Examines variables affecting reader understanding of business writing. Notes that 57 business students and 82 non-business students read either a coherent or a non-coherent version of the same text and then took a test measuring their comprehension. Finds that background knowledge (schema theory) affected a reader's ability to understand business…

Discusses how books that have predictable story lines can provide rich opportunities for students with hearing impairments to expand their knowledge, experience success in decoding and predicting text, and develop a love of reading. Tips are provided for choosing books that contain familiar sequences, events, ideas, and situations. (CR)

Asks what role miscue analysis might play and how it might be (re)defined, given a view of reading and writing as "complex human activities taking place in complex human relationships." Examines some of the original assumptions underlying miscue analysis, then redefines it by highlighting three aspects of reading and writing:…

Describes how the attitudes toward textbooks of students enrolled in a study strategies class underwent change as they worked with a particular psychology textbook. Notes that the students wrote to the author, who in turn wrote back. Argues that students' affective responses to textbook reading may be the most undervalued dimension of content area…

Uses two discussion questions to teach Camus'"The Guest." Reminds students that in their discussions they need to pay close attention to the text. Explains to the students that the point of view Camus is using points to the fact that he wants the reader to focus on the character, Daru, and perhaps identify with him. (SG)

Considers how author Brock Cole may be grim and controversial, but he "paints the world as it is; instead of using soft pastels, he whips out the bright, bold, and sometimes ugly hues." Discusses the relationship between the author and the reader, and the author and the teacher. Concludes that some may say that Cole pushes the limit, but he…

Suggests that reflective academic texts highlight the ways in which relationships between writers and their diverse audiences are established. Examines memoirs and autobiographically inflected texts that establish connections between writers and readers by enlarging the notion of individual subjectivity, in particular by mobilizing categories of…

Discusses how in her 1981 novel "Obasan," Joy Kogawa recounts the saga of the internment and relocation of Japanese Canadians during and after the Second World War by juxtaposing the "factual" historic telling against the personal, "fictional" telling. Asks students to analyze a passage and consider such literary…

Suggests enlarging the sphere of feminist composition by including in it an approach to argument, ways to proceed if one is in conflict with one's audience. Explores the beginning of the feminist theory of composition. (MG)

Summarizes key findings from five studies investigating how features of test questions (question format, testing condition, and question type) affect reading comprehension assessment outcomes. Discusses implications for assessment design and instructional practice. (MM)

Argues that the focus of content area instruction needs to include an emphasis on factors that motivate students to read their textbooks. Presents five strategies to link reader and text: using analogies; relating personal anecdotes; disrupting readers' expectations; challenging readers to resolve a paradox; and introducing novel and conflicting…

The study compared effects of two ways of making text more explicit for learning disabled (LD) children: by adding supportive information or asking inference questions at the ends of episodes. Adding elaborative content enhanced story understanding while asking inference questions was not more effective than the explicit version of the text alone.…

Examines how visual literacy (the ability to interpret the visual images of advertisements, illustrations, television, and other visual media) can promote creative and analytic thinking. Provides several instructional strategies to teach visual literacy through book illustrations. Notes that visual literacy is essential in a world increasingly…

Using the ideas of Paul Ricoeur and Clifford Geertz, this article develops the notion of education as a "text" and analyzes the "hidden curriculum" of that text as it is read by all members of the society. The hypothesis is proposed that education becomes a text about society's myths and sacred beliefs. (TE)

Focuses on guiding readers toward making informed decisions about choosing appropriate paths through and beyond the text. Points out that this type of reading program can work as well for intermediate grade readers as it does for primary readers. (ET)