Compares the performance of Black, Hispanic, and Anglo students on a story unscrambling task to determine if sociocultural differences in story schemata affect reading comprehension. Shows some effects suggesting that the three groups have somewhat different strategies for choosing initial and final sentences and for making narratives coherent.…

Contrasts two models of instruction: building on ideas in shared endeavors; and transmit-and-test formats. Discusses how these contrasting formats may relate to interactional patterns observed in toddlers and caregivers in a Mayan and a middle-class European-American community; and elementary school children in Japan and the United States. (SR)