Evaluates the efficacy of the "levels hypothesis" (the prediction that ideas residing at superordinate positions in a text hierarchy are most memorable) as a suitable descriptor of children's reading comprehension of expository prose. (HOD)

Investigates the effectiveness of explicit instruction in think aloud as a means to promote elementary students' comprehension monitoring abilities. Concludes that both think-aloud (TA) and a directed reading-thinking activity (DRTA) strategies are effective but that additional research is needed to determine their relative effectiveness. (SR)

Examines whether content area textbook passages could be rewritten so that middle grade students' main idea comprehension ability was enhanced. Finds that after reading rewritten text versions, some students could compose significantly more passage main ideas, and all students could compose significantly more paragraph main ideas. (MM)

Investigates the effectiveness of instruction in story mapping as a means to promote first-grade students' comprehension of central story elements in children's literature. Concludes that instruction in story mapping is an effective instructional strategy for promoting first-grade students' ability to identify central narrative elements in…

Examines narrative and expository text from four basal reader series for the occurrence of anaphora. Finds an abundance of anaphora in both. Notes that beginning and developing readers have difficulty in resolving them, and that instructional strategies are needed to help teachers and students deal with this element of cohesion. (RS/JAD)