Reflecting current themes that scholars in reading/language research, by their selective attention, have indicated are important in the field of literacy and learning in natural settings, this yearbook presents a collection of 62 selected research articles from the National Reading Conference for 1984. Included are the following articles, listed with their authors: "Being Literate in America: A Sociohistorical Perspective" (S. Brice Heath); "Communicative Competence: Cross-Cultural Perspectives" (I. Athey); "From Egocentric to Ideocentric Discourse: The Development of Academic Language" (S. Stotsky); "Observing First-Grade Reading Instruction: Instruction Viewed with a Model of School Organization" (R. Barr); "The Oral Recitation Lesson: A Research-Derived Strategy for Reading Basal Texts" (J. Hoffman and S. Crone); "The Effects of Prior Knowledge and Instruction on Recall for Well-Written Expository Text" (N. Marshall); "Context Clues Are Ineffective with Low Frequency Words in Naturally Occurring Prose" (R. S. Baldwin and E. K. Schatz); "Graphics in Middle-Grade U.S. History Textbooks" (L. B. Friedman and M. B. Tinzmann); "Readers' Awareness of Subheadings in Expository Text" (V. C. Hare and R. G. Lomax); "Reading Strategies of Gifted Students" (J. N. Mitchell and P. A. Irwin); "Reading and the Plans of Secondary Teachers: A Qualitative Study" (K. Hinchman); "Student Teachers' Planning and Evaluations of Reading Lessons" (H. Borko); "Bedtime Story Reading as a Social Process" (D. Bloome); "The Functions of Illustrations in Beginning Reading Texts" (H. D. Simons and C. Elster); "Assessment of Classroom Interaction Dynamics" (D. E. Alvermann and others); "Why Is The Degrees of Reading Power Test Invalid?" (R. P. Carver); "The Impact of Writing Instruction on Teachers' Attitudes and Practices" (D. Lapp and J. Flood); "Models of Reading Have Direct Implications for Reading Instruction: The Negative Position" (G. G. Duffy); and "Models of Reading Have Direct Implications for Instruction: The Affirmative Position" (H. Singer). (MM)