Suggests that "Johnny can't read" because of high testosterone levels in fetal development and subsequent poor brain lateralization. Presents instructional strategies based on the principle of factorized teaching for each of three discrete lateralization categories. Notes that the use of factorized teaching appears to have improved diagnostic and…

Examines the memory coding processes of skilled and less skilled readers during the reading of connected text. Finds that, along with phonological coding, semantic processing contributes an important amount of variance to deficiencies in the reading of connected text. (RS)

Studies the relationship between a teenager's current reading strategies and that same person's reading history. Shows how this investigation was carried out with a single teenager named Derek. Considers the difficulties and complex questions regarding attempts to define and analyze adolescent readers. (HB)

Compares the effects of two prereading instructional treatments on students' comprehension of narrative and expository texts. Indicates that the teacher-directed condition is more effective than the interactive condition at promoting comprehension, and that both treatment conditions are superior to no prereading instruction at all. (MG)

Annotates and reviews five professional resources concerning the comprehension processes of reading and mathematics and recommends several ideas for classroom practice. (MG)

Proposes the use of key visuals as a technique to prepare students to read content text. Based on a specific language and content conceptual framework, the use of clear visuals as a prereading strategy acknowledges the role of schema theory in the reading process. (34 references) (JL)

Recounts an interview with the Kansas author of children's books, Bill Martin, Jr. Reveals details of his childhood in Hiawatha, Kansas, his family, his early difficulties reading and writing, his writing processes, and his collaboration with other writers. (PRA)

Addresses the question of improving students' literal comprehension in reading by asking inferential and evaluative level question exclusively. Finds that teachers can teach literal comprehension skills more effectively by simply focusing instruction on higher cognitive levels. (MG)

Uses a concurrent speaking model to assess the importance of subvocalization during the reading of lengthy natural prose passages. Shows that having subjects count aloud while reading interfered with their comprehension and recall but did not affect the durability of the memory trace. Suggests the detrimental effect on comprehension was due to a…

Evaluates children at-risk for reading failure as kindergartners and again as first graders. Suggests that lexical access ability is an important factor in reading acquisition and that different combinations of phonological processes may be related to different aspects of reading. (RS)

Describes a workshop on phonics for preservice teachers developed by a staunch whole language literacy teacher. Notes that evaluations by participants were mixed at best. (RS)

Finds that two proficient middle-school readers (in initial encounters with self-selected, unknown words) employed multiple strategies to gain knowledge of new words, including making use of distant and local context, drawing on different types of content connections, doing word-level analysis, and using syntactically appropriate synonyms. They…

Indicates that college student subjects infer public opinion by relying on their own subjective assessments of media content coupled with their own presumptions about effects of such content on others. Supports this persuasive press inference, even when content included base-rate information contrary to "story slant." Indicates projection of…

Explores how undergraduate readers take the protagonist's mental perspective in stories involving conflicting beliefs about a situation. Demonstrates that readers with privileged information build emotional inference corresponding to the protagonist's (wrong) beliefs; inferences related to protagonist's beliefs are backward inferences at the text…

Compares development of phonological awareness across Turkish- and English-speaking kindergarten and first-grade children. Finds the Turkish speakers were more proficient in handling syllables and deleting final phonemes, and that the patterns were related to characteristics of the respective spoken languages. Discusses development of phonological…