This methodological review highlights the trends in empirical studies where a methodological construct (i.e. verbal reports) intersects with content (i.e. literacy research). Specifically, we synthesise research on language learners' reading in which verbal reports were deployed as a methodological tool. Questioning the long-standing assumption…

This paper presents a framework and methodology for designing learning goals targeted at what students need to know and be able to do in order to attain high levels of literacy and achievement in three disciplinary areas--literature, science, and history. For each discipline, a team of researchers, teachers, and specialists in that discipline…

A quarter century ago, Hanson (1989) asked, "Is reading different for deaf individuals?" (p. 85). Appealing to evidence available at the time, she argued that skilled deaf readers, like their hearing counterparts, relied on their knowledge of English structure, including phonological information. This perspective on the role phonology…

R. Ratcliff, P. Gomez, and G. McKoon (2004) suggested much of what goes on in lexical decision is attributable to decision processes and may not be particularly informative about word recognition. They proposed that lexical decision should be characterized by a decision process, taking the form of a drift-diffusion model (R. Ratcliff, 1978), that…

Argues that reading professionals should not reject or neglect theory merely because it is old and offers Jack Holmes' Substrata Factor Theory as a case in point. Reviews the statistical, neurological, and psychological models in Holmes' theory and points out their potential for stimulating further theoretical thought. (FL)

Offers a tentative definition of reading comprehension, based on contemporary work in psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology; invites response and criticism. (MKM)

Views both reading and writing as acts of composing and presents planning, drafting, aligning, revising, and monitoring as components of the composing model of reading. (JL)

Presents a reading model with seven aspects: word perception, literal comprehension, interpretive comprehension, reactive comprehension, application comprehension, study skills, and rates. (FL)

Offers and applies a set of design criteria to characterize ten alternative models of reading or understanding. (MKM)

Research on subject matter instruction across the 20th century (e.g., Stevens, 1912; Bellack, 1966; Hoetker & Ahlbrand; 1969; Gall, 1970; Langer, 1999; Mehan, 1979; Nystrand, 1997;) reveals a preponderance of teacher-directed lecture, recitation, and round-robin reading of text in place of instruction that focuses on reading-to-learn, thinking,…

There are several problems associated with research using the schema concept. One problem is that there seems to be a lack of cumulative development, with the research being horizontal in quality, spreading out to new areas. Another problem with schema research is that a person not already convinced of the merit of the schema notion can remain…

A model has been developed for studying the relation between text structure and reading comprehension, emphasizing the reader's use of world knowledge and text-structural knowledge to evaluate and interpret meaning from text. When the highlights of the model are considered from the perspective of various expository texts used in research on…

Theoretical models of the reading process have been proposed by F. Smith, E. J. Gibson and H. Levin, and D. LaBerge and S. J. Samuels. These models were examined using the following questions: How are features of print processed by the brain? How important are prior knowledge and expectations to the process (top-down or bottom-up processing)? Is…

Illustrates how one can test a multicomponent model of reading by observing the different forms that acquired reading disorder takes as a consequence of different patterns of damage to the brain. (HOD)

Describes a model that distinguishes seven types of meaning that can function in reading: discoursal, lexical, morphological, propositional, syntactic, rhetorical, and functional. (MKM)