Recent research within the framework of existential sociolinguistics is reviewed, and its implications for the interpretative processes of reading are discussed. It is argued that comprehension through language is based largely on the role that the assumptions of the speaker and the social expectations of the hearer play in symbolic interaction.…

The extent of a child's sense of how story should progress logically from beginning to end helps him to gain fluency and pleasure in reading. (JD)

Teaching active comprehension helps students learn to ask their own questions and guide their own thinking. (MKM)

This study was designed to determine whether infants could perceive action role reversals when the direction of action is ruled out as a cue; whether infants consider inanimate, nonpotent objects to be unlikely agents; and whether both these discriminations could be reliably reflected in the heart rate response. (Author/SB)

Syntactic analysis identifies the "conductor wires" permitting the listener to conceptualize the speaker's image of reality from information furnished by the linguistic message. Syntactic study is thus situated in the economy of the communication process. Mood, aspect and tense are studied in this framework. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Describes schema theory, then explores the machine metaphor implicit in schema-theoretic accounts of reading. (FL)

One hundred and fifty psychology students, assigned to five groups, used different learning strategies (repetition, paraphrasing, linking, grouping, and hierarchy) to study three structurally different chemistry texts. The strategies that demanded recognition of linked relationships as well as retention of this information increased students'…

The study examined relationships between two modes of information processing, simultaneous and sequential, and two sets of reading skills, word recognition and comprehension, among 40 second and third grade students. Results indicated there is a relationship between simultaneous processing and reading comprehension. (Author)

Demographic studies and educational research document that deaf readers encounter world knowledge, linguistic, and metacognitive difficulties as they learn to read and read to learn at the interpretive level of understanding. A collaborative "externally guided thinking" approach may help deaf literal readers learn to read at the evaluative level.…

Indicates that subjects spent more time reading important information than unimportant information and that, when processing time was limited, extra cognitive effort was allocated to accomplish the same result. Finds that important information was also recalled better, confirming the "levels effect." Reports three experiments supporting…

Reports the results of two studies designed to investigate the presence of six cognitive levels of intellectual performance as predicted by Bloom's taxonomy. Results of both experiments revealed a performance dichotomy with synthesis and evaluation forming the superior category. Includes examples of the text items used and draws implications for…

The author builds his foundation for teaching reform on an idea of teaching that emphasizes comprehension and reasoning, transformation and reflection. He discusses (1) sources of teaching knowledge, (2) conceptualizations of these sources, (3) processes of pedagogical reasoning and action, and (4) implications for teaching policy and educational…

Suggests that metaphors in text are processed differently from literal language. Indicates that more information was remembered when the context did not contain metaphors and when the target paragraph was more important in the hierarchy of the passage. (NKA)

Uses an analysis of children's interpretations of a complex episode of social interaction to illustrate three features that distinguish them from robot plans and that form a basis for a theory of the development of social action: human plans (1) are social, (2) operate on interpretations, and (3) are used, not just executed. (FL)

Investigates the effects of breakdowns in referential and factual coherence on text comprehension and reveals that the processing of factually inconsistent information hindered other information in passages. (FL)