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Based on the research in the field of psychology of reading, sociology of reading, psycholinguistics, literature studies and methodology of teaching literature from the beginning of the 19th century to present day, the article clarifies the mechanisms of how a school reader perceives a literary text, which then logically leads to an understanding as to why teens dislike Russian classical literature. The relevance of systematizing scientific theses on this subject is determined by the critical situation in terms of reading and understanding literature books from the school program both in Russia and abroad. A wide range of materials (materials of international conferences, research reports by PIRLS and PISA, FIPI (Federal Institute for Educational Measurements) reports based on the results of the EGE (Unified State Exam), Russian and foreign works) helped form a list of issues viewed as problematic by the scientific and pedagogical community: low motivation of school students towards reading school-program literature; forming “skimming” and “fragment” types of reading, and the like. The studies of sociology of reading are interpreted in the article from the point of view of psychology of reading and psycholinguistics that explain the mechanisms of perceiving and understanding a text. What is taken into consideration is the subjective experience and the proximity of the consciousness of the reader and the author of the text. The studies of personality psychology and developmental psychology, theory and history of literature also contributed to shifting the focus of the issue. Thus, visualization of culture, the influence of the Internet, the lack of popularity of reading in a society etc. that were previously referred to as reasons why teenagers do not like reading, are now regarded as merely consequences, as stated in the article. These are results of how certain cognitive mechanisms that in charge of a literary text perception work. Systematized scientific knowledge gives a deeper understanding of the problematic field over the period of time and in its current state, and of methods and approaches to treating the issue. It also helps define a number of mandatory conditions for the development of a school reader in the digital age.

An interview is presented with writer Lia Purpura. When asked how her perception on the subjectivity of writers and herself has changed since her essay collection "On Looking" was published, Purpura discusses becoming more conscious of new movements and debased attitudes, appreciating language, and attempting to reflect on the concept of human identity through literature. She also addresses topics such as aesthetics, the philosophical concept of self, and the reading experience.

This study investigated the relationship between English phonological awareness (PA) of Chinese English learners and their three English skills (reading, spelling, and listening). Four-hundred college students participated in the study. The results of correlation and regression analyses demonstrated that: 1) overall PA correlated significantly with the three skills and predicted spelling strongly, listening intermediately, and reading weakly; 2) the three levels of PA had differential effects on English skills: reading was only significantly predicted by syllable awareness, spelling by onset-rhyme and phoneme awareness, and listening by all levels of PA; and 3) the predictive effects of tasks corresponded to the difficulty of the processing skill required by a task. This study has borne out a vital role of English PA in improving adult Chinese English learners' English skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory of mind is the understanding that other people have mental states that drive their actions and that those mental states can be different from one’s own. Without understanding theory of mind and being able to take others’ perspectives, it could be difficult for children to read and understand narrative texts. This paper posits that children’s understanding of others’ minds may be a potential missing piece in current accounts of reading comprehension. Indeed, the typical progression of children’s theory of mind abilities across childhood is closely aligned with the development of narrative processing skills. Furthermore, emerging evidence shows that both narrative processing and theory of mind are predictive of children’s reading comprehension, both concurrently and longitudinally. We present a possible explanation for why such a link exists and propose a causal framework of this relation in which increased ToM leads to increased understanding of and inferencing about characters’ mental states. Understanding characters’ mental states then leads to better reading comprehension. The framework makes novel, testable predictions and provides directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narrative skill is included in emergent literacy frameworks and believed to be important for children’s early reading development. Yet, empirical evidence concerning associations with other emergent literacy skills and later word reading skills is limited. We comprehensively assessed the emergent literacy skills of 3- to 5.5-year old children (n = 243), along with their word identification and decoding skills 2 years later. Narrative skill was modestly associated with all measures of emergent literacy. Narrative skill predicted