candidate causes of reading comprehension failure, the `comprehension-age match design' and discusses the strengths and limitations of this design.     

Becoming Qualitative Researchers: A Collaborative Approach to Faculty Development

Five junior scholars, representing two departments and four program areas in the College of Education at the University of North Texas, committed themselves to a long-term, systematic, research-based learning program in order to further their knowledge and skills as qualitative researchers. In this essay, this community of learners describes their collaborative efforts to develop more effective skills in one method of qualitative research, in-depth, oral history interviewing. Through their cross-discipline, research-based, faculty development model, the authors offer helpful direction to other higher education faculty who seek to improve their ability to conduct and also to guide students in qualitative investigations.     

Users’ perceptions of the impact of information provided by a Consumer Health Information service: an in‐depth study of six users

This paper describes the impact of providing six users of the Health Facts Consumer Health Information Centre at Frenchay Hospital with health information. Comments from a previous user satisfaction questionnaire survey implemented by the researcher provided themes to explore. These were: (1) cognitive effects (2) affective effects (3) behavioural effects. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with six consecutive users of the centre asking about a health problem for themselves. Health Facts information improved knowledge and understanding, reduced anxiety, and helped respondents accept and self‐manage illness, facilitated by quality of content and presentation. Everyone took some subsequent action in support of their condition. The centre saved users’ time searching for information elsewhere and staff were key players providing it. Information was shared with others, extending its impact. Increased publicity for the service was the main suggested improvement. Health Facts information was mostly rated higher than other information sources, and unexpectedly as high as information from doctors. Even well‐informed users gained new understanding. Health Facts information is highly valued, and complements advice given by health professionals. Findings reflect recent literature and government policy to get patients more involved in their own health care. The methodology may help other health information services investigate this subject.     

Book Reviews

Educational Freedom in an Age of Anxiety . Twelfth Yearbook of the John Dewey Society, ed.
Freedom, Power, and democratic Planning . By K. Mannheim, Internat. Lib. of Sociol. & Soc. Reconstr.
Improving Teaching-Learning Processes . By Ray H. Simpson.     

The Effect of Method of Instruction on Long‐term Retention of Mathematics Concepts

This paper presents the final report of an extended study which assessed the viability of individualised tertiary mathematics instruction in Australia. Data collected over five years between 1978 and 1984 gave information on three treatments: a personalised system of instruction based closely on the Keller Plan with no final examination, a conventional lecture course with final examination and a modified personalised system including lectures. Long‐term retention of concepts was used as the major criterion for judging success of the methods. Results favouring students taught in the conventional manner have led to a questioning of the original precepts of the personalised system as developed by Keller.