To help students develop a broadly generative approach to reading and writing about literature, teachers of literature should employ not only systematic procedures, but also the eclectic and utilitarian spirit of rhetorical invention. A semiotic perspective offers the most solid theoretical foundation for establishing a genuinely heuristic…

When readers encounter the dissonance of conflicting ideas and are motivated by the psychological discomfort to resolve the dissonance, the effort to alleviate this discomfort may well result in the activation of those cognitive processes termed critical reading and thinking. With this in mind, one approach to teaching critical reading treats…

Examining the cognitive processes of reading-to-write as they are embedded in the social context of a college course, this introduction to and overview of the 11-part Reading-to-Write Project study focuses on the study as a whole by sketching the reading-to-write task as one of practical importance, as a window on how students integrate reading…

This study is the seventh in a series of reports from the Reading-to-Write Project, a collaborative study of students' cognitive processes at one critical point of entry into academic performance. This part of the study examines whether students could make more significant revisions in their writing if they were merely prompted to examine and…

A study explored students' dynamic use of various forms of reading and writing to learn. In investigating the relationship between learner initiative, literacy, and the ability to conduct a critical inquiry of a topic of study, seven college undergraduates were asked to direct their own reading and writing engagements enroute to composing a…

As an interesting development in recent literary criticism, reader response can enhance a composition class in many ways. Reader response, by incorporating both intellect and feeling into an aesthetic reaction to literature, restores the subjective aspect that some forms of criticism deny. Three main elements compose the repeated cycle of a…

Intended for use by secondary school English teachers and school librarians, this teaching guide provides lesson plans for instruction pertaining to library and research skills. The first section presents lessons to improve library skills. The five lessons cover (1) the organization and arrangement of the library, (2) the card catalog, (3)…

This paper discusses the central theoretical aspects of the "Languaging in the Content Areas" (LICA) thesis, intended to provide postelementary reading with a sense of definition and purpose compatible with contemporary needs and conditions. The objective of the LICA thesis is not merely to teach students how to read critically what has been…

Using a detailed example, the article shows how fictitious texts can be used to train students in the critical reading of newspapers and magazines. A key feature of the procedure is the comparison two or more texts written about the same event. (FS/WGA)

The Enrichment Triad Model proposed by Joseph Renzulli offers guidelines for planning instruction for gifted students that can foster wide reading for specific purposes. The model is based on three different types of enrichment. The first type includes general exploratory activities designed to expose learners to areas in which they may be…

This paper describes Directed Activities Related to Text (DART), procedures that were developed and are used in the Reading for Learning Project at the University of Nottingham (England) to enhance learning from texts and that fall into two broad categories: (1) text analysis procedures, which require students to engage in some form of analysis of…

The teaching-questioning strategy developed in this paper, based on reader-response criticism and Kenneth Burke's pentad, can be used by teachers to elicit responses to any literary work and is designed to help students participate in a work's dramatic context, discover meaning as they read, and assure that their critical essays are based on an…

The T.V. Taxonomy of Questions was developed for use by teachers who wish to stimulate their students' critical thinking skills, but who find the terminology of existing skill taxonomies both confusing and elusive. This taxonomy consists of six levels of questions. Each level is given the name of a television program reflecting how the student…

The results of the 1979-80 reading and literature assessment conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are contained in this report. In addition to the national results, the report describes the performance of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students in various cohorts defined by geographic region, sex, race/ethnicity, parental…

The research on the effect of attitudes on reading is reviewed in this paper to support the position that the affective part of learning is as important to learning to read well as are the cognitive skills. Suggestions for improving reading attitudes are given. Activities are suggested for five forms of creative reading: (1) model imitations, in…