Describes a reader response heuristic which approaches expository texts on a feeling and experiential level. Focuses on the work of one student writer to show how the student's interpretations of a text on Arab-Israeli relations was mediated by the student's feelings and experiences. (MM)

Reports the impact of metadiscourse on sixth grade students' learning and attitudes. Finds that low-comfort students learn more when informational metadiscourse is presented in interpersonal voice and high-comfort students learn less. Finds that students' attitudes are more tolerant of opinions if they read just one type of metadiscourse. (KEH)

Studied reading comprehension demands in a seventh-grade social studies classroom to reveal existing classroom cultures and complexities surrounding expository text comprehension. Found that in the particular classroom, the textbook determined knowledge exploration and had a damaging pedagogical effect on the students' literacy practices.…

A study examined an approach to assisting students in increasing their awareness of the organization and demands of text during the survey process of SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Review, Recite). Twenty-seven college freshmen in a developmental reading course, were (1) introduced to the concept of SQ3R, (2) given instruction on types and uses of…

Shares how the author designed reading activities to increase students' understanding of nonfiction by adhering to three principles: purpose, classification, and collaboration. Recounts how students responded to the reading materials and each other as they developed an understanding of the information available to them. (MG)

Reports on participant-observation in a third- and fourth-grade classroom in which students learned to read science texts with both "efferent" and "aesthetic" reading processes. (HTH)

Provides a rationale for organizing history instruction around children's trade books. Presents a sample unit on the American Revolution that has been used successfully with intermediate-grade students. Describes an approach that is unique in its dual focus on students' affective responses to literature and their learning of content. (MG)

To explore how instruction in questioning can enhance teachers' use of questions that promote comprehension and how teachers' instruction of students in such strategies can enhance their ability to comprehend content area texts independently, this paper looks at prereading, during-reading, and postreading questioning activities. The first major…

Hypothesizes that typographic cues structured according to a defined set of common attributes within textbooks enable readers to discriminate between various levels of information and to make generalizations about the information contained in each level. Proposes a method of identifying and ranking categories of information. (KEH)

An Israeli study determined what happens when persons with low-literacy levels read news accounts that presuppose general knowledge that the writer expects them to have, but that they may not necessarily possess. The study sample consisted of about 600 students, mostly women, in 30 literacy centers throughout the country. In each class, adult…

Argues that comprehension is a problem-solving activity and that different problem-solving schemata exist for different types of texts, both narrative and expository. Suggests that good comprehension occurs when there is a match between the author's schemata and that of the reader, creating a dialogue between the writer and the reader. (JK)

Originally developed for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on reader response theory and related instructional strategies is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a lecture giving an overview on…

Papers in this report were presented at a conference on text characteristics, convened as part of the Learning from Text Project. The foreword describes the University of California and California State University Joint Projects Steering Committee project to determine the relationship between ability to learn from text and academic achievement,…