Louise Rosenblatt's well-known concept of stance distinguishes between efferent reading (reading to take something away from the text) and aesthetic reading (reading for the experience of dwelling in the text). This article proposes a refinement to this binary, adding the concept of afferent reading. Afference, in biology, means a bringing-to, and…

A recent article in this journal claims that the simple view of reading represents a long-outdated account of what underlies the ability to read. Its authors argue that if teachers are to be better informed about what is known about reading then the simple view must be replaced by a more current model, one that captures the substantial progress…

Reading is perhaps the essential practice of modern civilization. For centuries, it has been seen as key to both personal fulfillment and social progress, and millions today depend on it to participate fully in our society. Yet, at its heart, reading is a surprisingly elusive practice. This book tells for the first time the story of how American…

The term "Science of Reading" (SOR) has become a popular phrase in practitioner circles. To best serve students, it is important that teachers and interventionists are knowledgeable about the SOR. This article provides a special educator's guide to the SOR by reviewing critical elements that have emerged in public discourse about the…

The present article aims to estimate the value of language learning through a quick review of the learning process and with a focus on "accumulated knowledge" and "the ability to learn." Following the opinions of researchers and linguists, we can also argue that the whole history of human culture--"of intelligence and…

In a 2017 article, Suzanne Choo suggests that the literature classroom should eschew insular aesthetic concerns in favour of a cosmopolitan ethical approach. In response to Choo, Liam Gearon believes that a prescribed and predetermined hermeneutic undermines the freedom of the pedagogue and the pupils. In this paper, I side with Gearon against…

Previous work on individual differences has revealed limitations in the ability of existing measures (e.g., working memory) to predict language processing. Recent evidence suggests that an individual's sensitivity to detect the statistical regularities present in language (i.e., "chunk sensitivity") may significantly modulate online…

The eyes cannot lie. Eye movements are biological data that reveal information about the reader's attention and cognitive processes. This article summarizes the century-old eye movement research to elucidate reading comprehension performances and more importantly, their implications for reading instruction. This review paper addresses three…

In this article, I use the metaphor that readers journey to narrative worlds to review research that has spanned my career. In the first section, I consider the processes that enable readers to undertake these journeys as well as the processes that allow them to participate in the narrative worlds once they have arrived. In the second section, I…

Reading texts can prompt intense emotions, and these emotions profoundly influence learning from texts. I first discuss the findings from the eight studies reported in this special issue. The studies represent pivotal advances in research on reading. Focusing on learning from science texts, they show that different emotions and different types of…

The personal formation of students is an important goal in Religious Education in secondary schools in the Netherlands. This article, which is based on the design research of my PhD dissertation, examines how a contemplative approach to reading stories can, according to Religious Education teachers, contribute to the personal formation of…

In light of recent concerns in the United States and the United Kingdom regarding the rote and restrictive nature of English literature instruction, this article offers an approach to teaching literature rooted not in knowledge, as literary pedagogy is often conceptualised, but instead in understanding. Reading for understanding extends beyond…

While John Tenniel's illustrations to Lewis Carroll's Alice books are nearly as famous as the books themselves, the question of whether these illustrations contribute to or compromise the effects produced by the written text has rarely been explored. In this paper, it is argued that the status of the illustrations is problematic unless the actual…

We are encouraged by Cobb's (2022) description of changes to the Morpholex profiling tool (https://www.lextutor.ca/cgi-bin/morpho/lex/) resulting in more accurate word classifications. This addresses one point in our recent commentary on Morpholex and on Laufer and Cobb's (2020) study using Morpholex (McLean & Stoeckel, 2021). However, Cobb…

This article explores how Gloria Anzaldúa's picture books provide additional theoretical frames that complement her existing scholarship. While much has been said about her contributions to the fields of Latinx studies, little has been said about how her theories extend to children or children's literature. Nevertheless, reading the picture books…