One of the central challenges educators face today, especially in higher education, is the gap between warranted (domain-specific) knowledge and the prior beliefs students hold about certain concepts and phenomena (preconceptions). In the Internet age, students often self-directedly acquire knowledge from an increasingly large number of…

Recent developments in cognitive science and linguistics provide strong evidence that understanding decision-making processes in higher education requires close attention to not only rational and consciously controlled dynamics but also those aspects that are less consciously controlled than previously assumed. When deciding to favor or reject…

Discusses three experiments conducted to determine whether inferences that function so as to preserve the coherence of a passage are drawn in the course of comprehension. (Author/FL)

Suggests that two components of natural discourse (pragmatic information and knowledge about discourse style) play a role in memory for the surface form of sentences in discourse. Shows that recognition memory increased as a function of information about the speaker's positive and negative attitudes and that substantial verbatim memory was…

A series of experimental and theoretical investigations of text inference were conducted. One applied a theory of inferable text cohesion to the devising of text structure revisions that assist comprehension and memory. Since only modest success was achieved, the next three projects went beyond text revision to the use of adjunct outlines,…

Contends that a modern theory of the composing process can be based directly on evolutionary theory as it relates to the origins and history of consciousness. (Author)

Examines the role of vocal cues in children's cognitive representations of texts. Finds that, in general, vocal cues influenced the speed and likelihood of constructing inferences but that cues failed to enhance memory for explicit text concepts. Discusses developing a model specifying the relationship between vocal cues and text understanding.…

Explores a type of inference which rests on "rules of communication" as differentiated from inferences resting on logical, semantical, or institutional rules. (MH)

Examines remediation as a social construct, as the product of perceptions and beliefs about literacy and learning. Illustrates how inaccurate and limiting notions of learners as being somehow cognitively defective can be created and played out in the classroom. Details the interactive processes that contribute to one student's being defined as…

Shows how one teacher used William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" to teach inference and implication. (ARH)

Demonstrates that (1) in a theory of comprehension, global coherence must refer not just to the availability of a macrostructure, but also to its ease of construction; and (2) the topic-comment assignment at the sentence level can be an important influence on the reader's perception of the passage topic. (FL)

Investigates the management of expertise in advice-giving in the calls to a radio advice line. Analyzes how the expert's talk handles the tension between the personal and public dimensions of advice-giving in such a public forum. (HB)

Discusses a rhetorical competence theory that is primarily concerned with an abstract understanding of the rhetorical and cognitive processes that underlie rhetorical acts. Presents the theory as an analogical system based on the four master tropes: metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. Draws upon the systems of analogical reasoning, problem…