Puts forth Louise Rosenblatt's 1938 Reader-Response Theory as a dominant teaching approach in English education, with Rosenblatt's influence readily apparent in contemporary research. Asserts that English professors today can work the magic of the literary experience through the use of the Reader-Response Theory in the teaching of literature.…

Examines fourth- and sixth-grade children's strategies (using think-aloud protocols or silent reading) for processing informational text. Finds that silent readers engaged in more physical backtracking to previously-read sentences, while think-aloud protocol processing tended to focus on the local, sentence level. Illustrates complex relations…

Argues that pictures illustrating the written narrative facilitate the decoding process for children learning English as a second language (ESL). Describes a study analyzing the text-image relations in picture books used for ESL students. Provides questions ESL teachers can use to develop criteria for assessing the function of visual images in…

Describes a comprehension-enhancement strategy for social studies reading, the PEP (Person, Event, Place) Road Map Instructional Framework, that can help middle school students with reading difficulties. The implementation of the PEP Road Map strategies with 27 minority-group students with learning disabilities resulted in academically significant…

Two studies examined individual differences in 7- to 10-year-olds' contextual facilitation. Findings indicated that poor readers showed more contextual facilitation than good readers but the relative context benefit was greater for good readers. Comprehension was a better predictor of contextual facilitation that decoding. Dyslexics showed greater…

Investigates the relationship between language comprehension and language production in Swedish children in a study carried out longitudinally with 10 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 10 children with unimpaired language development. Results indicate that the relationship between comprehension and production is different at…

Examines how the role of questions in literacy instruction has always been strong, whether requiring answers involving rote memory or the activation of higher level critical thinking processes. Presents a six-step strategy for questioning followed by a field-tested group of fifth graders' responses to each step. (SC)

Describes an investigation of the effects of logical connectives and paragraph heads on reading comprehension among 577 Hong Kong secondary students learning English as a Second Language. An English reading comprehension test was used to allocate subjects into one of the three performance groups: High, medium, and low. (Author/VWL)

Results of this study suggest that simulation-role-play allows students to demonstrate their understanding, explore their views, and develop deeper understanding of phenomena. The technique was especially beneficial to students who prefer learning kinesthetically. Suggests a strategy for using analogical analysis in simulation-role-play. Contains…

Investigated Russian children's color-term acquisition, testing one theory of color universals using acquisition order as a basicness measure and determining whether two terms for blue were genuinely basic. Testing on color-term listing, production, and comprehension indicated that color-term acquisition order agreed with the theory. The two blue…

Investigated the number of times a word must be encountered in order to be learned and the types of contexts that are conducive to learning in a vocabulary acquisition study with Quebec school-aged English-as-a-Second-Language learners at five levels of proficiency. Learners read text and were tested on new vocabulary and learned and unlearned…

A survey involving 14 students with learning disabilities in Northern Ireland primary schools found that WordImage, an approach that uses word-cards with sentences on one side and color picture-cards on the reverse, was effective in teaching word recognition. Some children were found to be more receptive to pictorial cueing than others. (Contains…

This article describes a new technique for improving the reading comprehension of elementary students. The Coop-Dis-Q technique combines cooperative learning, discussion, and questioning strategies to create a synergistic instructional effect. The specific steps of the technique and successful use of the technique in a fifth-grade classroom are…

Argues that media literacy activities in the English language arts classroom can promote the strategies of reflective thinking, self-monitoring, close observation, and visualization. Shows how one seventh-grade teacher develops students' understanding of character development by using a film excerpt, a graphic organizer for developing…

Investigated the effect of causal structure revisions to school texts on the comprehension of more- and less- skilled undergraduates. Found that readers at both skill levels benefited from the revisions but only for the difficult text. (JPB)