word reading skills in univariate models but not after accounting for other emergent literacy skills. Further analyses showed that associations between narrative and word reading skills were fully mediated by other emergent literacy skills. When considered in light of prior work indicating associations between narrative skill and reading comprehension, these indirect associations between narrative and early word reading suggest a second pathway by which narrative skill may support reading development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading research is exhibiting growing interest in employing variants of the flanker paradigm to address several questions about reading. The paradigm is particularly suited for investigating parallel word processing, parafoveal-on-foveal influences, and visuospatial attention in a simple but constrained setting. However, this methodological deviation from natural reading warrants careful assessment of the extent to which cognitive processes underlying reading operate similarly in these respective settings. The present study investigated whether readers’ distribution of attention in the flanker paradigm resembles that observed during sentence reading; that is, with a rightward bias. Participants made lexical decisions about foveal target words while we manipulated parafoveal flanking words. In line with prior research, we established a parafoveal-on-foveal repetition effect, and this effect was increased for rightward flankers compared with leftward flankers. In a second experiment, we found that, compared with a no-flanker condition, rightward repetition flankers facilitated target processing, while leftward flankers interfered. Additionally, the repetition effect was larger for rightward than for leftward flankers. From these findings, we infer that attention in the flanker paradigm is indeed biased toward the right, and that the flanker paradigm thus provides an effective analogy to natural reading for investigating the role of visuospatial attention. The enhanced parafoveal-on-foveal effects within the attended region further underline the key role of attention in the spatial integration of orthographic information. Lastly, we conclude that future research employing the flanker paradigm should take the asymmetrical aspect of the attentional deployment into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay recounts, in autobiographical form, how poetry transformed me. It began at school with an unanticipated response to the internal music of a poem. Later, drawn primarily by sound and image, I responded to form, texture, ideas and movement in particular poems. These poems and poets - a few of them quoted here - woke me into an awareness of where I was, and gave me the courage to live with my confusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In this study, we tailor a child anxiety cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) program to fit the needs of rural Latino/a Spanish-speaking families and examine the feasibility, acceptability, tolerability, and safety of this intervention using 2 modes of service delivery.Method: Children (n = 31; age 8-13) with anxiety disorders were recruited from primary care settings and randomized to 1 of 2 modes of parent-mediated CBT bibliotherapy: (1) telephone-delivered, therapist-assisted bibliotherapy (TTB; n = 15), and (2) a more minimal contact, self-directed, bibliotherapy condition (SB; n = 16). Independent evaluators administered a diagnostic interview at baseline and posttreatment; demographic and engagement-related questionnaires were also administered.Results: In the TTB group, 10 of 15 parents (66.7%) completed the requisite number of therapist-assisted bibliotherapy sessions, and in the SB group, 4 of 16 parents (25%) completed the requisite number of self-directed bibliotherapy modules; this comparison was significant, χ2(1) = 5.43, p = .02. In the TTB condition, treatment length and session duration were longer than reported in previous studies. Barriers that were most strongly endorsed were stressors and obstacles competing with treatment, as well as treatment demandingness. Findings revealed good satisfaction across the conditions, although ratings were significantly higher in the TTB group, F = 5.67, p = .028. Remission rates (i.e., no anxiety disorder) for those that provided posttreatment data (N = 25) were 50% and 36% for the TTB and SB groups, respectively, χ2(1) = .465, p = .50.Conclusions: Implications of these feasibility findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. (clinicaltrials.gov unique identifier: NCT01491880). (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A literary criticism of the book "A Literary Clinic" by Samuel McChord Crothers is presented. Topics discussed include psychological effects of reading literary texts, information on Susan Sontag's collection of essays "Against Interpretation," wherein she provided a more capacious account of the emerging bibliotherapeutic sensibility, and reason critics tend to dismiss the therapeutic aspects of reading, according to Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick.

The article argues the performance of literature as the poetics of reading. Topics discussed include efforts by western nation states in training of reading to young children; introduction to how children learn about literature from morphemes to rhetoric; and discusses several aspects of psychology of reading.

