Reports on a study that examined children's understanding of written direct and indirect speech by testing reading comprehension of two passages using cloze tests and referent location tests. Found that children have difficulty in interpreting written direct speech, especially when it contains a variety of pronouns. (ARH)

Results of an informal experiment conducted with five seven-year-olds and three nine-year-olds suggest that being able to infer well from a piece of reading material does not necessarily prevent children from making mistakes at the level of literal comprehension. (GT)

Offers examples of questions that might be asked in assessing children's different levels of comprehension of a reading passage. (GT)

Investigates why informational reading causes problems for secondary students. Presents solutions, including how the author has been able to assist pupils in reading for meaning by devising an approach called "Comprehending by Learning to Use Effective Strategies" (C.L.U.E.S.). (MG)

Reports on a study that probed the relative influence of text (including illustrations) and background knowledge upon child and adult novice readers' incorrect responses to comprehension questions. Found that novice readers use background knowledge more than textual information to answer comprehension questions. (ARH)

Discusses the extent to which computers can understand natural language. Considers assertions that computers can be described as literate, and considers more generally the purpose of designing machines which perform like humans. (RS)

Discusses the systematic relationship between the language patterns of a text and the context of situation that enables a reader to predict from one to the other. (FL)

Reviews studies dealing with dyslexia, reading development, and reading materials and interests. (DF)

Discusses the nature of cohesive relationships and the contribution of cohesion to comprehension in determining the role of cohesion in written text. (DF)

Describes the way foreign languages have been taught in the Netherlands, the way reading comprehension in a foreign language is tested there, and educational objectives that should be taken into consideration in teaching foreign languages. (GT)

Investigates the effect of word frequency on reading comprehension. Finds that comprehension is improved using high frequency words, independent of age or socioeconomic class of the student. Concludes that knowledge of vocabulary facilitates comprehension, but does not explain group differences. (RS)

Suggests 10 classroom-tested activities that improve reading comprehension. (DF)

Suggests that reading comprehension is a special case of language comprehension; considers the effect of prior knowledge and experience on recall of meanings; points to the role of "scripts" (information accumulated about a situation, word, or concept) in reading comprehension; and outlines implications for teachers. (GT)

Suggests that further explication of the notion of "importance" will benefit the reading field, at both practical and theoretical levels. (ARH)

Discusses the theory that reading is more than the searching for meaning within a text. Argues that the meaning of a text actually is in the interaction between reader and text. (FL)