Suggestions are offered for improving English-as-a-Foreign-Language literary competence through intervention at the procedural level. The suggestions are based on the data that the reading of a literary text can be seen as a form of information processing, and on a consideration of the thought processes involved in the understanding of a literary…

Miscue analysis of Venezuelan third graders' reading of a folktale indicated that, while all three native Spanish-speaking subjects were natural users of their language, they needed to expand and enhance processes to become proficient readers of Spanish. Similar miscues were found between the two monolingual and the one bilingual subject. (CB)

Investigates the functions of reading across diverse cultural settings by examining children's purposes for reading in 13 countries and then identifying functions of reading common across age levels and nationalities. Finds three common factors identified by 10 and 13 year olds: utility, enjoyment, and escape. (KEH)

Uses four case analyses to develop a historical, composite portrait of highly proficient college freshman readers, providing a data base from which reading behavior, attitudes, interest, and experiences can be described, discussed, and analyzed. Confirms all that has been learned, through current research, regarding language and the reading…

Reviews the research on how readers or listeners construct mental models of the situation a writer or speaker is describing. Narrative components and spatial models are discussed. (YP)

Examines the effect of sustained silent reading (SSR) on reading attitudes of boys and girls. Finds that boys have a substantially poorer attitude toward reading than girls and that SSR has no demonstrable effect on either sex. (RS)

Investigates visual processing asymmetries in normal and dyslexic readers to determine whether differences between dyslexics and normals were due to structural hemispherical differences or to strategical processing differences. Results indicate dyslexics behave as normal readers if they are unable to predict whether the stimulus will be verbal or…

Explores how high school students' reading logs reveal their reading processes as they read and respond to literature. Examines the reading logs from three eleventh-grade English classes throughout the school year. (MM)

Lists four characteristics of strategic readers: establishing goals, selecting appropriate strategies, monitoring comprehension, and displaying a positive attitude toward reading. Discusses how these characteristics provide readers with the necessary skills to profit fully from the reading process. (MG)

Proposes an end to the "Great Debate" in reading instruction between the proponents of data-driven approaches and proponents of concept-driven approaches by offering two major principles of reading instruction. Explores characteristics of each approach and the danger of overemphasizing either aspect of reading. (MG)

Examines the possibility that readers' attitudes toward a topic might color their perception and recall of factual information about that topic presented in expository text. Finds no significant differences among readers with opposing attitudes to the topic in either free recall or multiple-choice test performance. (RS)

Outlines instructional activities for developing three subsets of metacognitive awareness--task awareness, strategy awareness, and performance awareness. Argues that students will be effective and efficient learners only by knowing what to study, how best to study it, and whether it has been learned. (RS)

Examines the strategies readers engage in by analyzing their self reporting responses during and after reading a passage. Argues that teachers should instruct children to be aware of the nature and effectiveness of their own reading strategies. (RAE)

Discusses how readers process text and the implications this processing has for technical writers. Presents guidelines for designing documents so that readers can better understand and apply what they have learned from text. (JAD)

Examined relationships among working memory, memory span, and reading skills in children and adults. Found that working memory and short-term memory skills develop through adolescence, but working memory skills show declines in adulthood. Age-related declines in memory appear to be related to the task's processing demands, which may affect the…