Abstract: The purpose of the current study is to determine whether single‐case intervention studies targeting reading fluency, ranked by traditional outcome metrics (i.e., effect sizes derived from phase differences), were discrepant with rankings based on instructional efficiency, including growth per session and minutes of instruction. Converging with prior findings, we found great variability in reported sessions and minutes of instruction across studies, as well as divergences in rankings based on outcome variables. These findings raise questions as to how literature syntheses on the topic of academic intervention are interpreted and how selection of evidence‐based intervention occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major depressive disorder (MDD) in young people is a leading cause of disability but most depressed youth are not treated, emphasizing the need for effective prevention. Our goal is to synthesize MDD onset prevention effects for the Blues Program , a brief cognitive-behavioral (CB) indicated prevention group, by merging data from four trials (three of which included CB bibliotherapy) and conducting an individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis. Data were available from 766 high school/college students ( M age = 16.4, SD = 2.3; 60% female, 64% White). CB group resulted in significantly lower MDD incidence rates relative to brochure control that persisted to 6-month follow-up; CB group also was associated with a lower 2-year MDD incidence rate relative to bibliotherapy but heterogeneity across trials was detected. Contrasts between bibliotherapy and brochure control were nonsignificant. For significant contrasts, the number needed to treat (NNT) by CB group to prevent one MDD onset relative to brochure or bibliotherapy ranged from 10 to 21. A brief CB group depression prevention intervention for at-risk adolescent is achieving meaningful effects compared to both active and minimal controls but outcomes need to be improved, perhaps by better screening or augmentations to produce more persistent intervention effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the importance of psychological factors in learners' reading abilities, this study examines the relationship between flow, emotioncy, and reading comprehension. To this end, 238 upper-intermediate and advanced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners were asked to take four tests of reading comprehension along with flow and emotioncy scales. Rasch analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and correlations were used to analyse the data. The results demonstrated that emotioncy has a significant relationship with flow in three out of four and with reading comprehension in one out of four used topics. Furthermore, it was revealed that emotioncy and flow are predictors of reading comprehension, and emotioncy has a distal effect on reading comprehension. In the end, implications are provided in the context of EFL teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research with preschool children has established that dialogic or active book reading is an effective method for expanding young children's vocabulary. In this exploratory study, we asked whether similar benefits are observed when a robot engages in dialogic reading with preschoolers. Given the established effectiveness of active reading, we also asked whether this effectiveness was critically dependent on the expressive characteristics of the robot. For approximately half the children, the robot's active reading was expressive; the robot's voice included a wide range of intonation and emotion (Expressive). For the remaining children, the robot read and conversed with a flat voice, which sounded similar to a classic text-to-speech engine and had little dynamic range (Flat). The robot's movements were kept constant across conditions. We performed a verification study using Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) to confirm that the Expressive robot was viewed as significantly more expressive, more emotional, and less passive than the Flat robot. We invited 45 preschoolers with an average age of 5 years who were either English Language Learners (ELL), bilingual, or native English speakers to engage in the reading task with the robot. The robot narrated a story from a picture book, using active reading techniques and including a set of target vocabulary words in the narration. Children were post-tested on the vocabulary words and were also asked to retell the story to a puppet. A subset of 34 children performed a second story retelling 4-6 weeks later. Children reported liking and learning from the robot a similar amount in the Expressive and Flat conditions. However, as compared to children in the Flat condition, children in the Expressive condition were more concentrated and engaged as indexed by their facial expressions; they emulated the robot's story more in their story retells; and they told longer stories during their delayed retelling. Furthermore, children who responded to the robot's active reading questions were more likely to correctly identify the target vocabulary words in the Expressive condition than in the Flat condition. Taken together, these results suggest that children may benefit more from the expressive robot than from the flat robot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hindsight bias is the mistaken belief that an outcome could have been foreseen once it is known. But what happens after learning about an event? Can reading biased media amplify hindsight distortions? And do people from different cultural backgrounds - with different cognitive thinking styles - draw equal conclusions from equal media reports? We report two studies with Wikipedia articles and samples from different cultures (Study 1: Germany, Singapore, USA, Vietnam, Japan, Sweden, N = 446; Study 2: USA, Vietnam, N = 144). Participants read one of two article versions (foresight and hindsight) about the Fukushima Nuclear Plant and estimated the likelihood, inevitability, and foreseeability of the nuclear disaster. Reading the hindsight article increased individuals' hindsight bias independently of analytic or holistic thinking style. Having excluded survey language as potential impact factor (Study 2), this result remains. Our findings extend prior research on hindsight bias by demonstrating the amplifying effect of additional (biased) information on hindsight bias. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on how readers create characters in their imagination by drawing both on the information provided by the text and on their own emotional reactions to the story. Building on the theory of the 'New Reader', as well as drawing from other disciplines such as cognitive science, the effect of textual elements on the reader is examined. A reading of Fontane's Unwiederbringlich, a novel that tells the story of two spouses who fail to bridge the gulf that opens between them, exemplifies this approach. Christine and Holk increasingly fail to understand and relate to one another with empathy, while readers are trying to comprehend, alongside them, who these characters are, why they act the way they do, and how to feel about both. The novel plays with our expectations and sympathies, subtly recreating in its readers the emotions felt by its main characters. If readers remain aware of their own process of characterisation as well as their emotional responses, they can maintain empathy with both characters instead of being drawn into identifying with only one of them. This leads to a much richer and more nuanced reading of Unwiederbringlich. