Reflecting current themes that researchers, by their selective attention, have indicated are important in the field of reading/language processing and instruction, this yearbook presents a collection of 51 selected research articles from the National Reading Conference for 1983. Included are the following articles, listed with their authors: (1) "Types of Writing Included in Basal Reading Programs: Preprimers through Second-Grade Readers" (J. Flood and others); (2) "Topic Sentences and Paragraph Structures of Introductory Geology and Sociology Textbooks" (L. Johnson); (3) "A Text Analysis Comparison of Original and Adapted Text" (K. McCain); (4) "Writing Instruction as a Metatextual Aid to Story Schema Applications (C. Braun and C. Gordon); (5) "A Message to Authors about Metadiscourse Use in Instructional Texts" (A. Crismore); (6) "Teachers' and Would-Be Teachers' Conceptions of the Main Idea" (J. Cunningham and others); (7) "A Socio-Communicative Perspective of Formal and Informal Classroom Reading Events" (D. Bloome); (8) "Teachers as Decision Makers versus Technicians" (H. Borko and others); (9) "A Teacher's Schema for Reading Instruction" (M. Conley); (10) "The Effect of Semantic Feature Analysis on the Reading Comprehension of Learning-Disabled Students" (P. Anders and others); (11) "Effects of Previewing Expository Passages on Junior High Students' Comprehension and Attitudes" (M. Graves and Maureen C. Prenn); (12) "Effects of Activating Background Knowledge on Comprehension of Expository Prose" (L. Smith and others); (13) "How Much Time Do Children Spend Reading during Teacher-Directed Reading Instruction?" (L. Gambrell); (14) "Teachers' Differential Selection and Use of Basal Reader Questions" (R. Lalik and K. Pecic); (15) "Teacher Explanations and Students' Understanding of Sources of Information for Answering Questions" (T. Raphael); (16) "The Effect of Measurement Task and Response Mode on Sixth Graders' Comprehension of Expository Text" (B. Askew); (17) "An Investigation of Types of Distractors for Reading Comprehension Test Items" (L. Hansche and B. Gordon); (18) "Retrieval Speed in Reading Comprehension: Failure To Generalize" (T. Jacobowitz and E. Haupt); (19) "Readers Talk like Writers" (J. Hansen); (20) "Influence of Story Schema and Concept of Story on Children's Story Compositions" (L. McGee and others); (21) "Children's Perceptions of Reading and Writing: Making the Connections" (J. Stansell and R. Moss); (22) "A Comparison of First-Graders' Ability in Three Modes of Expression: Dictation, Independent Writing, and Story Retelling" (V. Froese); and (23) "Toward a Theory of How Children Learn To Read and Write 'Naturally': An Update" (W. Teale). (MM)