Abstract:Eye fixation patterns for older adults and young adults were monitored as they read sentences containing temporary syntactic ambiguities such as "The experienced soldiers warned about the dangers conducted the midnight raid." Young and older adults' fixation patterns were similar except that older adults made many more regressions to the Subject NP for ambiguous sentences. In a second experiment, high and low span older adults were compared to high and low young adults. First pass fixation times for high and low span readers were similar; however, high and low span readers adopted different processing strategies when they encountered disambiguating information. High span readers were able to quickly resolve the ambiguity whereas low span readers required many regressions to the Subject NP in order to resolve the ambiguity. As a consequence, total fixation times for low span readers were longer than those for high span readers. High span readers were also able to use the focus operator ONLY (e.g., "Only experienced soldiers warned about the dangers…") to immediately resolve the temporary ambiguity. No age group differences were observed. These results are discussed with reference to contemporary theories of the role of working memory in sentence processing. Text of paper:Eye . Eye fixation patterns of high and low span young and older adults: Down the garden path and back again. Psychology and Aging, 19,[157][158][159][160][161][162][163][164][165][166][167][168][169][170].. Publisher's official version: http://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0882-7974.19.1.157. Open Access version: http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/. Eye Fixation Patterns of High and Low Span Young and Older Adults: Down the Garden Path and Back AgainTwo experiments were conducted to provide new data relevant to the on-going debate over the role of working memory capacity limitations in sentence processing and the possibility of age differences in the processing of complex syntactic constructions . This debate has focused on the processing of complex sentences containing temporary syntactic ambiguities, such as "The experienced soldiers warned about the dangers conducted the midnight raid." At issue is whether or not both young and older adults or high and low span individuals experience garden-path effects: an increasing in processing time reflecting the initial misinterpretation of the first verb "warned" as the main verb (MV) of the sentence, rather than as the verb of a reduced relative clause (RRC). Existing studies have been severely criticized on a number of methodological and procedural grounds (see Caplan & Waters, 1999 and subsequent responses).Just and his colleagues Just & Varma, 2002;King & Just, 1991;MacDonald, Just, & Carpenter, 1992) ) have claimed that working memory capacity constrains the interpretation of temporary syntactic ambiguities, limiting the ability of older or low span readers to make and sustain multiple interpretations of the ambiguous phrases. In contrast, Caplan and Waters in another series of reviews an...

Pa R t t W o : c u R R i c u l u m a n d P R o g R a m d e v e l o P m e n t t h R o u g h a S S e S S m e n t a n d a c c R e d i tat Pa R t t h R e e : Fa c u lt y d e v e l o P m e n t t h R o u g h a S S e S S m e n t a n d a c c R e d i tat i o n 211We see this collection as a resource for writing instructors and WPAs looking to answer the call to action in sustainable, research-driven, practice-tested ways. Contributions to the volume help readers to accomplish three key things:1. Understand the goals and limits of large-scale writing assessment from both the perspective of the accrediting bodies that require it and the writing instructors and WPAs who design, implement, and, ideally, benefit from it.2. Consider strengths and weaknesses of assessment structures and assessment-driven improvement initiatives that have been implemented at a variety of types of institutions (included are contributions from writing specialists from schools of differing sizes, student populations,geographical locations, and writing program structures). As the CWPA points out in their letter of fall 2007, "specific stories about successful assessment processes are compelling to a range of audiences." The examples offered in the chapters that follow thus provide invaluable support for writing instructors and WPAs as they attempt to persuade other faculty and upper administrators to implement responsive and responsible assessment processes. At the same time, contributors to this collection do not hesitate to identify struggles and setbacks that they encountered in the processes of conducting large-scale assessment and responding to assessment results. The examples are useful for the support as well as the cautions that they provide to readers.3. Use ongoing accreditation and assessment imperatives to cultivate productive campus-wide conversations that increase faculty members' ability to meet students' writing and learning needs. A benefit of large-scale assessment that receives attention in a number of chapters in this collection is the fruitful and revealing discussion about what is valued in writing across disciplinary contexts. Institution-wide assessment initiatives, then, can be occasions to discover and disrupt unstated and incorrect assumptions that "good writing is good writing" regardless of where it occurs in the university. Writing specialists and WPAs are in a unique position to lead the development of authentic writing assessment on their campuses and, through their efforts, to change campus understandings of and approaches to writing instruction in ways that have not been possible since the birth of the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) movement.We recognize that what is true of writing is also true of assessment: context always affects what can be effective in any given situation. In response, we bring together here a series of critical case studies of writing programs from across the country that have planned, implemented, and assessed the impact of large-scale, accreditationsupported initiatives. Some of the cha...

This article begins with an overview of cognitive psychology research on the effects of aging on literacy and suggests the additional complications facing older adults who consume and produce text within the frame of technology, particularly on-line usage. From an overview, the text moves to patterns corporations are using to target older adults, namely as consumers and as producers. The text then explores the use of philanthropy in the corporate literacy initiatives and suggests that there are complicated issues at hand in attempting to integrate the knowledge of aging and corporate strategies into our technical writing classrooms because we enter this discussion concerned about non-traditional students, older adults who are challenged to participate in contemporary literacy initiatives, and ourselves as aging participants as well. The article ends with suggestions of possible ways of addressing concerns regarding aging.

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