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at risk for problems in their cognitive, social and behavioural development. Factors such as a lack of cognitive stimulation, harsh parenting practices, and severe and persistent aggression in early childhood are central to the genesis of these problems. Interventions that target the intersection between early childhood development, parenting, and early violence prevention are required in order to meaningfully address these problems.Methods: We are conducting a randomised controlled trial to evaluate a parenting intervention for caregivers of children aged between 23 and 27 months, designed to promote child cognitive and socioemotional development in Khayelitsha, a low-income peri-urban township in South Africa. Families are randomly allocated to a book-sharing intervention group or to a wait-list control group. In the intervention, we train caregivers in supportive book-sharing with young children. Training is carried out in small groups over a period of 8 weeks. Data are collected at baseline, post intervention and at 6 months post intervention. In addition to targeting child cognitive development, the intervention aims to improve child socioemotional functioning.Discussion: The Benefits of Early Book Sharing (BEBS) trial aims to evaluate the impact of an early parenting intervention on several key risk factors for the development of violence, including aspects of parenting and child cognition, prosocial behaviour, aggression, and socioemotional functioning. The study is being carried out in a LMIC where violence constitutes a major social and health burden. Since the intervention is brief and, with modest levels of training, readily deliverable in LMIC contexts, a demonstration that it is of benefit to both child cognitive and socioemotional development would be of significance.Trial Registration: The BEBS trial is registered on the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number database, registration number ISRCTN71109104 . Registered on 9 February 2016. This is version 1 of the protocol for the BEBS trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aimed to explore the relation between syntactic awareness and writing composition in 129 Hong Kong Chinese children. These children were from a ten-year longitudinal project. At each year, a number of measures were administered. The 129 children's data of nonverbal reasoning at age 4, phonological awareness, morphological awareness, vocabulary knowledge at age 8, reading comprehension at age 12 and syntactic awareness and writing composition skills at ages 11 and 12 were included in this study. Syntactic awareness was longitudinally and uniquely predictive of Chinese children's writing composition, and children's performance in early writing composition was uniquely associated with their later syntactic skills, even when controlling for the contributions from age, nonverbal and verbal abilities, phonological awareness, and morphological awareness. The relationship between syntactic awareness and writing composition was mediated by children's performance in reading comprehension. These findings may suggest a reciprocal relation between syntactic awareness and writing composition, and this association may vary with ability in reading comprehension in Chinese children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes a new "trans" approach to the issues of reading literary fiction; it goes beyond a transdisciplinary approach, into a trans-functional one, investigating the way literature surpasses its initial function and works therapeutically, in the form of bibliotherapy, compensating for certain human psychological frailties and providing psychological explanations for the mechanisms involved. In this sense, reading can be understood as a form of trans-reading. Psychological studies demonstrate that the therapeutic reading of literature can be a valuable source of psychological understanding of human condition and its existential dilemmas. Moreover, a carefully guided excurse through the gallery of fictional works may provide relief from certain psychological disorders. The conclusions of such studies impact directly on the role of the comparatist, as well as of the psychologist. The article draws upon the analyses of Freud, Jung, and Yalom and tackles new trends in the field of bibliotherapy [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Although the functional benefits of e-books have been discussed in the emerging literature on the e-reader platform, the hedonic/emotional aspects of e-book usage have not been explored. This study aims to explore the impact that e-readers have on consumers’ connections with books. Relying on self-concept theory and possessions as the extended self, the authors address the following two questions: What are the hedonic differences between e-books and printed books, and, if the functional benefits of e-books are so compelling, then why do some people still use printed books?Design/methodology/approach The researchers pursue a qualitative design through the use of semi-structured interviews, with a combination of base questions and follow-up questions tailored to the individual respondent.Findings The results reveal six primary themes: convenience, change, community, collection, connection and children. Within each, functional benefits are identified, confirming prior literature on these benefits, and hedonic/emotional themes emerge, revealing that e-readers are capable of changing consumers’ connections with books. Namely, while e-books offer functional benefits over printed books, consumers feel less connected to books read using an e-reader platform and prefer to purchase the printed versions of books that hold special meanings for them. These findings align with self-concept theory and indicate that printed books are an extension of the self, one that cannot be completely replaced by e-books.Originality/value This research adds to the emerging literature on e-books by demonstrating that e-readers have emotional implications for consumers as components of the self-concept/extended self. Prior literature has focused solely on the functional benefits associated with e-books but has not directly addressed the role of books in the self-concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading habit is considered an important construct in reading research as it serves as a significant predictor of reading achievement. However, there is still no consensus on how to best measure reading habit. In recent research, it has mostly been measured as behavioral frequency; this approach neglects the fact that repeated behavior does not cover the broad content of habitual behavior--such as automaticity and the expression of one's