Presents summaries of empirical studies of kindergartners, fifth graders, high school students, and college students, which suggest that people use stereotypes and gender-based identification in encoding, retrieving, and making inferences. Discusses results of qualitative research on differences in male and female responses to literary texts.…

Considers the tension between deterministic social construction and individual autonomy of the subject in the act of reading literary texts. Develops a critical reading pedagogy that takes into account the balance between those two extremes of the dialectic of reading praxis. Illustrates the pedagogy with two concrete examples. (HB)

Argues for restructuring college reading classes to incorporate more instruction that is based on the theory of reader response. Describes instruction based on reader response and its appropriateness for high-risk college students. (SR)

Investigates whether readers are aware of and have any preferences about paragraph length. Finds that readers are aware and have a more positive attitude toward writing with paragraphs of less than 100 words. Finds that paragraph length does not affect attitudes toward the expertise of the writer, ease of comprehension, or quality of the passage.…

Advocates the frequent use of journalistic texts for classroom discussions because unplanned material creates a supportive environment. Reports how two groups of students who had failed an upper-division writing exam and who were reluctant to discuss assigned readings, became engaged and careful readers when similar material was presented…

Criticizes previous article by Galassi, Crace, Martin, James, and Wallace on client anticipations and preferences regarding career counseling. Criticisms focus on theoretical grounding of the study, assessment format, data analysis, and data interpretation. (Author/NB)

Responds to previous article by Galassi et al. on client anticipations and preferences regarding career counseling. Shows Galassi et al.'s criticisms of Tinsley and Benton and the Expectations about Counseling instrument to be unfounded, discusses problems with terminology, and analyzes technical adequacy and findings of Galassi et al. Also…

Asserts that scholarly writers often ignore their audience when writing for publication. Offers suggestions for editors to help scholars write to communicate and be read. (PRA)

Explores journal writing exchanges through the observations of a classroom teacher and a college professor as their students connected with one another in an authentic literary experience. Offers four suggestions for helping a journal exchange to proceed smoothly. (MG)

Describes a method of teaching writing founded on a concept of response papers based on the strong emotional reactions of students to assigned texts. Gives examples from several student papers, highlighting typical kinds of response. Argues for the response paper as a site for safe thought concerning difficult issues. (HB)

Describes an activity which uses poetry to help students differentiate between literal and critical comprehension and to focus on topics, main ideas, inferences, paraphrasing, and writing in response to text. (SR)

Responds to Fong and Amatea's (1992) study of work stress exhibited by 141 academically employed women. Notes that, although it was found that single women had significantly higher levels of stress than did married-parent women, there are problems with definitions, sampling, assessment, and statistics that pose threats to both internal and…

Describes how a reader-response approach can help students construct a portfolio of readings that reflects their development as poetry readers. Describes using a reader-response journal, communal learning activities, and a portfolio to create a recursive process through which students develop a better understanding of how poetry works. Discusses…

Draws comparisons between children's and pre- and inservice teachers' responses to "Sarah, Plain and Tall." Finds that discussion played a formative role in shaping adults' responses to the book, the nature and direction of those responses, and their understanding of children's responses. Discusses implications for teachers to better understand…

Studies Chinese bilingual readers' nonverbal responses (vividness of imagery and emotional response) to a text in English and in Chinese. Finds readers of English text did not understand the passage as well as readers of the Chinese version; however, imagery and affect were formed even in the absence of total understanding, showing they are…