ABSTRACT
Under appropriate conditions the structuring and direction of learning occurs from a learner's activities, promoted by powerful setting events and supported by error feedback during interactions. At the root of the skill praise is an expression of the affective base of the primary developmental context. Contingently responding to what children mean in their conversations by continuing the conversation produces learning. So setting events and interactions summed together to provide a supporting structure for performance strategies, performance-directed regulation and learning activities of novice readers. However, the case for a standard behavioural account of the positive statements that teachers make is considerably more compelling. The general information provided in many classroom teachers' positive comments gives substance to an important motivation for becoming skilled. Information about efficacy in learning a skill is derivable from performance-directed regulation. Both the reinforcement and the modelling interpretations predict the same outcome. Increased skill in picking up and using the meanings in texts would develop.