identity. In this study, we aimed to adapt a 10-item scale on the basis of the Self-Report Habit Index by Verplanken and Orbell (2003) that is comprehensive but still economical for measuring reading habit. It was tested by drawing on a sample of N = 1,418 upper secondary school students. The scale showed good psychometric properties and the internal and external validity was supported. Moreover, the scale predicted reading achievement and decoding speed over and above reading frequency. The implications of an elaborated but still economical way of measuring reading habit are discussed giving new impetus on research on reading habit, challenging conventional approaches of traditional measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prominent models of word reading concur that the development of efficient word reading depends on the establishment of lexical orthographic representations in memory. In turn, word reading skills are conceptualised as supporting the development of these orthographic representations. As such, models of word reading development make clear predictions of bidirectional relations between lexical orthographic knowledge and word reading skill. We test these predictions in a longitudinal study of 112 English-speaking children in Grades 2 and 3. At two time points, we assessed lexical orthographic knowledge and three aspects of word reading skill: word reading accuracy, word reading efficiency, and phonological decoding. Consistent with theoretical predictions, we found that earlier word reading accuracy, word reading efficiency, and phonological decoding predicted gains in lexical orthographic knowledge. Contrary to theoretical predictions, lexical orthographic knowledge did not predict gains in any of our measured word reading skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic self-concept has been conceptualized as a multidimensional and hierarchical construct. Previous research has mostly focused on its multidimensionality, distinguishing between verbal and mathematical self-concept domains, and only a few studies have examined the factorial structure within specific self-concept domains. The present study aims to extend the scarce evidence of the simultaneous operation of multidimensionality and hierarchy within language self-concepts. Skill-specific (i.e,, reading, listening, speaking, and writing) and global self-concept measures for German as students' native language and English and French as students' foreign languages were administered to a sample of 4,257 ninth-grade German students. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated better levels of fit for multidimensional models with highly correlated but separate factors for each skill-specific self-concept compared to unidimensional models. The skill-specific facets could be aggregated into a higher order factor for each language, demonstrating a hierarchical structure. Differential gender effects on the various skill-specific self-concept facets provided further evidence of the multidimensional nature of language self-concepts, although differential relations to skill-specific achievement measures were not found. The high correlation between the higher order and global self-concept factors as well as similar gender effects and relations to achievement supported the notion of the similarity of both constructs. A comparable pattern of results emerged across the 3 languages, but detailed inspection indicated that multidimensionality seems to be more pronounced in the native language domain (German). The findings of the study are discussed regarding their implications for the assessment of language self-concepts and future research on the structure of language self-concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging evidence suggests that children's sensitivity to suprasegmental phonology such as stress and timing (i.e., prosodic sensitivity) contributes to reading. The primary goal of this study was to investigate pathways of the relation of prosodic sensitivity to reading (word reading and reading comprehension) using data from 370 first-grade children. Specifically, we examined (a) the nature of the relations of prosodic sensitivity to word reading by systematically testing five alternative models (i.e., direct relations and indirect relations via phonological awareness or morphological awareness) after accounting for letter naming fluency and rapid automatized naming and (b) the relation of prosodic sensitivity to reading comprehension (a direct relation over and above word reading and listening comprehension, or an indirect relation via word reading and listening comprehension). A prosodic sensitivity task tapping into stress and timing (i.e., word stress task) was used. Structural equation model results showed that prosodic sensitivity was not directly related to word reading. Instead, its relation was completely mediated by phonological awareness and morphological awareness. Furthermore, once word reading, listening comprehension, and working memory were accounted for, prosodic sensitivity was not related to reading comprehension. Therefore, it appears that prosodic sensitivity makes a contribution to word reading primarily via phonological awareness and morphological awareness, and its influence on reading comprehension is via word reading and listening comprehension. These results suggest that explicit attention to prosodic sensitivity might be beneficial for developing phonological awareness and morphological awareness, which, in turn, improve reading skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this meta-analysis of 45 studies involving students in Grades 2-12, the authors present evidence on the effects of text structure instruction on the expository reading comprehension of students. The meta-analysis was deigned to answer 2 sets of questions. The first set of questions examined the effectiveness of text structure instruction on proximal measures of comprehension, including examination of potential moderators and effectiveness for students with or at-risk for disabilities. The second set of questions examined the effectiveness on transfer measures of the effectiveness of the intervention across temporal contexts (maintenance), near-contexts (untaught text structures), and far-contexts (general reading comprehension). Overall, the results indicated that text structure instruction improves expository reading comprehension, but the effects were tempered when text structure instruction was compared with stronger comparison groups. The findings also identified 2 moderators that led to increased effect sizes (teaching more text structures and including writing in the instruction). Text structure instruction was also found to be effective across all 3 levels of transfer, although the effects for far-transfer are small and lack consistency. Recommendations include conducting more research to understand the nuances of potential interactions between various instructional approaches and student populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience reflecting and speaking about adult education in relation to reading and demystifying the attitudes of poor readers and non-readers.

