Investigates the influence of sentence context on the processing of concrete and abstract words. Results indicate that abstract words take longer than concrete to comprehend and to judge their meaningfulness when they occur in a neutral context. Concludes that this evidence supports the context availability model. (RS)

Discusses phenomenological approaches to the study of reading, which utilize students' experience of reading as the fundamental pedagogical focus. Suggests ways in which such a focus could be implemented in "methods" courses in teacher education, drawing comparisons with traditional approaches. (DMM)

Examines syntactic, semantic and grapho-phonic miscues made by early readers of varying ability. Finds that (1) passage complexity affects use of syntactic and semantic cues; (2) high and above average students' miscue quality deteriorates as text complexity increases; and (3) higher word recognition scores relate to effective use of grapho-phonic…

Examines the differences between divided and alternating patterns of comparison-contrast text structures and reports on the effects these patterns exert on the performance of college developmental readers. Concludes that the type of comparison-contrast structure does not significantly effect comprehension and that, overall, developmental readers…

Presents excerpts from eight of the many manuscripts received in response to a call for papers about whether other teachers could become like Nancie Atwell by reading her book "In the Middle." Results indicate that junior high teachers all over the country are emulating, adapting, and extending her methods. (RS)

Discusses how reading aloud to students improves their reading competencies, including language processes, reading and listening skills, and reading motivation. Concludes that reading aloud should be a regular part of a daily classroom schedule. (MM)

Results from a longitudinal correlational study of 244 children from kindergarten through second grade indicated young children's phonological processing abilities were well described by 5 correlated latent abilities: (1) phonological analysis; (2) phonological synthesis; (3) phonological coding in working memory; (4) isolated naming; and (5)…

Describes a study-reading strategy called PLAN (Prediction, Locate, Add, Note), based on recent research, which helps students develop strategic approaches to reading. Discusses teaching PLAN to college students in a developmental reading class and describes adapting it for middle school students. (SR)

Three studies investigated Spanish and English readers' interpretations of sentences with complex noun phrases (NPs). In contrast to earlier findings, results provided evidence for cross-language universality of the late closure parsing principle. Results suggest that late closure is not language-specific but specific to only certain classes of…

Examines children's comprehension and learning of expository texts on micro-, local-, and global-level processing skills. Finds a gradual increase in higher level processing skills with age. Notes that critical developmental patterns from nine-year olds onward took place in local- and global-level processing. Finds that developmental patterns were…

Addresses native monolingual U.S. and Chinese incipiently bilingual children's ability to detect and identify inter- and intraword boundaries. Young children demonstrate similar patterns in their segmentation behavior and there is a developmental progression in this behavior. Mandarin Chinese subjects learning to read Chinese and English…

Reading-disabled and nondisabled 8-10 year olds and 14-16 year olds indicated instances of recurrence in lists of words and pseudowords that contained repeats, rhymes, near rhymes, and semantically related pairs. Poor readers relied on semantic connections and good readers relied on phonological connections. (ME)

Argues that reading educators need to objectively appraise the whole-language instructional philosophy in relation to what is known about reading methodology. Discusses the whole-language philosophy, its history, the "whole sentence method," and whole-language weaknesses. Advocates developing a "balanced reading program," which would emphasize…

Studies the ways readers create meaning initially from literary texts. Analyzes the data collected via think-aloud protocols and interviews. Compares reading tactics of first-year college students and graduate students. (HB)

Active comprehension, a strategy used in the United States to teach Spanish language basal reading, is discussed. The strategy emphasizes a process approach to comprehension instruction. (20 references) (JL)