Ironic texts offer pleasure both as what Burke called "ordinary" and "pure persuasion." Readers may engage these symbolic dimensions simultaneously, but in different relative proportions. Using the coincidence of the 1986 sentencing of sanctuary movement members and the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, we offer four possible interpretive…

In S. Kanazawa's (see record 2004-12248-010) evolutionary theory of general intelligence (g), g is presented as a species-typical information-processing mechanism. This conceptualization of g departs radically from the accepted conceptualization of g as a source of individual differences that is manifest in the positive manifold. Kanazawa's theory…

E. J. Wisniewski and G. L. Murphy (see record EJ689195) suggested that the apparent effects of relation frequency in C. L. Gagne and E. J. Shoben's (1997) conceptual combination experiments could be explained by differences between the familiarity and plausibility of their stimuli (noun-noun phrases). However, C. L. Gagne and T. L. Spalding argued…

Comments on the article by J. S. Hyde (see record 2005-11115-001), in which Hyde reviewed meta-analytic evidence on gender differences and concluded that most psychological gender differences are in the close-to-zero or small range. The current author notes some omissions from Hyde's review, including the findings through other research large…

A recent paper by Yilmaz, Boone, and Andersen (2004) is criticized on four grounds. First, the paper does not have adequate definitions of "urban" and "sub"urban". Second, the interpretation of these terms for Ankara does not reveal the particular socio-economic circumstances existing there. Third, no clear grounds are…

Writing, and the vocabulary building that goes with it, is a more complex process than merely putting words on a page. In the process of acquiring vocabulary, for example, students need to understand not just what individual words mean but also which combinations of these words in sentences or paragraphs convey a meaningful message to the reader…

In an age of continual technological advancement, user-friendly software, and consumer demand for the latest upgraded gadget, the ethical and moral discoveries derived from a careful reading of any fictional literature by college students is struggling in the American college classroom. Easy-access information systems, coinciding with the…

"Emergent literacy" means that a young child's communication skills are in the emerging state. Clearly, the child's environment is supremely important in nurturing this emerging literacy (Morrow 1995). Children cannot become literate alone. They need the help of others to claim their own unique literacy. Although most parents recognize that they…

In this article, the author comments on Peter Roos's article (this issue). The author sees a strong need to clarify whether the horse that is to be remounted is more and better English-as-a-second-language (ESL) programs or the goal of promoting bilingual education as a positive practice in the nation's schools or something else altogether. If the…

Drawing on data associated with an investigation of classroom read alouds and discussions of children's literature, this article conceptualizes the reading aloud and discussions of picturebooks as an "interpretive space" for elementary grade students' exploration of visual images and written text. Analyzing the types of responses…

Recently, transactional reader response theory has been criticized for providing an inadequate theoretical guide for the study of multicultural literature. Some scholars argue that Rosenblatt assumes the reader and her response to literature are ideologically innocent and the continuum of aesthetic and efferent stance does not encompass critical…

The authors are pleased with commentators' willingness to respond to their target article's challenge to identify observable reproducible phenomena that could be widely accepted as strong scientific evidence for innate talent. In this reply, the authors have organized the ideas in the commentaries into three general categories, namely the…

The author has been invited to reply to this response to her article of December 2006 in this journal. This response can only be a summary of some of her findings and a reiteration, in very truncated form, of her arguments. She would refer any interested reader back to her original extended review of the PIRLS project as it was there that she lays…

Increasingly, autistic students are attending college, posing new challenges to writing instructors. In particular, such students may have trouble imagining readers' responses to their texts. Developing an appropriate pedagogy for these students may involve revisiting composition studies' tradition of cognitive research, while not abandoning more…

The reading of science-related, historical nonfiction alone does not necessarily lead students to make personal connections to science or understand science as a human endeavor interdependent with culture, society, and history. Teachers must structure students' reading to ensure that they consider specific aspects of science while reading and…