Considers how some forms of communication accommodate distance between sender and receiver. Formulates concepts and axioms that serve as principles for the general communication context, distance or proximate. Discusses how these concepts matter to theoretical models and the teaching of communications. (HB)

Suggests the contribution of analogies to text comprehension. Demonstrates that analogies are not functional in text comprehension, but instead they impair recall and inhibit processing. Considers the possible role of analogies as contributors to the aesthetics of an informative text. (HB)

Reports findings from three experiments designed to show how readers inferred spatial information relevant to a story character's movements through a previously memorized layout of a fictional building. Examines how inference measures are related to spatial imagery. (HB)

Examines the student and professional discourse within the same field through a set of case studies written for a third-year course in financial analysis. Reports on the distinct social actions undertaken by student writers as compared with professional practices. Shows commonalities of student and workplace writing. (HB)

Examines the reading processes and practices of one female college student through eight semesters of undergraduate education. Traces the student's beliefs about literate activity. Analyzes the student's conceptions of the functions of texts and authors as they grew in complexity. (HB)

This teacher's handbook on intrapersonal communication provides a selection of exercises for classroom use to help students get in touch with their own mental processing. The exercises are presented with introductory comments, a statement of goals, instructions, materials, and analysis. A brief description of what the exercise demonstrates,…

Examines the in-class essay as written by university freshmen to assess the extent to which students use formulaic expressions to minimize the cognitive burden of generating a coherent and adequate answer. Results show that students made extensive use of formulaic expressions and shaped their answers to reflect the way the information had been…

Reports on two lab experiments which explored how undergraduate students process arguments and cues under ambiguous and uncertain conditions. Asks whether students use simultaneous processing or prefer exclusive processing. Indicates that students prefer exclusive processing, with no support for simultaneous. (HB)

Argues for an activity-based theory of genre knowledge. Provides data from case study research concerning "insider knowledge" about genres of academic cultures. Proposes five general principles as a basis for a theory of genre. (HB)

A case study examined purpose in the writing of four college freshmen enrolled in a basic composition course. Discourse based interviews were conducted with the subjects before and after they responded to each of three writing tasks designed to provide them with different choices for audience, mode, and focus. The data revealed two central ways in…

Reports findings from a three-year study by a composition researcher and a psychiatrist of the revision of an important mental health book: "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders." Examines the revision using three methodologies. Concludes that the revision functions to achieve certain social and political effects. (HB)

Investigates the effects of writing ability and mode of discourse on cognitive capacity engagement across three stages of the composing process, noting that writing ability differentially affected cognitive capacity engagement across discourse modes when using the secondary-task method. (HOD)

An English classroom contains both students of differing ideologies (that is, systems complete with centers that both express a desire and relieve anxiety) and teachers with their own ideologies. The potential for conflict is thus present. According to L. Althusser, however, the state provides certain apparatuses that prevent the formation of…

This paper describes a qualitative study that examined students' use of higher-order thinking as they use an interactive multimedia program based on a situated learning framework. The learning environment incorporated the following characteristics of a situated learning model: an authentic context; multiple perspectives; expert performances;…