Compares the effectiveness of teacher-questioning and prediction-generation as methods of improving the independent reading comprehension abilities of low-achieving readers. Finds a significant difference between the two methods in both literal and inferential comprehension, with prediction-generation demonstrating superior results. (MG)

Discusses issues relating to reading text on computer screens and considers how to optimize screen presentation of text, particularly for academic journals. Topics discussed include reading as a physical and cognitive skill; classifying text according to reader-relevant criteria; and the design implications of these factors for electronic journal…

Presents a qualitative study of adults who found reading to be helpful in dealing with difficulties in life. Finds that recognition of self in the literature was directly related to the therapeutic experience, and evolved into ways of feeling and ways of knowing. Finds that therapeutic reading is intentional, relational, and transporting. (SR)

Focuses on the role of cognitive structures in the reader's knowledge. Argues that causality is an important category in structuring human knowledge and that this property has consequences for text processing. Discusses research illustrating that the more the information in the text reflects causal categories, the more easily the information is…

Concludes that spatial information is available to readers only under very specific conditions. Notes that readers told to focus on spatial details had the information available, but that, when told to read for comprehension, spatial information did not become available. Finds also that spatial information was available only when it was required…

Discusses how seeing relationships between past texts and the current text influences reading comprehension. Shows how teachers can expand the scope of meanings students construct by (1) organizing texts in ways that promote relationships such as complementary texts, conflicting texts, controlling texts, synoptic texts, and dialogic texts; and (2)…

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…

Assesses the role of the onset-rime structure in visual word recognition. Finds experiments 1 through 3 showed no evidence for the importance of onset-rime in children (2nd through 6th graders) or adults; experiment 4 with adults found onset-rime structure is important in oral reading. Suggests the onset-rime structure may be an important unit in…

Addresses life-span developmental relations between naming and reading speed. Finds word-reading speed and naming speeds of colors and pictures increased into mature adulthood, but for letter and number naming, asymptotes were reached at around 16 years of age. Supports the theory that describes reading recognition development as a domain-specific…

This paper reviews studies using positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging in adults to study the reading process and notes that general networks of regions seem to be uniquely associated with different components of the reading process. Findings are evaluated in light of technical and experimental limitations and…

This column discusses the art of engaging text while reading. To read closely, students must get beyond impressionist reading. They must come to see that simply deciphering words on a page and getting some vague sense of what is there does not translate into substantive learning. Instead, they must learn that to read well is to engage in a…

In this article, we discuss the use of eye movement data to assess moment-to-moment comprehension processes. We first review some basic characteristics of eye movements during reading and then present two studies in which eye movements are monitored to confirm that eye movements are sensitive to (a) global text passage difficulty, and (b)…

Do school librarians play a role in teaching students to read? Yes, they do, and librarians should embrace that role if they want school administrators and politicians to recognize them as central to fostering literate kids, according to several people who took part in the literacy challenge group. The question of how and what school librarians…

Dividing attention across multiple words occasionally results in misidentifications whereby letters apparently migrate between words. Previous studies have found that letter migrations preserve within-word letter position, which has been interpreted as support for position-specific letter coding. To investigate this issue, the authors used word…

What form is the lexical phonology that gives rise to phonological effects in visual lexical decision? The authors explored the hypothesis that beyond phonological contrasts the physical phonetic details of words are included. Three experiments using lexical decision and 1 using naming compared processing times for printed words (e.g., plead and…