Reading comprehension skills are routinely taught and they are often learned to a point of "mastery" on criterion referenced tests; but students relatively seldom apply them effectively when they read content-area materials. In this paper we argue that the problem can best be solved not by abandoning skill-centered teaching but by discovering ways to help students make effective use of the skills they acquire through skill-centered instruction. Our approach is to develop procedures for glossing expository text; that is, we are using marginal and other intratext notations--gloss--to direct students' attention while they read in order to help them internalize, direct, and apply specific skills and strategies. We describe the purpose and rationale for our developmental approach and show how we are attempting to bring research implications to bear on our work.

This research evaluated effects of asking students to apply principles of learning, presented in a beginning psychology course, on examination scores. Compared to control subjects, treatment subjects performed better on factual questions but not on application questions. We suggest that reviewing numerous examples of application questions helped students to integrate and remember the material better, but did not help them to apply principles to new situations.

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