Discussion of computer-aided publishing hardware and software emphasizes their impact on the production of printed learning materials, especially for distance education and self-instructional texts. Highlights include desktop publishing; electronic publishing; typographic design considerations; distinguishing textual features; implications for…

The devising of sets of multiple-choice questions on a poem or prose passage can be a useful exercise for teachers and students, because it obliges them to confront the question of what a reader must deal with in a text in order to arrive at an understanding of it. (MLW)

The study found that college students with learning disabilities (LD) were as able as nondisabled students to use story grammar and comparison text structure to aid recall of social studies text passages. However, LD students scored significantly lower on use of causation text structure. Results suggest that use of comparison structures precede…

Examines the possibility that part of the problem in the teaching of physical science may lie in teaching-learning materials. Selects 14 chemistry textbooks and 14 physics textbooks in Australia. Analyzes them based on learning theory and scientific literacy. (YP)

Three experiments examined the effects of outlines prefacing text and headings inserted in the text on the recall of prose by 178 undergraduates. Results indicate that a combination of outlines and headings best benefit readers' recall. Results are discussed from a schema activation perspective. (SLD)

Investigates students' sensitivity to compare/contrast, description, enumeration, and sequence text structures using an error-detection paradigm. Finds that task (oral recall and recognition), text structure, and grade level differentially affect students' sensitivity to the four text structures. (RS)

Results of a study involving 55 developmental studies college students indicate that regardless of reading competency levels, prior knowledge activation plus advance warning of possible inconsistencies in the text apparently facilitate students' comprehension of counterintuitive science text better than activation alone. (IAH)

Discusses how readers process text and the implications this processing has for technical writers. Presents guidelines for designing documents so that readers can better understand and apply what they have learned from text. (JAD)

Identifies problems and proposes solutions for encoding verse texts in Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). Discusses formal properties that distinguish verse from prose. Recommends that metrical and rhyme conventions always be tagged at the highest possible level of text divisions. (CFR)

Describes a game that helps middle grade students develop awareness of the five major ways authors present and tie content information together. (SR)

Studied representation of text content and representation of the surface form of the text in two studies of native French speakers. Twenty-five subjects (aged 23-30) participated in Experiment 1, and 40 subjects (aged 23-30) participated in Experiment 2. Data confirm that readers retain the spatial location of words read. (Contains 18 references.)…

Describes a study that investigated the types of rhetorical structures that beginning-level Spanish students encounter in their textbook reading materials. The intent of the study was to determine whether there was a match between the types of structures that English-speaking students are most typically able to demonstrate awareness of and the…

Describes a model procedure for integrating direct instruction in story structure with reader response to literature in two settings: traditional storybook read-aloud sessions and nontraditional HyperCard computer sessions. (SR)

Some factors that should be considered when science teachers produce materials for their students are presented. Readability and the key aspects of language (vocabulary, sentence structure, textbook or examination style, and organization and presentation) are discussed. Directions and the graph needed for estimating the reading level of materials…

Tests the effects of number of data points and type of statistical display on time spent answering questions about information. Finds that tables and graphs are more efficiently processed than text presentation of the same data. Suggests that the time variable is a more realistic measure than information recall of cognitive processing effort. (SR)