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As in processing oral speech, proficient reading involves "chunking" written texts into meaningful phrase units. Unlike oral speech, however, cues for segmenting the written text at the proper points are not clearly marked in the text. One method for helping readers identify and use phrase boundaries is to mark such boundaries in the text. A study reviewed research conducted over the past four decades that has attempted to facilitate subjects' reading by providing marked cues to phrase boundaries. Although as a whole the research is not conclusive as to the efficacy of phrase-cued texts in aiding comprehension, it shows promise for helping improve the reading performance of at least certain types of readers, particularly for younger, poorer, and hearing-impaired readers. Phrase-cued texts seem to be facilitative for readers who have yet to achieve maturity in syntactic sensitivity. However, a level of competency in word recognition may be necessary before phrased texts can be effective. Issues to be explored in future research include topics such as points of transfer to and maintenance of facilitation on conventional texts. (One table of data is included and 73 references are attached.) (SR)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert