Describes an advanced reading course at Mississippi State University that is designed to increase vocabulary, comprehension, and reading rate. Notes that unteaching reading habits necessary to beginner's instruction is a large part of increasing students' effective reading rate. Presents student performance statistics. (RS)

Analyzes the themes presented in nine selected Nigerian female-authored novels written in English for young adolescents. Examines characterization in these novels to see whether there are elements of sex stereotyping, and discusses the novels' suitability. (SR)

Studies the ways readers create meaning initially from literary texts. Analyzes the data collected via think-aloud protocols and interviews. Compares reading tactics of first-year college students and graduate students. (HB)

Tells the story of the interaction with text of a teenage reluctant reader, in an attempt to show the value of a case study methodology when exploring the reading patterns of reluctant readers. (SR)

Finds that fourth graders were more likely than fifth and sixth graders to understand story characters in terms of immediate situation rather than overall story context and in terms of individual perspectives rather than social relationships. Finds that adults differ from fifth and sixth graders in the same way. (SR)

Describes a study in a fourth grade class which investigated students' reactions to the literacy program, providing the teacher with information regarding students' attitudes toward types of materials and specific strategies used. (SR)

Investigates the reading orientation of teachers who instruct students with special needs by using the Theoretical Orientation in Reading Profile. Finds that teachers in the study were not strongly associated with any one theoretical orientation but tended to be eclectic. Finds also that the teachers clustered primarily into two orientations:…

Investigates the effects of text absent and text present conditions during summary writing. Suggests that text absent summarization may be beneficial but only for subjects who are competent summary writers or able readers. (SR)

Describes a German longitudinal study of the relationship among verbal ability, memory capacity, phonological awareness, and reading performance. Reports that the relationship between memory capacity and phonological awareness remained stable over time. Concludes that memory capacity predicted phonological awareness task performance, phonological…

Reviews previous research on advance organizers (introductory text adjuncts intended to provide readers of expository text with a meaningful context within which to process unfamiliar, or difficult, new information). Shows that they inspire significant comprehension increases among readers whose prior knowledge "subsumers" are inadequate to…

Investigates whether advance organizers facilitate the acquisition of subordinate information from text. Examines the influences of reader's background knowledge, advance organizers, relative importance of idea units, and idea units' position within a text structure on the recall of textual information. (SR)

Examines the contribution of orthographic processing skills to individual differences on five types of reading measures for third grade children. Finds that orthographic skills contributed significantly to each type of reading. Finds that significant variation still remains after print exposure is partialed out of the regression. (RS)

Uses categorization methodology to investigate the structure of readers' emotional responses to a story. Notes that separate latent partition analysis for two groups of college students yielded category structures that closely matched each other. Suggests that categorization methodology provides a promising technique for investigating the…

Reviews research on (1) reader response theories; (2) innovative approaches to literature-based reading instruction; and (3) literary experiences and literary analysis presentations. Discusses teachers' concerns and success as they implement literature-based programs. Discusses challenges facing the literature-based reading revolution. (RS)

Describes the remedial reading instruction received by students in in-class or pull-out programs with respect to the instructional behaviors of teachers, the nature of lessons, and the reading behaviors of students. Finds overall differences between what students experienced in each setting, although students received a great deal of skill-related…