To gain a better understanding of visual perception in reading, a study tested the predictive validity of the Goodman Model of Reading by measuring the extent to which 82 college students (graduate and undergraduate) were able to perceive and accurately report 10 lines of print. It also attempted to integrate research conducted over the past 100…

During the past 15 years, a fundamental change has taken place in literary criticism, with a decline in New Criticism (literature viewed as a public object) and an increase in reader response criticism (literature viewed as a private experience). New Critics considered the meaning of a literary text to exist within the text as an independent and…

A study investigated the effects on reading comprehension of guided imagery instruction before reading. Subjects, 25 third-grade student volunteers from a small Montana community, were given a vocabulary pretest to determine the effect of background knowledge. They were then randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups--read only, guided…

Sixty-six college students read two chapters from a contemporary novel while their eye movements were monitored. The eye movement data were analyzed to identify factors that influence the location of a reader's initial eye fixation on a word. When the data were partitioned according to the location of the prior fixation (i.e., launch site), the…

Differing views on how meaning in a literacy event is formed have a large impact upon literacy instruction and language research. Teaching and research are often conducted without considering who is in charge of meanings. Yet the answer to this question establishes an interpretive frame that creates the questions, methods, and findings in language…

To examine the effectiveness of various writing devices, a study used Richard Carter's Signalled Stopping Technique (SST) to compare these devices as used in two student-authored science stories. The SST indicates how messages are mentally processed, and uses the following seven stops: (1) C (confusion); (2) R (reread); (3) Q (question); (4) T…

In developing an interactive model of composing, this paper discusses three groups of reader-oriented theories, each of which provides composing theorists with some research and theory to use in developing such a model. First the paper discusses the main principle of the literary reader-response theorists--that the meaning and value of texts do…

Proposes that prediction and production variables used together tap both text and reader factors and provide a much improved analysis of readability. Finds that this kind of analysis will lead to more specific kinds of pedagogical strategies for teaching writing. (MS)

Describes a method used to teach freshman students how to make research a conscious part of their reading and writing processes, by helping them use their personal associations with a text and their questions about a text, to compose meaning and become conscious of the activities they are performing. (HTH)

Focuses on two primary meanings of the term interaction in the second-language (L2) context: face-to-face interaction in which two or more people create meaning, and the creative interaction between the reader and the text. Argues that many claims related to the value of L2 spoken interaction can apply equally well to L2 reading. (94 references)…

Reviews research on metacomprehension, indicating that awareness and control of cognitive activity are key characteristics of successful independent readers. Presents findings from a study of 25 university students taught to use a text-marking system. Reports that the system led to more sophisticated levels of metacognitive awareness. Sample text…

Charts the process by which, over some 10 years, one reader came to read a particular text "with full understanding." Indicates how crucial in that process were the complex, interacting influences of other, simpler literary texts, of the reader's own life experience, and (paradoxically) of "family" experience not consciously…

Uses a survey to determine how adult, adolescent, and elementary age students remember what they read. Finds that, for all three groups studied, adjunct (during reading) strategies were reported as being used more often than pre- and posttype strategies. Finds that adolescent readers believed teachers taught them to remember, but adults believe…

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)