Presents a rationale for instruction in critical reading (i.e., using a questioning attitude, logical analysis, and inference to judge the worth of what is read). Discuss factors involved in critical reading, including previous thinking, attitudes/prejudices, topical knowledge, and knowledge of critical reading skills. (DMM)

Examines the influence of prior knowledge on expert readers' strategies to identify and state a text's main idea. Identifies three methods of constructing the main idea: automatic construction; draft-and-revision; and topic/comment. Concludes that expert readers' construction of the main idea is often a mediated, strategic task. (RS)

Determines the relationship between attitude and reading behavior in adults. Finds that adults with positive attitudes toward reading spend more time in daily reading and read a wider variety of materials than do adults with negative attitudes. (MG)

Investigates two characteristics of texts--structural importance and text-based interest--that affect what students remember from their reading of biography. Finds that interest has a powerful effect on recall for both good and poor readers. Finds that seductive details and main ideas were best remembered whereas details supporting the main idea…

Discusses the development of a reading progress chart to display students' chronological age versus reading age over a period of time. Investigates the validity of this methods of recording individual students' progress. Finds evidence for the usefulness of the chart as a pictorial record of students' progress. (RS)

Examines young children's responses to selected fairy tales ("The Three Little Pigs,""The Sleeping Beauty," and "Snow White") presented through oral telling, reading aloud, and television. Concludes that children need to have any danger in the story firmly resolved in the end, and that adults should not soften fairy…

Surveys the reading attitudes of 85 seventh graders in a predominantly Hispanic East Los Angeles school, and relates them to reading achievement. Finds that students doing well in reading have a higher positive correlation between attitude and achievement, but that many students reading far below grade level manifest very positive attitudes toward…

Investigates the relationship between performance in phonemic segmentation and reading and writing ability. Finds that onset-rime distinction is relevant for segmentation, while word meaning is not. Concludes that a serial model of segmentation is inadequate, and that an articulatory rather than a phonological code is the object of segmentation.…

Findings of two experiments involving young children at a reading level of six years to six years, nine months suggest that phonological priming is an insufficient explanation of the analogy effect at the single word level. Phonological priming plays no role in the use of analogies in story reading. (RH)

Compares basal readers' vocabulary load in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Finds that the average number of words introduced in books for first grade increased during this time. Recommends that teachers adjust instruction to meet the needs of less able students when using basals with a high vocabulary load. (RS)

Examines the effect of headings on memory as a function of readers' preexisting knowledge of passage topic. Employs a multiple-choice retention test. Finds that headings facilitate recognition memory by activating schemas and that such organizational effects of headings benefit main-idea information more than detail information. (RS)

Studies eight students (grades five-nine) to discover whether students with less than average interest in reading would spend a greater amount of time engaged in interactive fiction. Finds that students spend more time with interactive fiction, if they are successful at the quest. Discusses implications for English and reading instruction. (MM)

Examines the interrelationships between cinematic and literary works in terms of possible responses, or the possible worlds created when children encounter and create literary discourse. Notes that these responses reflect previous encounters with literature, film, and life. (MM)

Examines the terms "phonemic segmentation" and "phonemic awareness," noting that these areas go beyond older notions of readiness and auditory discrimination. Claims that research in phonemic awareness has important instructional implications. (MM)

Assesses the relationship between literacy abilities and on-the-job performance of electronics technicians from three employment levels (training, experienced, and supervisory). Finds no significant correlation between reading ability and job performance but finds that metacognitive aspects of literacy consistently and significantly correlated to…