The assumption that readers understand best and respond most positively to writing and illustrations which reflect their own first-hand experience was tested. To elicit response from children, four books by Byrd Baylor were used in three classes of fifth graders, in urban, suburban, and rural schools. After the books were read and the pictures…

A study was conducted to explore the ways in which instructional method and text quality influence the young reader's interpretation of inside view and character plans in fiction. Thirty-six third graders from a northeastern, suburban, public elementary school served as subjects. Twelve children were selected randomly from students rated as…

A review of current research in writing to learn in the content areas provides a basis for focusing on instructional strategies, use of text structure frames, and metacognitive writing strategies. Students can use writing to comprehend to learn content area text in a variety of ways based on their particular learning objectives for that particular…

Written in the same spirit as the earlier edition but thoroughly revised and updated, this book is designed to make teachers aware of reader-response theory and its implications for literature instruction and curriculum. The book demonstrates how a response-centered curriculum brings students to a greater understanding of all forms of literature…

In the interest of applying reader response theory to journalism this paper posits that readers of newspapers, like readers of literature, take an active role in making meaning from the articles they read, rather than passively accepting news as a finished, static product. Additionally, it proposes that journalism textbooks pay little attention to…

Intended for literature instructors, this digest explains the relationship of transactional theory (a reciprocal, mutually defining relationship between the reader and the literary text) to the teaching of literature. The importance of the reader's part in literature is first demonstrated, noting that attention must be paid to who the readers are,…

To learn more about how people read literary texts, with a view to improving the way literature is taught in schools, a study examined the extent to which the reading of literature is affected by variations in readers, texts, and situations. Subjects, 12 skilled (faculty) readers and 96 novice (undergraduate) readers, read a short story, either in…

This paper explores an alternative way of studying journalism in the classroom by focusing on contemporary journalists' ironic treatment of morality. The paper examines the performative character of the language of news, when the words investigative journalists use are of interest not so much for what they say but for what they do. The paper…

Reading comprehension is much more than a decoding of the printed words on the page; it is, rather, a complex interaction between readers and their personal past experiences as they relate to the text. A connection between the text and past experiences of the readers can stimulate expectations about the text. Facilitating these links presupposes a…

A study examined an approach to assisting students in increasing their awareness of the organization and demands of text during the survey process of SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Review, Recite). Twenty-seven college freshmen in a developmental reading course, were (1) introduced to the concept of SQ3R, (2) given instruction on types and uses of…

To investigate how Mexican-American students constructed meaning from English texts when engaged in reading and writing activities, a study examined 12 fifth grade Mexican-American students who lived in a "barrio" with literacy in both Spanish and English. The aim was to tap the envisionments (text interpretations or understandings, and…

A study of reader response to newspaper articles in a defamatory context tested: (1) the judicial assumption that the macro-environment in which statements appear is important to a reader's distinguishing between fact and opinion; (2) the possibility that a byline may influence a reader's characterization of statements; and (3) the idea that…

Investigating the selective attention strategy, a study examined the type of attention allocated to important information by good and poor readers. Also tested was the methodological validity of using a conceptual (word recognition) perceptual (tachistoscopic word flash) task as a means of investigating the types of information processing that may…

A study on children's recall of words presented on a computer was assessed as a function of action and verbal labels. Subjects, 80 public school children in a southeastern city, equally distributed between kindergarten and second grade and between high and low reading ability levels, interacted with different versions of a computer presentation.…

To create an introductory literature course which helps students develop positive feelings about reading and confidence in their abilities to create viable meanings out of a text, an alternative to the standard lecture format or "Socratic" class discussion is needed. Formed from a variety of research, theory, and classroom experience,…