Despite substantive work on the cognitive processes underlying comprehension, little research has examined the "phenomenological" nature of reading. We investigated how readers' experiences of visual and verbal thought related to their transportation into the narrative text and whether these were influenced by perspective-taking.…

This study presents empirical evidence for the hypothesis that reading purpose may impact upon the cognitive processes that L2 readers use in comprehending a text. 25 advanced learners of English were put into two purpose groups--testing condition (TC) and learning condition (LC). The participants in the TC read two expository passages and…

This study investigated the contribution of verbal working memory to the oral and written story production of deaf children. Participants were 29 severely to profoundly deaf children aged 8-13 years and 29 hearing controls, matched for grade level. The children narrated a picture story orally and in writing and performed a reading comprehension…

The purpose of the experiment was to examine whether students better understand a science text when they are asked to self-generate summaries or to study predefined summaries. Furthermore, we tested the effects of verbal and pictorial summaries. The experiment followed a 2 x 2 design with representation mode (verbal vs. pictorial) and learning…

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.…

This study investigated why children reproduce and/or reconstruct text in a classroom. The focus was on social classroom variables. Results supported the prediction that students would recall text differentially according to the response interaction pattern maintained with teachers. (Author/DB)

Investigates retrieval and reporting of superordinate and subordinate concepts in oral or written recollections. Finds no differences in total number of superordinate, subordinate, or reader-generated ideas recalled; however, does find differences between oral and written recall, depending on initial or ending position of text information. (RS)

Designed to explore the ways language functions to help children gain access to meaning as they progress through the educational system, this journal issue views communication as a social, interactive process in which speakers and writers attempt to link into what listeners and readers know, want to know, or need to know. The 12 articles in the…