The use of 'Library Science', as the name of the discipline is almost 100 years old. The original term was used in Germany in 1934 and a translation of it in an American government publication in 1876. However, its use in the name of a professional degree is found around 1910. Why was 'library science' used as a term is not known. But one wonders on its structure: Was there a 'science' of the 'library' which could form the basis of a discipline? It could have been simply a matter of convenience due to the lack of a proper term. Nevertheless, it has remained in use, with some variations, for almost a century. Lately, there has been a slow shift to 'Information Management' which began in the 1980s. There are a lot of people who object to it. Traditions once established become part of our psyche and extremely difficult and painful to disown. There is a need to understand 'Information Management' as a term focusing on 'Information' which has always been, still is and will continue to be its legitimate and primary concern. It does not focus on a 'space housing information artifacts'. Its augmented professional expanse will create professional job market that is hard to identify and measure at this time. Its graduates will serve more and more diverse populations. There will be a more prestigious consequence of this shift. A study of its close and meaningful interdisciplinary relations will enable it to rub its shoulders and receive recognition from some well-respected disciplines, such as education, psychology, medicine, management sciences, etc. Some of these links, which are crucial, have not yet been adequately identified and recognized. This paper will present a model of interdisciplinarity using Information Management as a core area. It will then use Bibliotherapy, which deals with multifaceted issues, as a case to point out its crucial links with some important disciplines which are of common interest to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses experimentation conducted on methods of improving reading comprehension in high school students in Cantabria, Spain, during 2014 and 2015. Topics discussed include the requirement that a proposed teaching innovation be motivational for the students; the use of an unrelated or absurd sentence within the assigned text to improve content retention; and the testing of reading comprehension by requiring students to summarize what they had read prior to the absurd sentence.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a program that offered sustained strategic reading instruction on reading abilities of third and fourth graders. The study was conducted among 1,469 children from 40 schools in the Netherlands. Schools were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. Multilevel analyses showed positive effects on knowledge of reading strategies after one year of intervention at the end of Grade 3. At the end of Grade 4, there were also positive intervention effects on reading comprehension. No significant interaction effects were determined for age, gender, SES, or ethnic/linguistic background. The intervention effects were also not dependent on the level of the student's nonverbal intelligence, vocabulary, or decoding skills. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research Findings: This study examines the amount of attention to print paid by Taiwanese mothers and children during joint book reading over time and the relationship between the use of print referencing by Taiwanese mothers and the print concepts skills of their children measured at age 3;0. A total of 42 Taiwanese mother–child pairs from middle-class families participated in this study. Mother–child interactions during joint book reading were video recorded and analyzed when the children were 1;2, 2;2, and 3;0. The mothers’ use of print referencing strategies correlated positively and significantly with children’s use of print referencing both synchronically and diachronically during joint book reading. Significant positive correlations were also found between children’s performance on a print concepts test at 3;0 and print referencing strategies used by their mothers when the children were 2;2 and 3;0.Practice or Policy: It is suggested that parents and preschool and kindergarten teachers increase their use of print referencing strategies when they read books to young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to review extant empirical studies of empathy in narrative reading in light of (a) contemporary literary theory, and (b) neuroscientific studies of empathy, and to discuss how a closer interplay between neuroscience and literary studies may enhance our understanding of empathy in narrative reading. An introduction to some of the philosophical roots of empathy is followed by tracing its application in contemporary literary theory, in which scholars have pursued empathy with varying degrees of conceptual precision, often within the context of embodied/enactive cognition. The presentation of empirical literary studies of empathy is subsequently contextualized by an overview of psychological and neuroscientific aspects of empathy. Highlighting points of convergence and divergence, the discussion illustrates how findings of empirical literary studies align with recent neuroscientific research. The article concludes with some prospects