Describes an exercise to elicit student interpretations of Robert Wallace's poem, "Ungainly Things." (MM)

Points out that children's growth in response to literature is not assessed by existing standardized tests or by progress from one textbook to another. Suggests guidelines for teacher observation of children's responses and provides a checklist for assessing oral and written reactions. (FL)

Traces the epistemic trend in rhetorical theory through the literature of four disciplines: new physics, reader response criticism, history of classical rhetoric, and composition theory. Sheds light on the philosophical and pedagogical implications of the epistemic trend for teaching scientific writing as a subjective and social process. (SKC)

Asserts that current business communication theory and practice make new inroads into reader analysis difficult. Discusses four pedagogical problems in reader analysis, including confusion over critical terminology, and poor heuristics for assessing readers. Explores readers' perceptual sets as a way of more accurately modeling the dynamics of the…

Reviews and equates theories of reader-response and rhetorical theories on audience response (the pathos principle). Concludes that the fundamental synonymity between them represents a significant bridge between analysis of literary texts and the dynamics of formal and social discourse and provides a theoretical foundation for teaching reading and…

Describes how the educational experience of sixth grade remedial readers was revitalized and enriched through a project that grew out of reading "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes." Suggests using "real" books (literature) to liberate remedial students from skill drills and reading games. (NH)

The following arguments are offered in criticism of Hargens' theory that consensus may be measured by scholarly journal rejection rate: (1) Hargens fails to specify adequately the meaning of "consensus"; (2) all sciences have similar levels of relatively low consensus; and (3) journal rejection rates are influenced by other variables…

Cole, Simon, and Cole identify the following variables that may affect scholarly journal rejection rates: (1) field-specific publication norms; (2) diffuseness of journal structures; and (3) differences in training practices. However, they do not explain why the variables they identify covary across disciplines. (BJV)

Reveals four different categories of teacher-student books conferences. Reports findings of a study of four children's book conferences over a year that shows the teacher preferring different foci with different students. (FL)

States that teachers need to understand the appeal of novels that teenagers prefer to read and analyzes a popular romantic novel, "Flowers in the Attic." (DF)

Describes the use of oral reading, journal writing, and sharing of ideas in a seventh grade class to promote an active interest in literature and thereby increase the literacy level of the students. (SRT)

Relates experiences teaching Philip Larkin's poetry. (HOD)

Describes a number of ways students can write in response to literature, an approach that forces the students to shape and form their vague responses to the text. (HOD)

Identifies college readers' purposeful behaviors when writing from sources, determines whether these behaviors cluster at identifiable stages in the reading-writing process, and determines whether proficient and less able readers' processes are the same. (FL)

Notes shortcomings in research efforts intended to discover children's picture book preferences. Describes a research approach adapted from the field of anthropology, in which the researcher conducted observations and interviews as children respond to picture books in natural classroom settings. (EL)