In this article, I outline the evolution of my research in the domain of narrative comprehension. I cover three phases: (1) the event-indexing model, which explores connecting events in narratives; (2) the immersed experiencer framework, which focuses on event representations and mental simulations; and (3) a preliminary exploration of conspiracy…

Discussions with sixth-form students about reading led Carolyn Massey and Paul Wiggin to start a sixth-form reading group. They describe here the series of themed sessions that they planned, and the student discussion and reflections that resulted. Listening to their students discuss their reading led Massey and Wiggin to reflect on what is meant…

Despite recent attention, research is yet to adequately focus on sports coaches' intellectual development as a consequence of their formal learning experiences. Drawing on the work of Perry, the aim of this article was to explore how the intellectual development of undergraduate sports coaching students was affected by the social pedagogical…

The studies reported here are part of a research program whose purpose is to increase the effectiveness with which students acquire knowledge from written instructional materials. The studies had both a basic and an applied objective. The basic objective was to obtain evidence upon which to base a theory of the processes involved in language…

In an exploration of the comprehension process of the beginning reader, 16 first and second grade students were each asked to listen to two stories--one a narrative account and the other an expository passage-- and then immediately to retell them. Recall protocols were compared by propositional analysis for text-related superordinate and…

The article underlines the necessity for a systematic approach to the development of learning comprehension skills. Through pilot testing, two distinctly different approaches (logical vs. psychological) are compared. Given the results in favor of the psychological approach, questions concerning its implementation and what should follow are raised.…

Rather than being viewed as a reading skill, comprehension is viewed as inferring the task of the writer or as discerning the ends and means of a discourse. Inferring the writer's task is to reason backwards from the product to the questions with which he may have started. Discerning ends and means is to view what is described, argued, or…

In an investigation of comprehension strategies in young children, children in R. Brown's Stages I, II, and III responded to commands varying in length, grammaticality, and meaning. (SB)

This study attempted to determine: (1) whether lower-order units (agent or agent-action) within the agent-action-recipient relationship exist in any functional way in the 1-word infant's comprehension of speech; and (2) whether the use of repetition and/or reduced length (common modifications in adult-to-infant speech) used to focus on these…

The purpose of this publication is to point out that reading comprehension questions frequently assess only literal comprehension, and to suggest kinds of questions that involve broader levels of comprehension. The publication first presents two reading passages; for each one it lists sample questions that involve only literal comprehension and…

Suggests ways teachers can provide students with practice in thinking (Editor)

Discusses how the learning of reading skills can be combined with the teaching of musical skills. (MM)

Provides a rationale for using television as a means of instruction and presents a model for capitalizing on television as a connection to reading. Includes a sample task sheet. (TJ)