By applying Kenneth Burke's concepts of Order, the Secret, and the Kill to the newspaper-audience-advertiser relationship, the narrow imagery that depicts that relationship only in economic terms can be counteracted. Burke's maps of hierarchy, mystery, and transcendence in human action allow the depiction of a complex meshing of patterns,…

A study tested the hypothesis that readers continually evaluate the informational content of text in terms of its relevance to processing goals and congruence with existing knowledge, and that they prioritize this information in terms of its strategic importance to the task at hand, integrating it with existing schemata when it is compatible.…

An initial study (Ram 1) in Denmark in 1970 determined whether methods could be developed to assess the effect of textual passages on readers' experiences of a short story. Subjects, 717 Danish secondary students, were given a questionnaire to check on the effect of specific auctorial techniques and to chart readers' attitudes and the way they…

Using a large, preexisting miscue analysis database, a study explored the influence of specific text characteristics on reader/text interaction. Subjects--24 second, 32 fourth, and 32 sixth graders--read three texts. Four specific questions were addressed: What relevant miscue patterns do the readers of each text and of the combined three texts…

To explore imagery and emotional involvement in reading, a study examined readers' imagery and emotional responses through the use of ratings for each paragraph in a story. Subjects, 40 undergraduate volunteers recruited from education classes, read a 2100-word excerpt from the novel "Buffalo Chief" by Jean and Paul Annixter. Students…

As part of a series of studies describing the oculomotor behavior of skilled readers, a study investigated whether a word refixation curve exists. Subjects, 66 college students fixating over 40,000 times, read lines of text from a computer screen and were instructed to read for meaning without regard to errors. Results of eye movement control…

Describes a reader response study indicating (1) a high degree of agreement on reader beliefs and text events and (2) that students who empathized with a particular character identified the story conflict as pertaining to that character. Suggests specific reader-based and text-based factors that produce convergence and divergence in reader…

Suggests that teachers should foster situations where text, readers, and teacher can meet in collaborative ways. Identifies four reading research categories focusing on different contexts that surround the reading act. (MM)

Investigates the process involved in acquiring word knowledge from written context in prereading kindergarten children. Analyzes children's readings of picture books to identify patterns of vocabulary growth. Concludes that children learned lexicogrammatical information incidentally through exposure to written context. (MM)

Reviews and equates theories of reader-response and rhetorical theories on audience response (the pathos principle). Concludes that the fundamental synonymity between them represents a significant bridge between analysis of literary texts and the dynamics of formal and social discourse and provides a theoretical foundation for teaching reading and…

Longitudinal study investigated the relationship between print awareness and reading during the reading acquisition process of children from kindergarten through first grade. Results indicate that while print awareness plays a role in children's transition towards literacy, that role is entwined with the role of other reading knowledge and skills.…

Asserts that teachers should help students move beyond an information-exchange view of reading to a more complex rhetorical model of constructing meaning. Reports on a study which investigated meaning constructions and compares the more traditional function/feature strategies of constructing meaning with rhetorical strategies, which construct…

Reviews current approaches to the assessment of the great variety of retellings encountered by teacher and tutor. Proposes a set of three criteria by which teachers can judge whether approaches to retellings developed by researchers are likely to be useful in classroom settings. (JK)

Analyzes eight leading basal reading programs to determine the types of writing included in each and the array of writing types used in three standardized reading tests included in the programs. (FL)

Argues that teaching students to use pictures in their minds improves their thinking skills. Offers a four step procedure for helping students formulate their own techniques for creating mind pictures. (FL)