Offers a means for writers to analyze their own texts through the construction and use of a tool--called a reader's outline--that students build from their rough drafts. Notes that the reader's outline facilitates more effective detection and diagnosis of problems and helps point the way to solutions. (SR)

Describes the folk tale "Iron John" and the attraction it held for the author as a boy. Discusses the author's own reforming of the tale in a picture book version. (SR)

Reviews the literature on the effect of prior knowledge and text familiarity on document comprehension and usability. Discusses current methods for assessing subjects' topic familiarity. Presents an empirically based method for effectively assessing topic familiarity. Explains that the method includes use of two subject groups and reliance on…

Describes the responses of children in kindergarten through second grade to reading aloud. Finds a proclivity toward a wide range of play with the action, sound, and rhythm of language related to the book's content. Suggests that verbal exclamations such as laughter, changing facial expressions, and imitative gestures are legitimate features of…

Reviews recent theory and research on the place of purpose in technical communication. Offers a case study to illustrate the interaction of three aspects of document purpose: textual, reader-based, and contextual. (SR)

Recounts an interview with Irish children's author Martin Wadell. Discusses how he came to be a writer and how his experiences as a father enrich his stories. (HTH)

Discusses reader-response theory and forces that mitigate against a reading-centered classroom. Asserts that the issues of authority and freedom are crucial but advises against demanding too much at this stage. Focuses on current practice, and suggests beginning with the routines, the "business as usual," of the literature classroom.…

Asserts that the act of writing can create surprising, experimental, supple forms of written discourse. Argues for exploring more mobile, heteroglot, polyphonic forms of writing. Suggests that attempting roles that produce fragmentary texts might lead toward approaching the challenges of composing unified texts from a more enlivening perspective.…

Explores the nature of the influence upon adults of the texts they read as children and the attitudes those texts embody about race, gender, age, and religion. Reflects on the difficulties faced by writers as they attempt to engender a passionate and lifelong love of reading. (SR)

Provides a 17-item annotated bibliography addressing issues of measures of readability for languages other than English, the mismatch between student reading ability and text readability, and promising new approaches to readability. (MG)

Uses a brief fictional narrative to discuss how visual media frequently offer a superior alternative to prose for the communication of some kinds of information, specifically, to describe; represent abstract structures; convey spatial relationships; provide a meaningful context for unfamiliar information; assist readers in their attempts to solve…

Examines how undergraduate readers monitor and evaluate the concerns of characters over the course of a narrative. Discusses what kinds of evaluation the reader makes, what the reader evaluates, the functions that these evaluative inferences serve in comprehension, and the multiple perspectives (character, narrator, or presenter) taken by the…

Shows that getting involved with a story is the primary dimension of story appreciation, and that different readers interact with the same story in different ways. Indicates that the first-person grammatical device invites readers to identify with the main character, but whether or not they do is a complex function of story properties,…

Discusses a need for "post picture books" (which do not contain an orderly progression of story elements) to be evaluated and understood using different criteria. Considers how literary theory provides a structure for ordering the chaos. Discusses how new metafictive books reflect new literary codes and a new dynamic reading process of…

Claims that computer games have little educational value, are antisocial, and classroom time should be spent on more worthwhile pursuits. Argues that computer games are not literary texts in that they cannot inform students of their cultural heritage, provide an opportunity to respond to ethical questions, or deal with significant and lasting…