for future empirical research, suggesting that digitization may contribute to advancing the scientific knowledge of empathy in narrative reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Storytelling is a hallmark human activity. We use stories to make sense of the world, to explain it to our children, to create communities, and to learn about others. This article focuses on fictional stories and their impact on complex sociocognitive abilities. Correlational and experimental evidence shows that exposure to fiction recruits and hones our ability to represent others' mental states, or theory of mind (ToM). Experimental studies suggest this effect is specific to literary fiction. Using a unique set of texts, we replicate the finding that literary fiction improves ToM performance. Consistent with the expectation of greater focus on characters in literary fiction, linguistic analysis of the texts revealed that the literary texts contain more markers of reflective function, a sophisticated manifestation of ToM. Further analysis showed the prevalence of markers of reflective function partially mediated the effect of literary fiction on ToM performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study we investigate factors shaping poetry reception at multiple levels of analysis. We use both qualitative and quantitative means for describing structural aspects of poems, scales for assessing subjective dimensions, as well as behavioral and peripheral-physiological measures. Applying such mixed analyses we tested three hypotheses derived from the Neurocognitive Poetics Model of literary reading ( Jacobs, 2011 , 2015a , 2015b ): (a) the multilevel hypothesis stating that textual features at four relevant levels of textual analysis (supralexical, interlexical, lexical and sublexical) affect empathic/immersive and aesthetic-liking processes of poetry reception at all three levels of measurement (experiential, peripheral-physiological, and behavioral); (b) the mood empathy hypothesis stating that poems expressing moods of persons, atmospheres, situations, or objects should engage readers to mentally simulate and affectively resonate with the depicted state of affairs (see also Lüdtke et al., 2014 ); and (c) the aesthetic trajectory hypothesis stating that poems with a high amount of foregrounding facilitate aesthetic liking responses. The results are in line with all three hypotheses and raise a number of questions for future research on poetry reception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the significance of helping students to develop effective reading strategies in the ESOL classroom. It analyses the reading skills that students need to master in order to develop competence in reading and the issues involved in enabling them to do so. It also illustrates how these skills can be developed by means of a series of teaching activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite numerous studies into the online activities of deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) users, there has been limited research into their experiences on social networking sites (SNSs), a domain where psychology and computer science intersects. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how one can enhance universal access for D/HH users on the example of SNSs. A model for examining the experiences and preferences of D/HH users of SNSs has been proposed. The model consists of three identity-relevant aspects: (1) belonging to online Deaf communities, (2) communication affinity/preferences for sign and/or written language, and (3) the stigma associated with hearing loss. Based on these aspects, a questionnaire was developed and applied to a study with 46 participants. The findings revealed that the motivation to communicate on SNSs is positively associated with identification with online Deaf communities, an affinity for communication in written language and an affinity/preference for communication in sign language. Better reading comprehension skills, crucial for written communication, are associated with less stigmatic experiences with regard to hearing loss. The model and the findings of this study can help improve understanding D/HH users' online social interactions and can be used for educational purposes. It may contribute to the discussion of integrating SNSs as communication tools in personal learning environments, which can be an advantage for universal access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mothers’ cognitive state talk was assessed during shared book reading with 50 3- to 5-year-olds in relation to children’s false belief understanding six months later. Mothers’ cognitive state talk was assessed using three hierarchically related variables: (1) mothers’ total use of cognitive state vocabulary (2) mothers’ complement syntax using the verb think and (3) mothers’ complement syntax that directly contrasted thought and reality (i.e., contrastives). There were significant correlations between mothers’ cognitive state vocabulary and contrastives, and children’s later false belief understanding. However, after controlling for children's age, receptive vocabulary, and false belief understanding at Time 1, only mothers’ contrastives significantly predicted children’s Time 2 false belief understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]