Examines four recent criticisms of the ideas of Kenneth Goodman on reading and on the use of oral reading for diagnostic purposes. (TJ)

US government mandates to implement intensive phonics instruction in elementary classrooms invoke an alleged scientific superiority of this approach over more meaning-centered models. But curiously absent from this scientific enterprise is a study of the phonics system itself. Advocates of intensive phonics have not demonstrated that the commonly…

Metalinguistic cognition is the ability to think about language, to comment on it, to produce it, to comprehend it, and to manipulate language as an object with many identifiable and functional parts. It appears that metalinguistic skill development is related to cognitive development and is dependent on metalinguistic awareness which runs…

Indicates some of the strengths and weaknesses of the cloze procedure as a way to help children learn to read, to determine comprehension, and to gain additional insights into how readers process language as they read. Suggests that the beginning reader is poorly judged by use of cloze. (TJ)

Examines the key role that memory plays in the meaning-making process that children enact as they read and view images in a classroom that respects and encourages their own views and reflections. Discusses the six major categories of children's visual responses, and presents representative examples of children's illustrations. (TB)

Examines intertextual relationships in "The Wedding Ghost," a children's book written by Leon Garfield and illustrated by Charles Keeping. Concludes that, as a top-down component in reading, intertextuality has significant implications for how texts are approached and can be seen as an element which promotes the development of high-level…

Examines and supports the notion that many of the problems evidenced by poor readers are related to their passive response to the interactive task of reading. (MM)

Explores issues arising from the long-standing theoretical and empirical attention to reading as a specifiable set of psychological processes, and the consequences of this attention for parents' and educators' deliberations and practices. Concludes that theories of reading need to deal fundamentally with the practices that learners, teachers and…

Even though reading is a complex process, cognitive psychologists generally agree that reading is an active thinking process. Four aspects of the interactive view of reading can help define this process: (1) readers use both what they know and information from the text to construct meaning; (2) readers elaborate what and how they read; (3) readers…

Introduces briefly the social, meaning-based linguistic perspective of genre. Describes how written language is different from oral language. Shows the complexity of written language structure by illustrating how the "element of description" is realized in various written genres. Examines the implications of making genre a more critical…

A restatement of the theory of reading developed by the author over the years, a defense of a whole-language comprehension-centered approach to teaching, and an attack on the back-to-basics movement. (DD)

As an exercise in understanding the cognitive processes underlying reading, second language teacher trainees were asked to read a text and say aloud everything they said to themselves silently. the text used, a rhyme-riddle intended for use with elementary school learners of English as a Second Language, was appropriate for the students, required…

Introduces teachers to the development and use of story maps as a tool for promoting reading comprehension. Presents a definition and review of story map research. Explains how to construct story maps, and offers suggestions for starting story map instruction. Provides variations on the use of story maps. (MG)

Uses the author's experiences as a less-able member of a university choir as metaphor for how less-able readers experience the demands of learning a complex symbol system. Translates the positive experiences as a choir member into classroom contexts. Advocates choral reading, heterogeneous grouping, regular opportunities for practice, limitation…

A study was undertaken to determine if a criterion referenced test based on a Piagetian stage model of reading acquisition was related to grade level, to a standardized reading achievement test, and to a test of cognitive developmental level. Sixty first, second, and third grade children were administered a comprehensive test of basic skills. They…