Responds to "A Symposium on the Usefulness of Literacy Research" in the same issue of this journal. Maintains that Alan Purves totally misreads the author's theory of reading approaches. Explains that "efferent reading" and "aesthetic reading" are not discrete categories but terms on a continuum. (TB)

Problematizes the word "experience" as it is currently being used by researchers and teachers who want to reform literature instruction in schools and colleges. Discusses how a fresh look at Dewey and Rosenblatt can reconstruct the courtroom and marketplace metaphors as sound alternatives to theories that perpetuate dualistic assumptions…

Studies the ways readers create meaning initially from literary texts. Analyzes the data collected via think-aloud protocols and interviews. Compares reading tactics of first-year college students and graduate students. (HB)

Examines the approaches students use when reading for literary and informational purposes. Finds four recursive stances readers take in relation to the text: (1) being out and stepping into an envisionment; (2) being in and moving through an envisionment; (3) stepping back and rethinking what one knows; and (4) stepping out and objectifying the…

Examines social influences on the reading processes of four adolescent readers, as well as the relationship between social-cognition and these readers' responses to short stories. Suggests that competence, pragmatics, and volition are intricately related to the likelihood that readers will bring social-cognitive processes to bear on reading. (SR)

Compares inferences about story characters' behavior, perceptions, and goals made by eighth graders, eleventh graders, college freshmen, and college seniors. Concludes that from early adolescence to young adulthood, readers shift from conceptions of characters in terms of immediate surface feelings and behaviors to conceptions in terms of…