Drawing on a four-year study of teacher explanation of skills and strategies during elementary reading instruction, this paper identifies and describes properties which distinguish the explanations of more effective teachers from those of less effective teachers. Excerpts of lesson transcripts are used to illustrate these properties. (Author/MT)

Defines direct instruction, reviews research analyzing its characteristics and offers reflections on direct instruction of reading comprehension. (FL)

Presents examples of current instructional conceptions, illustrates one way to broaden thinking about teaching, and argues that a lack of such thinking poses its own methodological problems for reading instructional research. (AEA)

Describes and evaluates four measures designed to study students' awareness and use of reading skills as strategies. Finds that consistent results were obtained with all measures and that a correlational study indicates strong relationships among the measures. (RS)

Explains how reading skills prescribed in basal readers can be recast and taught as reading strategies. (FL)

Concludes that classroom teachers can articulate theories of reading outside the school, but that their actual instructional practice is governed by a complex set of contextual factors. (FL)

Drawing on specific examples in elementary school classrooms and flying instruction analogies, this article shows how teachers can creatively combine tenets of both holistic and direct approaches to reading instruction. Students are more likely to use reading and writing effectively when teachers themselves are empowered to select intelligently…

This article discusses recent findings from descriptive research on the teaching of reading. Teaching practices that appear to have a strong effect on learner comprehension are identified, and implications of findings for inservice teachers and for teacher educators are discussed. (Authors/CJ)

Using Vygotsky's concept of mediated development, a study was designed to determine the effectiveness of what teachers say during instruction in reading skills. Twenty-two teachers were observed five times and their students interviewed to discover student awareness of the use of strategies in reading. Results are explored. (Author/MT)

Argues that pursuing the nonexistent "perfect method" for teaching reading to all children distracts from the real key to improving reading instruction: developing teachers who know a variety of methods and approaches and thoughtfully orchestrate them according to their students' needs. Suggests what teachers, policy makers, researchers, and…

In an instructional study, teachers were taught to make decisions about reading instruction while simultaneously following directives about how to use a mandated basal reading textbook. This article examines how such directives influenced elementary school teachers' perceptions of their role as reading teachers. (Author/NH)

The authors examine some reasons why secondary schools ignore or, at best, provide "band-aid" solutions to the adolescent reading problems that so upset the public. They conclude that secondary schools simply do not value reading achievement enough to expend on it the effort they willingly expend on physical education. (SJL)

Based upon teacher interviews and classroom observations, outlines a continuum of nine "points of progress" teachers seem to go through in learning to teach strategies to their lowest achieving students: confusion and rejection; teacher-controlled strategies; trying out; modeling process into content; "the wall"; "over the…

Reports on an intervention study that trained teachers to be explicit when teaching low reading groups to use reading skills strategically. Concludes that use of the training techniques produced significantly greater student awareness of what was taught but no significant gains in achievement. Copies of the teacher and student rating scales used…

Examines four important outcomes of reading instruction--to enjoy and appreciate reading, to understand reading's communication function, to find information, and to develop word recognition and comprehension strategies--and illustrates how direct instruction varies qualitatively from outcome to outcome. (RL)