Modifies the analysis of causal relations in narratives to describe more broadly defined logical relations in expository text. Compares the relative sensitivity with which three different systems of prose analysis describe recall for expository text across different age groups and recall conditions. (SR)

Argues that Plato considers his philosophical doctrines unwritable and shows how this assumption can be mobilized as the dominant trope for interpreting Plato. Suggests that Platonic texts deploy language in dramatically rhetorical fashion to control the reader and lead her analogically to a vision of an extralinguistic reality. (RS)

Assesses the role of technical communicators in electronic data interchange (EDI). Argues that, as experts in information design, human factors, instructional theory, and professional writing, technical communicators should be advocates of standard documentation protocols and should rethink the traditional concepts of "document" to…

Explores trends in text linguistics related to the diverse scope of applied linguistics. A 26-citation annotated and a larger unannotated bibliography are included. (CB)

Assesses the effects of headings on text processing behaviors during immediate and delayed testing of 65 undergraduate students. Finds that headings did not appear to affect overall comprehension or overall answer location accuracy. (MG)

Describes a study of 77 abstracts in English language medical journals that was conducted to examine the internal structuring of the abstracts. A form for structured abstracts is described, the importance of abstracts in medical journals is discussed, and structural flaws in the abstracts studied are described. (24 references) (LRW)

Argues that the accidents of reading a hypertext (changing your destination, forgetting your point of departure, or getting lost along the way) are not the effects of inappropriate cues, misinterpreted reference or poor design, but the general condition of the hypertext as text, amplified by the narrative turns of the link. (SR)

Constructs a discourse (through argument, analysis, and reading) concerning conceptual changes that might expand ideas of hypertext rhetoric. Applies those changes by combining conventions of traditional print discourse with conventions of hypertextual writing. (NH)

Posits that intelligibility is a persistent problem in interactive multimedia and hypermedia. Describes the Art of Memory, a visual and symbolic mnemonic method used to map new information onto familiar and symbolically different structures. Presents the Art of Memory as a way to offer insight into intelligibility. (PA)

Presents a study in which ads in simulated telephone directory pages were highlighted in red, green, and blue colors. States that the pages were presented to subjects in order to be recalled and recognized among other ads. Finds that red and green highlighting increases recallability and recognizability whereas blue decreases it. (PA)

Explores the notion that genres not only help define and organize kinds of texts, they also help define and organize kinds of social actions. Investigates the role genre plays in the constitution of the contexts of texts, including the identities of those who write them and those who are represented within them. (NH)

The present study examined the unique contributions of readers' goal and text structure on comprehension. In Experiment 1, participants read procedural and descriptive passages to perform the procedures, summarize the passages, or to answer questions. The perform goal showed highest comprehension, with no difference due to text type. In Experiment…

Many students enter high school unskilled in the art of reading to learn from science textbooks. Even students who can read full-length novels often find science books difficult to read because students have relatively little practice with the various types of expository text structures used by such textbooks (Armbruster, 1991). Expository text…

This study investigated the representations that readers construct for narratives describing a sequence of events. Participants read narratives describing 4 successive events in chronological order (Event 1, Event 2, Event 3, Event 4 [E1, E2, E3, E4] Experiment 1) or in nonchronological order with E1 being mentioned in a flashback (E2, E3, E1,…

This study examined whether the graphemic structure of words modulates the timing of handwriting production during the acquisition of writing skills. This is particularly important during the acquisition period because phonological recoding skills are determinant in the elaboration of orthographic representations. First graders wrote seven-letter…