The demand for evidence-based instructional practices has driven a large supply of research on adolescent literacy. Documenting this supply, Baye, Inns, Lake, and Slavin's 2019 article in "Reading Research Quarterly" synthesized far more studies, with far more rigorous methodology, than had ever been collected before. What does this mean…

This article provides a commentary within the special issue, Integration: The Keystone of Comprehension. According to most contemporary frameworks, a driving force in comprehension is the reader's ability to generate the links among the words and sentences (ideas) in the texts and between the ideas in the text and what the readers already know. As…

This article is a rejoinder to J.S. Bowers (2020), 'Reconsidering the evidence that systematic phonics is more effective than alternative methods of reading instruction', "Educational Psychology Review" (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09515-y). There is strong agreement among reading scientists that learning the phonological…

In this position article, the authors explore a confluence of evidence that supports the understanding that multiple factors, various processes, and multiple sources of information inform reading. The authors open by briefly describing concerns related to how some scholars and media reporters have characterized the simple view of reading and…

This article provides a commentary within the special issue, Integration: The Keystone of Comprehension. According to most contemporary frameworks, a driving force in comprehension is the reader's ability to generate the links among the words and sentences (ideas) in the texts and between the ideas in the text and what the readers already know. As…

This report reflects a panel presentation and discussion at the 2020 Literacy Research Conference focused on the science of reading (SoR). Each panelist presents a summary of the presentation and incorporates the comments of the Literacy Research Association (LRA) members attending the session virtually and posting in the chat room. Each…

Purpose: In this article, we respond to Catts and Kamhi's (2017) argument that reading comprehension is not a single ability. Method: We provide a brief review of the impact of strategy instruction, the importance of knowledge in reading comprehension, and possible avenues for future research and practice. Results: We agree with Catts and Kamhi's…

The three target articles provide examples of intervention studies that are excellent models for the field. They rely on rigorous and elegant designs, the interventions are motivated by attention to underlying theoretical mechanisms, and longitudinal designs are used to examine the duration of effects of interventions that occur. When studies are…

It has been both informative and interesting for the author to look back 20 years and recall what was happening in the field of reading. The author related these memories to her introduction and first use of "What's Hot, What's Not" (Cassidy & Wenrich, 1997). As it was, she was preparing her Keynote Address for the College Reading…

In this critique of current reading research and practice, the author contends that the extreme ambiguity of English spelling-sound correspondence has confined reading science to an insular, Anglocentric research agenda addressing theoretical and applied issues with limited relevance for a universal science of reading. The unique problems posed by…

Timothy Shanahan was surprised to learn that Elaine Garan and Steven Krashen had written yet two more critiques of the National Reading Panel (NRP) report. Each already has more NRP-related publications than any member of the panel, and both have been issuing their complaints over a longer period than the panel worked on the eight studies that…

As a result of the Reading First Program of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the view of reading has narrowed. Individual state's Reading First professional development programs, and hence reading teachers across the United States, have spent the six years since the funding of the program in 2002 focusing beginning and developmental reading on…

Discusses the different ways theorists and researchers define "reading." (FL)

Discusses techniques used by reading researchers to derive "operational definitions" of reading phenomena. (FL)

Discusses how knowledge of past reading instruction can enable educators to have a better understanding of contemporary practices and the advantages to the researcher of dual training as historian and reading educator. Offers specific methodological criteria for engaging in or evaluating historical research in reading instruction. (Author/FL)