The first of two articles addressing the issue of user documentation for computer software discusses the need to teach users how to read documentation. The second presents a guide for writing documentation that is based on the instructional systems design model, and makes suggestions for the desktop publishing of user manuals. (CLB)

Discusses the cultural limits to certainty of measurement and assessment claims about reading and examines some examples of classroom reading lessons. (Author/MLF)

This study with 32 primary school children (ages 6 and 8) confirms that children read words better in context but concludes that the use of context as a routine way of compensating for poor decoding skills may lead to future reading difficulties. (DB)

Mediated and "live" picture books engender different patterns of interaction between reader and child. The reading of a TV picture book is a text, not an interaction centered on a text. Exposure to mediated picture books alone appears to be an inadequate replacement for "live" book reading in the acquisition of literacy. (18 references) (CP)

Outlines the concept of working memory, with particular reference to a hypothetical subcomponent, the articulatory loop. Discusses the role of the loop in fluent adult reading, then examines the reading performance of adults with deficits in auditory verbal memory, showing that a capacity to articulate is not necessary for the effective…

Describes an expert system that can be used to teach reading skills in a foreign language with computer-assisted learning. Augmented transition networks (ATN), used as parsers, are explained; steps in teaching foreign languages are discussed; and reading in a foreign language as a type of problem-solving activity is considered. (10 references)…

A complete analysis of a story's structure must rely on more than a simple grammar of story components; it requires a consideration of the characters' plans as they are stated or implied in the story. Furthermore, these plans are recognized as the characters' beliefs, and beliefs about interactions among plans are crucial determinants of a story's…

Assesses the feasibility of using a statewide database containing standardized test scores to examine the utility of developmental reading programs in Texas. Suggests that a wide range of academic experiences may pull most students up in terms of reading competence. (TB)

Examines the reading preferences of young adults and their unsupervised responses to favored books. Compares these comments to those made by professional reviewers in an effort to determine the critical skills of adolescent readers. (HB)

Alexis de Tocquevile (1969: 506) predicted that Americans would be prone to isolation and increasing individualism, 'which disposes each citizen to isolate himself from the mass of his fellows and withdraw into the circle of family and friends; with this little society formed to his taste; he gladly leaves the greater society to look after…

Cautions that criterion referenced tests are no more effective at diagnosing comprehension subskills than are traditional instruments, and they may lend false credibility to the subskill approach to comprehension. (AEA)

The crucial question examined is: Can students be taught the knowledge, skills, and strategies which will transfer to their reading of passages not used in school lessons? The student's self-monitoring abilities might be developed through the application of five principles: explicitness, relevance, student as informant, self-regulation, and…

A research project undertook to address schema theory applied to the reader's active mental contribution to the act of reading by focusing on the extent to which linguistic, content, and formal schemata types combine in the act of understanding a text in an English-as-a-foreign-language context. Discussion of results notes implications for the…

The relative roles of general cognitive ability, speed and efficiency of elemental cognitive processing, and oral reading fluency in the prediction of reading comprehension are examined using multiple regression. The construct validity of the curriculum-based approach to measurement of reading comprehension is supported. Reliability is assessed…

Poses six unanswered questions in need of research that concern school reading programs. Questions address (1) advisability of a uniform sequential reading series, (2) relative effectiveness of materials, (3) generalists vs. specialists, (4) usefulness of workbooks, (5) permanent assignment of class reading texts, and (6) parental involvement. (TE)