Finds that the reader's purpose for reading (read-to-do or read-to-recall) partially determines what type of mental representation is stressed during comprehension. Finds that the processing of procedural text is codetermined by the participants' purpose for reading and type of text (narrative versus list-like) as well as the text structure (as…

Maintains that Edwin Williams has not properly appreciated or presented the central theses of "Indices and Identity" (I&I). The article also states that criticisms of particular analyses offered are consistently off the mark. This discussion note is presented as a clarification of the issues presented. The central concern in I&I is with the nature…

Notes that PowerPoint is an especially useful program for teaching text structure to college reading students. Discusses how this may be accomplished, as well as directions for creating a presentation from the preexisting templates and backgrounds provided in the program. Directs how to print overheads and handouts of the presentation. (SG)

This study extended the work of S. Siddiqui, R. F. West, and K. E. Stanovich (1998), who studied the link between general print exposure and syllogistic reasoning. It was hypothesized that exposure to certain text structures that contain well-delineated logical forms, such as popularized scientific texts, would be a better predictor of deductive…

In this study, we used a novel cognitive paradigm and event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (ER-fMRI) to investigate the neural substrates involved in processing three different types of sentences. Participants read either metaphoric ("Some surgeons are butchers"), literal ("Some surgeons are fathers"), or non-meaningful sentences…

It is a challenge for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to integrate language, social understanding, and emotional intent of messages to understand their social world. They often have deficits in language and social cognition and difficulty interpreting and labeling emotions and incorporating or integrating each of these aspects of…

Natural systems are self-organizing and stratify according to the angular articulation of their movements. In particular, movement is relative to the levels that define its behavior space. As natural phenomenon, text production is self-referential, In generating information, the intention of the producer of a text becomes specified. Specifying of…

This paper examines the paratextual structure of news texts, i.e., the headline system (superheadline, main headline, and subheadline) and the lead. In the first part of the paper T. A. van Dijk's interdisciplinary theory (1988) of "news in the press" is reviewed with special reference to the status and function assigned to the paratext.…

A study examined the effect of divided and alternating comparison/contrast text structures on the reading comprehension of the college developmental reader. In the divided pattern, all of the information about an object is provided and then all of the information about the other object is provided, while in the alternating pattern comparisons…

Highlights contemporary reading research as well as some implied instructional practices in four areas, including direct teacher explanation, reading-writing connection, top-level text structure, and main idea identification. (ARH)

Perspective Text Analysis is a way to measure competence by measuring the strategy of synthesizing, which intelligence tests or questionnaires cannot measure. This paper proposes the use of Perspective Text Analysis in the study of instructional materials. Perspective Text Analysis has been applied in various learning environments, and the results…

The arrival of the digital age requires new approaches to understand the literacies used in making meanings from multimodal communications, and a rethinking of the ways in which research into these areas can be used to support learners in the 21st century. This presentation examines the range of literacies children have developed and used to make…

Noting that nonfiction literature for children came of age in the 1990s, this book is a comprehensive tool for K-8 teachers, librarians, and students to use in learning to make good decisions about the quality of nonfiction titles. Each chapter in the book describes a specific aspect of the complexity found in nonfiction literature: the various…

Examines the language, structure, and imagery of the World Wide Web. Argues that the Web is not just a rich source of information but offers new ways of seeing and engaging with the world. Considers the nature of electronically mediated texts. Looks at the Web as a kind of metatext itself with mythopoeic resonances. (PA)

Investigates effects of prior knowledge on learning from high- and low-coherence history texts. Examines participants' comprehension in two experiments. Finds high-knowledge readers performed better on open-ended questions after reading low-coherence text. Indicates that low-coherence text requires more inference processes--these inferences are…