Investigates how 10 proficient Taiwanese English-as-a-foreign-language college readers employ intertextuality as a constructive strategy to comprehend and interpret literary texts. Finds four intertextual patterns: storying, integrating, evaluating, and associating. Argues that the more students can link their previous literacy experiences, the…

Develops an Information Text Reading Activity (ITRA), a conceptual framework for presenting reading lessons that will engage students in reading informational text actively. Notes that the framework provides a basis for selecting and evaluating instructional activities and assists the teacher in moving students toward independence in learning. (RS)

Argues that the focus of content area instruction needs to include an emphasis on factors that motivate students to read their textbooks. Presents five strategies to link reader and text: using analogies; relating personal anecdotes; disrupting readers' expectations; challenging readers to resolve a paradox; and introducing novel and conflicting…

Reviews current approaches to the assessment of the great variety of retellings encountered by teacher and tutor. Proposes a set of three criteria by which teachers can judge whether approaches to retellings developed by researchers are likely to be useful in classroom settings. (JK)

Recommends teaching both mental imagery (an unobtrusive, natural text processing strategy) and summarizing (an efficient text reorganization strategy) to students who do not spontaneously use them. (NKA)

Explains how to ask questions that will help students focus on structure and better understand expository text. Notes that because students must make both internal and external connections to text structure, teachers should ask questions which prompt students to identify the relationships among ideas in a text so that meaningful learning can…

Explores briefly the New Criticism that dominated literature instruction until recently and then provides an overview of reader response theory and how response approaches can be used in the classroom to enhance reading. (NKA)

Compares skilled and unskilled adult readers' approaches to finding the main idea in text. Describes and tests Author's Intended Message (AIM), a holistic main idea strategy suitable for independent use by college study skills students. Investigates the effectiveness of this strategy. (RS)

Notes that expository text, the predominant form of writing in content textbooks, is generally more difficult for students to comprehend than narrative, which predominates in basal readers. Recommends the use of extended anticipation guides as a strategy for helping students build background knowledge for understanding content area texts. (SKC)

Explains why proficient readers may find it difficult to understand written directions. Indicates direct instructional strategies for helping such readers handle procedural text independently. (NKA)

Outlines five variations of the Directed Reading Thinking Activity that can help students become independent readers of narrative text. (NKA)