Examination of English-as-a-Foreign-Language reading coursebooks indicated that these books do not systematically incorporate insights derived from research into training designed to develop lexical inferencing strategies. The books give little advice on exploiting cues from morphology and little relationship is detectable between proposed…

Explores aesthetic responses to literature by examining the responses of fifth graders to a variety of books and films. Finds three main characteristics of students' responses: picturing a story in their minds; extending a story or hypothesize about it while reading; and relating associations and feelings evoked while reading and responding.…

Analyzes the role domain knowledge, analogic reasoning ability, and interactive knowledge play in the comprehension of scientific exposition. Finds that variables predicting performance on the nonanalogic and analogic versions and the variables discriminating between above- and below-average performers differ across grade levels, with less…

Surveys members of the International Reading Association concerning current assessment practices. Finds that, although innovative assessment practices as well as those most often used tend to be more holistic/naturalistic in nature, some respondents listed standardized tests as an innovative approach for disabled readers. (RS)

Examines effects of text structure on reading process and recall performance by monitoring the subjects' eye movements as they read coherently and incoherently structured texts. Finds that structurally incoherent texts are given more visual attention than coherent ones and lead to inferior recall. Finds no clear-cut correspondence between eye…

Investigates the effects which thematic preorganizers might have on secondary students' comprehension of prose fiction. Finds that the thematic preorganizers did not significantly affect secondary students' comprehension of narrative prose materials as measured over time by equivalent tests. (MG)

Extends an earlier exploratory study of the effects of sentence-combining on reading achievement by updating the pool of studies and using meta-analysis as a vehicle for integration. Finds that only grade levels produced significant differences; sentence-combining had a greater effect at the elementary level than at the high school or college…

Offers a naturalistic picture of literacy in colonial North America by exploring family literacy in an early eighteenth-century urban New England setting. Uses the diaries and other writings of Cotton Mather (1663-1728) as sources on literacy within his family. Notes the importance of writing within the family. (SR)

Tests the effectiveness of an instructional graphic (frames) on fourth and fifth grade students' ability to learn from reading their social studies textbooks. Finds that, for fifth grade students, framing was a more effective instructional technique than was the instruction suggested in the teacher's edition of the regular classroom social studies…

Compares teaching emphasizing story meaning (major plot elements) with teaching emphasizing surface features of language (word analysis and accurate reading). Finds an emphasis on story meaning led to superior performance on an array of outcome measures. Finds differences especially notable for children in low and average reading groups. (SR)

Finds that each of six kindergarten teachers had a distinctive storybook reading style, varying in each of three major facets of style: focus of teacher talk during reading, type of information talked about during the reading, and instructional strategies used. (SR)

Investigates how adult readers represent causal relations among events in a narrative, specifically by testing two models of text comprehension, the linear chain of text model versus the network model. Provides support for a network model of the representation of causal relations in narratives. (HB)

Argues that an adequate theory of inference generation should accurately predict whether particular classes of knowledge-based inferences are generated online during text comprehension. Proposes a "constructionist" theory which accounts for the findings of cognitive psychology and discourse processing. (HB)

Offers annotations of 12 items from the ERIC database regarding research or classroom practices concerning the relationship between reading and writing in the primary grades. (SR)

Contains part of the Keefe Inventory of Silent Reading, a silent informal reading inventory. Presents a case study of a student to whom it was administered, including analysis of this individual's reading ability and description of the specific strategies used with this individual on the basis of the results of the inventory. (RS)