Explores the interaction between readers and books through classroom observations of 10 and 11 year olds reading and discussing the book "Bill's New Frock" (Anne Fine). Reactions from the 32 participating students appear to confirm the notion that girls and boys are treated differently. Included is a survey of the literature on feminist theories…

This article discusses how text variables interact with reader, strategy, and task variables to affect readability, including text coherence, text organization, signaling, and text structure. It considers how classic readability formulas, in concert with consideration of text, text reader, and strategy variables, can be used to match texts to…

This article presents conceptual models of relationships between print size and reading speed and preferred viewing distances. These models illustrate how various factors can influence reading behaviors and influence decisions about the optimal angular size of print and resolution reserve. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Investigated the influence of first-person, personal narratives on high school students' engagement with a historical reading-to-write task. Found that students who began the task by reading a visible author tended to hold mental conversations with these authors, make judgments about them, and think more about the historical topic. Also, their…

Discusses how three girls take up competing social messages about gendered identity in the different kinds of texts they read. Explains that it is in the complex transactions between the reader's prior lived experiences and the language of the text where meaning is shaped. Contends that when girls are encouraged to consider the actions of female…

A study analyzed reading level and readability of 20 behavior treatment plans developed by certified behavior analysts. Those with higher readability levels had somewhat better treatment outcomes. A second study involving four individuals found that manipulations of reading grade level and readability of behavior treatment plans greatly enhanced…

Discusses how teachers can help students learn to read with a sense of the author--who wrote the book, how, and why. Argues that building a schema for various genres and more sophisticated writing techniques strengthens comprehension and enables students to enjoy books on their own. (RS)

Analyzes two scientific journal articles from a reader-response perspective. Elaborates the rhetorical nature of scientific discourse and demonstrates that even within the constraints of the journal articles, scientists have considerable freedom to exercise choices. Explicates how writers use cues to direct readers into fictional roles. (MG)

Examines students reported and demonstrated knowledge of three structural properties of text: topic relatedness, superordination, and cohesion. Reports students are only moderately knowledgeable about topic relatedness and superordination, and unknowledgeable about cohesion. (RS)

Examines tasks provided for students in most literature textbooks used in the United States, noting that these tasks typically control students' responses to literature. Relates these tasks to current theory and research on the reading process. Describes activities from literature texts used in Canada that facilitate literary response. (MM)

Outlines the importance of a literature-based curriculum that encourages higher-order thinking skills. Discusses the reader-response approach to language arts teaching as a valuable instructional process, that emphasizes the connections between what is in a text and the reader's previous knowledge and experience, thus fostering higher-order…

This detailed description of an undergraduate college course on Austria (focusing mainly on turn-of-the-century Vienna) covers course content and organization, student involvement, and testing and grading methods. Suggestions for making instructional materials available to students are offered. An annotated bibliography of (English language)…

Research conducted at the Naval Training Systems Center in Orlando, Florida, investigated the acquisition and retention of basic knowledge with subject matter presented in the forms of text, test, and game. Results are discussed in terms of the effectiveness of computer-based games for military training. (Author/AEF)

Considers the role of books and reading in undergraduate education. Highlights include the future of books in American colleges, including reader interaction and new communications formats challenging printed text; literacy and the undergraduate, including new information technologies; and the role of reading in a liberal education and in lifelong…

A contrastive textlinguistic study of rhetorical differences between texts written by academics with different cultural backgrounds is described. The results indicate that Anglo-American writers use more metatext or text about text than Finnish writers, suggesting a more reader-oriented attitude among Anglo-American writers. (27 references)…