Examines the responses of second-grade students asked to listen to pseudonarration for information or to listen to the text as a story. Finds that, regardless of purpose given, the students focused on the story idea units more than the informational idea units. Discusses implications of these findings for research and practice. (RS)

Suggests that, despite the expanding variety of the university population, despite diversity and challenges to the literary canon, writing assignments continue to be uninspired and outdated. Describes an "Alternative Responses to Literature" course whose aim was to open up the communal readings, the forms of response to them, and the…

Compared the responses of four Pacific-islander readers and four non-Pacific-islander readers of Alan Duff's 1990 novel "Once Were Warriors," about the lives of indigenous Maori people in New Zealand. Non-Pacific-islanders saw parallels in the novel between the Maori and other downtrodden peoples, such as South African blacks, while…

Examines the nature of personal, idiosyncratic interpretations and responses to reading assignments. Suggests how teachers can help students understand the differences between their interpretations and the authors' intended messages. Provides three strategies--anticipation guides, mapping, and role playing--to help students synthesize their…

Responds to comments made in previous article by Emery, Fincham, and Cummings concerning Fauber and Long's (1991) discussion of family's role in child psychotherapy. Attempts to clarify areas of possible confusion, including meaning of "contextual variables," parenting as appropriate focus of treatment, assumptions about what is meant by…

Responds to previous article by Amato on children's adjustment to divorce. Focuses on two aspects of Amato's review: the mechanics of the review (perspectives advanced, criteria used to evaluate generated hypotheses, and accuracy of conclusions) and critical comments raised about the existing literature and in particular the proposed general model…

Responds to previous article by Amato on children's adjustment to divorce. Cites number of serious limitations including problems in language and logic of hypothesis-testing, in derivation of hypotheses, and in interpretation and assessment of accumulated evidence. Finds Amato's basic premise--that children of divorce suffer lifelong adjustment…

Responds to previous article by Amato on children's adjustment to divorce. Applauds Amato's efforts, but sees efforts hindered by insufficient reporting and inconsistent use of empirical literature, unsupported speculations about inconsistencies found in some hypotheses, and unacknowledged bias toward traditional family structure. Discusses many…

Responds to reader reactions to author's previous article on children's adjustment to divorce. Responds to comments made in each of three previous articles by Kurdek, Demo, and Allen reviewing author's original work and defends position taken in that work. (NB)

Describes how several types of written assessments (student journal entries, student formal response papers, student survey responses, and teacher logs) can be useful in measuring the effects of literature on students' behavior and beliefs. (SR)

Describes methods of approaching Toni Morrison's novel, "The Bluest Eye," for the secondary classroom. Suggests that it was the students' responses to the novel that showed to the teacher the importance of this controversial work. Provides numerous examples of students' written responses to the novel. (HB)

Provides four practicing teachers' written responses to Carolyn Henly's article entitled "Reader Response Theory as Antidote to Controversy: Teaching "The Bluest Eye," which appears in the same issue. (HB)

Describes a method of including students into a community of readers through which they are encouraged to respond individually to literary texts. Shows how writing prompts can be used in the classroom to foster reader response and the integrity of each reader's interpretation of a text. (HB)

Describes how a teachers uses children's literature to immerse students in the living past. Presents students' poems and excerpts from student journals to document students' reactions to using historical fiction in the classroom. (RS)

Describes the responses of children in kindergarten through second grade to reading aloud. Finds a proclivity toward a wide range of play with the action, sound, and rhythm of language related to the book's content. Suggests that verbal exclamations such as laughter, changing facial expressions, and imitative gestures are legitimate features of…