Investigates the effects of reader perspective and cognitive style on encoding, storage, and retrieval processes. Finds that structural characteristics of the text itself may affect storage and retrieval processes but not encoding processes, and that reader perspective shows no effect on a delayed recognition test. (RS)

Responds to "new scholarship on women" perspective presented in previous article by Greiner, supporting the perspective and arguing for some redefinition. Asserts that new perspective will require training and retraining for new research methodologies and education for a new set of attitudes. (NB)

Responds to the common assumption among English teachers that prior knowledge of a subject enhances students' ability to comprehend materials that they read. Presents evidence from the think-aloud protocols of undergraduate students to argue that having prior experience of the subjects treated in texts does not ensure that students will make…

Presents strategies for coaxing students into insightful book discussions. The strategies include creating a comfortable environment, choosing groups that work together, being a good leader, picking meaningful books, following the students' leads, spinning conversational threads, lighting the conversational fire, and examining different angles on…

Uses reading responses of a ninth grade class and a teachers' study group to examine the social memberships and constituencies that reading and discussion disclose through the response process. Maintains that teachers should base reading lists on an understanding of their own and students' memberships rather than on some abstract notion of…

Fifth- and sixth-grade students without disabilities and with mild learning disabilities and seventh- and eighth-grade students with more severe disabilities participated in an instructional program about the concept of themes in stories. The program improved comprehension of theme and identification of a specific theme that had been used in…

The use of cinema in a French literature class can help students become more aware of their role as receivers in the reading process. "Le retour de Martin Guerre" and "Entre Nous" helped develop students' awareness of gender's importance in a variety of literary texts. (16 references) (LB)

Details the experiences of one teacher researcher who observed an 11th-grade English class over the course of a year. Describes the changes initiated by the teacher, along with their mixed results. Analyzes the student response to such innovations as writing workshops and shared interpretations of texts. (HB)

Explores first graders' written responses to literature in dialogue journals, particularly what functions student and teacher responses serve, and what patterns of student response develop over time. Finds that journal writing offers potential for a wide variety of reader response functions. Notes an overemphasis on teacher questioning. (SR)

Responds to previous article by Sexton and Whiston (1994) on counseling relationship. Commends Sexton and Whiston's research review, but contends that, by adding interpersonal interaction as though it were a fourth and parallel component of counseling relationship (along with real, unreal, and working alliance components), Sexton and Whiston have…

Compares traditional instruction in poetry with collaborative learning in poetry with grade-three students. Finds that the collaborative learning strategy led students to more mature responses to poetry than the teacher-directed strategy. (RS)

Describes the findings of the National Assessment of Educational Progress's "Reading Report Card" issued in September 1993. Critiques the report for methodological reasons. Argues that the report is virtually worthless regarding the reading skills of American students and should receive a failing mark. (HB)

Reviews five books: "Garbage Pizza, Patchwork Quilts and Math Magic" (Ohanian), about elementary math instruction; "Ready for What?" (Graue), on school readiness; "The Braid of Literature: Children's Worlds of Reading" (Wolf and Heath); "The Best Years of Their Lives" (Zvirin), a book of resources for teenagers; and "Teaching and Learning in the…

Reports on ways in which an undergraduate English course can be structured to invite wide-ranging forms of response. Describes how this was done through an expository reading and writing course based on rhetorical modes and noncanonical texts. Claims that student satisfaction and achievement were excellent. (HB)

Discusses how the active meaning-making process of 10 sixth-grade students was reflected in the written responses in literature journals. Analyzes the responses to determine response styles. Suggests how complex response to literature is for elementary and middle school students. (HB)