Compares fifth-grade teachers' views of teaching a content area literacy lesson with those of literacy professors. Finds that the majority of teachers followed the text closely and took a dominant role as transmitter of knowledge, while professors were not constrained by the text and emphasized a constructivist view of learning. Discusses…

Examines teachers' decisions to make adjustments in their preplanned discussion routines to better facilitate students' comprehension of previously assigned content area materials in terms of how texts figured into those decisions. (FL)

Indicates that textbook explication alone of causes of events is insufficient for acquisition and use of hierarchically organized knowledge; students must be taught how to construct text-based information into hierarchically structured form and use it for making predictions. (FL)

Examines the nature and prevalence of author-provided cues to effective processing of introductory college textbooks in psychology and biology. Concludes that the authors of the texts chose cues that would be effective even with relatively passive learners and rarely chose cues that demanded much activity from readers. (SKC)