RESEARCH

Coauthor / Researcher

Wilmette Public Schools Reading Curriculum

1983-1985

Worked on a district committee to develop the first comprehensive reading curriculum in the district’s history. The field of reading research burgeoned after 1977 and new studies were being developed in record numbers. Supervised the review of the literature, advised on bringing in the most recognized experts in the field, contributed a review of the literature concerning schema theory and metacognition. Researched and wrote the section on reading assessment including formal and informal, formative and summative, alternative forms of assessment, and assessment as ongoing diagnosis and instruction.

Master’s Thesis Paper

The Role of Prior Knowledge in its Relationship to Reading Fluency

1983

Studied the role of schema theory in reading comprehension. The work looked at the impact of artificial intelligence theory on the interaction of knowledge and comprehension. It studied the role of metalinguistics, metamemory, and metacognition on the executive functioning of the reader during the act of comprehension. It looked at issues concerning the effect of inadequate quantity and quality of prior knowledge in the construction of comprehension. It posited an interactive-compensatory model of cognitive (encoding and decoding) and metacognitive functioning during comprehension in the context of a constructivist point of view about the use of prior knowledge in creating and shaping comprehension.

PUBLICATIONS

Byrne, J. W. (1983). “A psycholinguistic approach to vocabulary instruction.” Suburban Council of the International Reading Association Newsletter. Evanston, Illinois.