Inaugurates this column's topic for the year: document strategy procedures and ways to teach them. Argues that knowledge of document structures allows for better knowledge of the cognitive steps and metacognitive strategies in document processing. (SR)

Reviews document strategies called "locate tasks." Discusses "cycle tasks," tasks requiring two or more locate tasks, repeating the known/need-to-know steps, thus cycling to earlier steps in the known/need-to-know procedure. (SR)

Finds layout of a list affects the way it is read and understood; recall for separately arranged lists in text was better than that for continuously arranged lists, and notes a difference in reading patterns between the two layouts; and a separated list allowed readers to reread the points selectively, while a continuous list made readers reread…

Presents an instrument to observe students' quantitative literacy abilities. Discusses document strategy factors and quantitative factors contributing to task difficulty. (SR)

Borrows Robertson Davies definition of "fifth business": roles in a drama that are neither heroine nor hero but are necessary nevertheless to carry out the denouement. Suggests that reading may be seen as a play in which there is some fifth business without which the reading process cannot fully happen. Uses a variety of typefaces. (TB)

The Jewish tradition of text study and commentary may convey important messages to educators because of its probable inherent interest and for possible recommendations for pedagogical practice that might be suggested by it. Beyond seeking guidance in religious and everyday affairs, the last 2000 years of Torah study reveals a passionate commitment…

Middle school students will interact with a variety of different texts to uncover a broader meaning of reading. During the three 50-minute sessions, students will identify different categories of text materials from basic picture books to textbooks; compile a list of strategies and processes needed to read the different types of books; and develop…

Discusses three types of integration tasks in reading, rank ordering, first-level integration (looking for similarities within a list of items), and second-level integration tasks (looking for differences). Offers classroom extension activities. (SR)

Discusses using the procedures of identification, problem formulation, and computation to solve two different types of math document problems: those involving locate procedures and those involving cycling procedures. (SR)

Studies error detection by Swedish children. Finds that the sixth-grade children were better at the task, that errors were easiest to detect while listening, that errors were easiest to detect from paper copy, but that fourth graders detected more errors when reading from the moving window. (RS)

Writers construct meaning when they compose texts, and readers construct meaning when they understand and interpret texts. Building meaning through reading entails organizing, selecting, and connecting. Readers use previously acquired knowledge to operate on textual clues, organizing mental representations that include material they select from…

A study tested the effects of timed versus untimed practice using text passages containing inserted adjunct questions. These effects were measured in terms of performance on repeated, related, and unrelated test questions. Subjects were 47 college students in Florida randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group was allowed a fixed amount of…

Reading is best understood as a dialectic process where the influence of reader and text are constantly merging to create a jointly produced and evolving understanding. What occurs as the reader and text come together during reading is similar in form to a dialogue, a model for the reader-text relationship that has not been explored in the reader…

Examines whether text-material presented in "chunks" or phrases significantly improves the reading comprehension of 50 eighth grade students composed of 2 reading ability groups. Finds that "chunking" sentences into meaningful units of thought aids low-ability readers more than high-ability readers. (MG)

Focuses on diagrams giving overviews of complex technical information as facilitators for adult subjects using computers to learn about the business activities of a fictitious family. Finds that features of the author's control over the reader's encounter with the diagram influences whether readers will interrupt their reading to study the…