Reading has been perceived as a dynamic transactional process wherein readers negotiate meaning with writers by virtue of their prior knowledge. The act of meaning construction is realized primarily through the exploration of intertextual links that connect various sources of texts the readers have composed or experienced. Readers utilize…

The traditional college required remedial reading course has many shortcomings: students are stigmatized by forced placement and resent the course; dropout rates are higher; and high-risk students who take the course take longer to complete degrees and take longer to shed the high-risk label. The skills taught tend to be speed, vocabulary, and…

This chapter provides a dialogue between two teachers that challenges philosophical and practical divisions both inside and outside the academy regarding the development of literacy and literary competence in foreign language departments. It also describes curricular revisions at their institution that address those divisions. One teacher crafts…

This article presents a best practice model for an online teacher education course, illustrating the process of integrating computer and reading literacies to increase learning and improve teaching. Six best practice components were included in the class design: integrative units, small group activities, representing to learn, classroom workshop,…

A new auditory measure of cognitive style (reflective-impulsive), a standard measure and intelligence scores were related to college students' reading performance. Only intelligence and errors on the auditory test contributed significantly to the variance of the reading measures. The importance of auditory factors in understanding adults' reading…

Examines patterns of instruction in literature, particularly the transactional strategy proposed by Louise Rosenblatt, that emphasize the reader's immediate experience with the text. Illustrates the effective application of response-based teaching of literature. (RL)

Presents a fictitious dialogue in which a teacher of a college methods course in reading points out to her students that (1) people read for different purposes, (2) reading needs vary from community to community, and (3) teachers should investigate the reading needs of people in their communities. (GT)

A survey of faculty at Kentucky Wesleyan College regarding their perceptions of undergraduate reading and writing needs is presented and compared with a similar study at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. The significance of responses and comments are reviewed and recommendations offered. (JMF)

Describes a content area reading course developed for technology majors at Texas Southern University (Houston). (FL)

Introduces briefly the social, meaning-based linguistic perspective of genre. Describes how written language is different from oral language. Shows the complexity of written language structure by illustrating how the "element of description" is realized in various written genres. Examines the implications of making genre a more critical…

Presents how Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics can be used to analyze readers' responses to an American literature text. Readers are Brazilian college students reading a text by the American author, Amy Tan. (Author/VWL)

Analysis of English-as-a-second-language reading students' (N=68) reading and listening test scores revealed that these two receptive language sub-skills were similar, although listening was the more integrated skill. The sub-skills tended to cumulatively contribute to holistic comprehension of messages. (Author/CB)

Examines the effectiveness of a remediation program that coordinated the existing remediation curriculum with required academic courses. Finds that the program was successful in improving student reading abilities, assisting them in performing well in a beginning history course and retaining them at the university. (RS)

Maintains that cultural literacy's emphasis on "what" students should know must be shifted to a concern for "how" they come to know. Describes various theories of reading and the role of the teacher and practical illustrations of them. Criticizes notions of core curricula while suggesting reasons for considering them. (HB)

Investigates the extent to which readers make inferences and integrations during reading. Finds that slow readers and readers with "careful-reading" instructions appear to infer script-arguments and integrate arguments to a high degree. Finds that fast readers and readers with "fluent-reading" instructions do not infer script-information and show…