Concludes that individuals can read unfamiliar but relatively easy material at high rates with high accuracy of comprehension, but they do not provide strong support for rauding theory. (FL)

Concludes that attempts to maintain objectivity by measuring surface features of text end up describing effects rather than causes of coherence in text. (FL)

Responds to Sarah J. McCarthey's article in the same issue. Considers particularly the limitations of McCarthey's research design. (HB)

Responds to David Bloome's critique of Sarah J. McCarthey's article in the same issue. Suggests that researchers must risk reporting difficult cases and continue to negotiate their relationships with teachers in the quest for understanding of the social context of classrooms. (HB)

Critiques an article by Richard F. West, Keith E. Stanovich, and H. R. Mitchell entitled "Reading in the Real World and Its Correlates," published in an earlier issue of this journal. Questions that article's outdated concepts of mind and mental processes and its inappropriate use of statistics. (HB)

Investigates effects of text coherence and active engagement on students' comprehension of textbook information. Finds a continuum of increased performance from original silent text, to original text with thinking aloud, to revised text read silently, and finally revised text with thinking aloud. (SR)

Studies 89 multiethnic families with four-year-old children in the Netherlands to measure home literacy over a period of years. Tests and assesses children after formal reading instruction. Supports the hypothesis that home literacy is multifaceted. (PA)

Investigates the relationship between phonological awareness, short-term memory, grammatical awareness, and reading accuracy in a follow-up study of 34 nine-year-olds originally studied as preschoolers. Finds the best concurrent predictor set for reading accuracy at age nine was grammatic knowledge, phoneme awareness, and speech rate, which…

Reviews basic principles underlying word learning and phonics instruction. Discusses approaches to teaching phonics. Draws some tentative conclusions on how an integrated language-arts programs that includes phonics instruction might look in first-grade classrooms. (PA)

Studies the life story and perceptions of literacy of a highly literate Latina female college student who developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Finds that the woman's ability to write had been the foundation on which her social meanings of literacy rested: her life story revealed how her identity was influenced by societal values for writing and…

Finds that K-12 literacy professionals: (1) read journal articles and books more often than research journals or electronic sources; (2) believe in collaborative experiences among teachers; (3) are interested in becoming teacher researchers; (4) feel book clubs are valuable; (5) do not want portfolio assessment to replace other forms; and (6) feel…

Offers a naturalistic picture of literacy in colonial North America by exploring family literacy in an early eighteenth-century urban New England setting. Uses the diaries and other writings of Cotton Mather (1663-1728) as sources on literacy within his family. Notes the importance of writing within the family. (SR)

Tests the effectiveness of an instructional graphic (frames) on fourth and fifth grade students' ability to learn from reading their social studies textbooks. Finds that, for fifth grade students, framing was a more effective instructional technique than was the instruction suggested in the teacher's edition of the regular classroom social studies…

Investigates the kind of print-related knowledge that emergent readers must possess to learn to point to the words of a text as they recite it from memory (fingerpoint-reading) and to remember information about the print from this activity. Reveals that different types of print knowledge facilitate different aspects of fingerpoint-reading. (SR)

Evaluates schema theory and presents dual coding theory as a theoretical alternative. Argues that schema theory is encumbered by lack of a consistent definition, its roots in idealist epistemology, and mixed empirical support. Argues that results of many empirical studies used to demonstrate the existence of schemata are more consistently…