Responds to criticisms raised in another article in this issue concerning a study of incidental word learning among second-language learners viewing captioned television. Suggests that the criticisms fail to "see the forest for the trees." Responds to specific methodological criticisms. (RS)

Finds that the updating of situation models is achieved by accessing both locational and temporal links in the knowledge-based spatial representation. (SR)

Investigates what students internalize from the dialogues elaborated in process writing classrooms. Focuses on four culturally diverse students in a fifth-sixth-grade class in New York City. Suggests that material students internalize is related to the quality of interactions with their teacher. (HB)

Responds to Sarah J. McCarthey's article in the same issue. Considers two issues: the social context of conducting language research, and the treatment of language in research on classroom reading and writing. Requests a discussion of the social context of conducting research. (HB)

Investigates the influence of word meaning on lexical processing in children and adults. Examines developmental trends in lexical decisions for abstract and concrete words. Concludes that word meaning influences lexical processing in children but that there is a developmental shift in the kinds of semantic characteristics that are available for…

Evaluates the hypothesis that dyslexic children have a specific deficit in phonological reading processes. Describes a quantitative meta-analysis with the same hypothesis that provides evidence for differences between dyslexics and normal readers on nonword reading tasks. Considers the weaknesses of studies finding no deficits. (HB)

Responds to Denny Taylor's critique in the same issue of 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 "Reading Research Quarterly." (HB)

Offers a theoretical argument for the efficacy of a culturally based cognitive apprenticeship. Investigates the benefits of using ethnically diverse literature with ethnically diverse students, and how to make explicit in instruction some of the important comprehension strategies needed to interpret complex fiction independently. Notes that…

Explores the nature and use of reading in an inquiry-based high school mathematics classroom. Finds multiple ways of reading in a semester-long course on "mathematical connections," and that these reading practices constituted ways to learn and do mathematics. Suggests that students learn with and through as well as from text in…

Examines gendered aspects of literacy in two bilingual primary classrooms in a working-class Latino community. Centers on values that are associated with literacy in each room and the gendering of those values through specific classroom practices, with attention to gendered aspects of literacy tasks, texts that were written and read, and the talk…

Investigates effects of silent reading embedded in small-group lessons typical of much classroom reading instruction. Finds both positive and negative effects--students were more attentive during silent reading and were more responsive to story content than during oral reading, but the slower pace of silent reading offset these benefits. (RS)

Compares secondary school students' underlining of main points in a biology text to their teachers' underlinings of main points. Finds large variations in the number of main points underlined by the students and even by the teachers, and large variations in the agreement between students and their teachers. Suggests that educational variables are…

Investigates text cues and comprehension strategies used by competent readers comprehending lengthy written arguments. Finds that both text structure and signaling in introductions and conclusions consistently influenced the 12th-grade advanced placement English students' responses. Notes that these cues helped students recognize the argument…

Investigates the relationship between different levels of phonological awareness and literacy acquisition in Portuguese. Finds that phonemic awareness plays an important role in alphabetic literacy acquisition. Notes that both sensitivity to phonemic similarity and phonemic segmentation skills significantly predicted reading and spelling ability,…

Investigates the development and role of phonological recoding in beginning reading. Finds regular phases in phonological recoding prior to accuracy in reading simple pseudowords and a strong but changing relationship between these rudimentary skills and several reading tasks. Finds that phonological recoding and phoneme awareness are complex…