Investigates effects of prior knowledge, explicitness, and clause order on fifth and sixth grade readers' ability to infer causal cohesive ties in expository text. Finds significant effects for prior knowledge for fifth and sixth grade students on all variables except the cohesion cloze task. (SG)

The paper discusses (1) sources of difficulty in comprehending technical writing, (2) distinctions between content structure and text structure, (3) building blocks for expository writing and techniques of text design, (4) contrasts between American and Japanese science and social studies texts, and (5) suggestions for promoting comprehension.…

Objectives of this study were to examine effects of text genre (narrative and expository) and format (familiar and traditional) on teaching strategies mothers used when interacting with their children during reading tasks; and the effectiveness of mothers' teaching strategies in eliciting children's participation in joint reading tasks. (PCB)

Describes study that examined text density levels as a design variable in print and computer-based instructional presentations. The six treatment groups are explained, including low density, high density, and learner controlled density; attitude surveys and achievement posttests are described; and implications of the findings for instructional…

Analysis of 72 reports comparing first- (L1) and (L2) second-language writing indicate differences between L1 and L2 writing with regard to composing processing and features of written text. Implications for L2 and L1 writing theory, comparative writing research, and assessment, placement, staffing, and instruction are discussed. (Contains 77…

Deaf and hearing children at two grade levels (fourth and eighth) provided written texts for an analysis of text structure and quality. Deaf writers used as many cohesive devices as hearing writers but used fewer different lexical terms per device. The deaf children's texts are discussed in terms of possible language transference. (66 references)…

In 3 experiments, a total of 48 native English speaking and 55 English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) college students chose alternatives to replace missing logical connectors in expository passages. Differences in meaning and use of the four connector types and implications for improving ESL programing are discussed. (SLD)

Describes a study of junior college students that examined the interrelationship of structural cueing and graphic organizers, two prose processing adjuncts intended to convey the presence and nature of structure in text to learners with high, middle, and low level reading skills. Treatment of the experimental and control groups is explained, and…

Describes two studies that compared university students' judgments about the readability and studyability of two sets of computer screens: a set of model displays and a set of real screens copied from computer-assisted instruction programs. Relationships among viewers' preferences and field dependence/independence, conceptual style, and gender…

Effects of schema-based cues (previewing) and structure-based cues (structure cueing) on comprehension of expository prose were studied with 74 fourth graders. Results indicate a significant pattern of higher performance by the previewing group, in comparison with the structure-cued group and a control group. (SLD)

A case is made against the use of computer-assisted text analysis, including style analyzers and grammar checkers, with nonproficient second-language or basic-skills student writers. The inaccuracy of analysis, limited feedback, and type of revision behavior encouraged are cited. (33 references) (Author/LB)

Illustrates techniques to foster transformative learning in computer-assisted literature classes: (1) a lesson plan on John Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"; (2) a plan to analyze "Oedipus Rex" using the "Daedalus" Interactive Writing Environment; and (3) a demonstration of how students engage in "meta-reflection" as they explore…

Writing research has long attempted to define and assess coherence in written prose; however the researchers have often ignored or inadequately met the needs of writing students who require a simple definition of coherence that they can use to revise their own prose. One exception is Joseph Williams, author of "Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity…

Reading and understanding a text presents a variety of processing problems for L2 learners. The organizational pattern of a text has been considered by some researchers to have an important influence in this process. This article describes an experimental study of a group of Hong Kong schoolchildren and presents evidence that learners reading in…

Contrastive rhetoric scholarship researches rhetorical structures across languages to predict the difficulties experienced by students learning to write essays in a second language. The paradigmatic contrast is between Western languages (e.g., English) that are said to exemplify "linearity" and "directness" and Eastern languages (e.g., Chinese,…