This study explores the effect of information focus on the size of the unit decoded by a reader. Sixty students chosen at random from average reading groups in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade levels were studied. Each subject read orally 36 thematic sentence frames presented in random order. Each frame contained a point at which the visual display would disappear. The student was asked to report as many words as he could recall beyond the word he was reading. The eye-voice span was measured at the three developmental levels and within four different conditions of information focus: subject, verb, complement, and the final lexical item. Results strongly suggest that subjects at these grade levels have developed certain expectancies about normal intonation patterns and are affected by the change in underlying meaning resulting from a shift in information focus. Furthermore they are sensitive to constraints about the placement of new information, expecting it to occur most often in the predicate and most generally in final lexical position. It may be assumed, therefore, that intonation patterns and their corresponding presuppositions play a major role in the linguistic process. (Author/AM)