Compares remedial readers to more proficient readers in their meaning-making processes during the reading of literary text. Reveals that the remedial readers spend a disproportionate amount of being out of "envisionments"--either attempting to step into one or failing to step in. (MG)

Studies profoundly deaf children's responses to picture book reading in a preschool environment as compared to responses of hearing children. Finds that in spite of a severe delay in learning language, deaf children's responses to the picture books were similar to those of hearing children. Concludes that deaf children learned a great deal about…

For many years, methods of teaching reading have been based upon a mechanistic paradigm that something can be understood by reducing it to its most basic parts. This scientific paradigm has led to several misconceptions about reading: (1) that comprehension can be reduced to separately identifiable parts, (2) that meaning is contained within the…

Drawing upon research from a number of fields, this paper explores parallels between new paradigms in the sciences--particularly physics, chemistry, and biology--and new paradigms in reading and literary theory--particularly a socio- or psycholinguistic, semiotic, transactional view of reading and a transactional view of the literary experience.…

A study was conducted to describe and compare the oral responses of three adolescents to two short stories and two textbook selections and to identify their general expectations for reading and responding to fiction and exposition. Three tenth grade girls were interviewed about their family lives, interests, preferences for and experiences with…

A study examined the ways in which college readers interact with literary texts. The method of interviews and think-along protocols, in which a text was read aloud by the subject while he simultaneously verbalized his thoughts, was used to compare the reading processes of eight college freshman to those of eight masters students in literature who…

To better understand the nature of students' approaches to literary understanding, a study compared the meaning-making approaches of traditionally judged above and below average readers. In all, 144 protocols were analyzed from 24 students (12 seventh graders and 12 eleventh graders, half in each class judged as above and half as below average…

To learn more about how people read literary texts, with a view to improving the way literature is taught in schools, a study examined the extent to which the reading of literature is affected by variations in readers, texts, and situations. Subjects, 12 skilled (faculty) readers and 96 novice (undergraduate) readers, read a short story, either in…

What is pleasing about hypertext is what has always been pleasing about genre fiction: the creative process of reading. Genre novels are written to a formula--and often called formula fiction. Critics say they are written to make money and to make money only. According to C. S. Lewis, they "rot the mind." If looked at from the standpoint…

A study investigated the inference strategies used by sixth grade students reading narratives, and the results were compared with the inference strategies identified as those used by skilled adult readers. Subjects, 80 sixth grade students from two Canadian urban centers were divided into two groups: 40 high-proficiency readers and 40…

This paper describes a five-step technique for secondary and postsecondary reading instruction, compatible with reader response theory, and addressing the need for academically underprepared students to experience the validation of their personal responses to texts. The first step involves identifying prior knowledge and opinions before reading…