Argues that without an understanding of language as a social process, teachers can confuse "procedural display" with actual literacy learning. Critically examines learning through interaction using the whole language approach and shared reading with Big Books and other texts. (RAE)

Reports on a study to examine the way college students in a reading methods course learned about and demonstrated the strategies they use to construct the main idea of an essay. Concludes that teacher modeling and concrete examples are important to all levels of instruction, kindergarten through university senior. (RS)

Reports on a study that probed the relative influence of text (including illustrations) and background knowledge upon child and adult novice readers' incorrect responses to comprehension questions. Found that novice readers use background knowledge more than textual information to answer comprehension questions. (ARH)

This paper outlines theories and research findings on reading psychology in the last decade and relates theoretical and empirical findings to current practices of instruction. The role of reading in literate society is examined in relation to such technological advances as the use of microcomputers. (JAZ)

Describes common assumptions that current views of reading and writing share and outlines features of one reading/writing connection. Claims that two selves reside within any reader, a self-image and a kind of "best self," which sets challenges, sees connections, and makes subjective judgments during the composition process. (JD)

Sixteen skilled and 16 learning disabled (LD) readers (ages 11-12) viewed nonsense pictures either without names, with names that emphasized the semantic aspects of the picture, or with names unassociated with the pictorial representation. Results suggested that semantic coding deficits in LD readers were localized to retrieval processes.…

Clarifies some common misconceptions about the nature of narcissism and projection and employs recent developments in post-Freudian psychoanalytic theory to explain how projective activities are filtered and altered by a certain notion of textual objectivity: objectivity as defined by the text's material signifiers. (FL)

Illustrates how the author's experiences as a child, parent, teacher, storyteller, and woman have influenced both her understanding of the reading process and the way she teaches reading and writing. Claims that each role provides her with different information and a unique perspective. (JD)

Examines the pattern of eye movements of skilled adult readers when encountering a surprise ending to a story. Suggests that processing at the discourse level must be considered as an influence on the eye movement control system. (NKA)

Reports the findings of a study showing that the importance or salience of a text at the time of reading has little effect on recognition of specific features from the prose. (HTH)

Effects of global cognitive development, sex, and word abstractness on young readers' word recognition were explored. ANOVA results indicated that nouns were recognized more frequently than non-nouns; children with high cognitive development recognized more words than children with lower cognitive development; and females recognized more words…

Offers three explanations drawn from language and literature theories about what happens when people read: (1) receiving sense, (2) finding sense, and (3) making sense. (EL)

An elementary school reading teacher describes how she restructured her teaching methods by encouraging children to read and write as part of an integrated process, rather than teaching reading alone as a set of fragmented steps. (GC)

Argues that the process-conference approach to writing has handed back control of the learning process to the learner and is likely to have far reaching effects on the reading program as well. (HOD)

Redefines reading as a meditative rather than a narrowly cognitive process. Decries instruction in reading for comprehension and assessment because it restricts opportunities to explore and "get lost" in reading. (HTH)