Science has greatly enhanced what we know about reading and writing. Drawing on this knowledge, researchers have proffered recommendations for how to teach these two literacy skills. Although such recommendations are aimed at closing the gap between research and practice, they often fail to take into account the reciprocal relation that exists…

Research is failing to consistently report theoretical frameworks, increasing the gap between research and practice, and increasing the difficulty teachers face in effectively matching interventions with student needs. However, this lack of theoretical understanding has not been well documented in the current literature. The purpose of this…

Literacy is the ability to read and write. Being able to read and write is an important skill in modern society. Deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) students' literacy achievement has been reported as lower than that of hearing students. This research focuses on the literacy skills of D/HH students, aiming to determine their reading/writing skills and…

Applied Linguistics is a diverse field, comprising a substantial number of sub-fields, sub-specialisations and related fields. To see that this is the case one need only examine the various handbooks and encyclopaedic references that have been published in the last ten years to see the wide range of topics that have been covered. As with many…

Concludes that syntax as an isolated factor carries no special effects on the two factors comprising ethos--authoritativeness and character. (FL)

Finds that when children write without any picture, they use a more developed story narrative than when they are given pictures as an initial stimulus. Suggests that it is the content of the picture and the way in which it is presented that affects story structure. (RS)

Presents the 1998 list of 27 topics that are currently "hot" and "not hot" in the field of reading instruction. Describes the rationale for and nature of the choices, and discusses the nature and significance of the ratings given by "literacy leaders" to these 27 issues. Offers references from both the professional literature and the popular…

Views purpose in writing as a complex web of meaning which writers build and which readers in their own, independently constructive way infer. (JAD)

Reports on a study that examined the effects of reading habits on journalistic writing abilities of 100 university students and found that there was no correlation between the amount of reading and the quality of writing. (HOD)

Examines whether writing in combination with reading prompts more critical thinking than either activity alone, or either activity combined with questions or with a knowledge activation activity. Finds students who both wrote and read made more revisions (prompted by more critical thinking) than students in other treatment groups. (RS)

As reading and writing are both language processes, one can assume relationships between them, but the exact nature of these relationships has not yet been determined. While a large body of research has addressed reading comprehension and written production independently, very little investigation has examined the possible relationships between…

Investigates the ways sociologists perceive and evaluate student writing. Suggests that writing instructors need to examine closely the responses of academic readers to student texts in order to identify patterns of comprehension and evaluation that characterize disciplinary discourse communities. (MS)

Finds that the strategies used by children with hearing impairments to invent spellings were developmentally and phonologically similar to those used by hearing children. (SR)

Investigates the effects of asking interspersed questions or no questions in three full-length stories on the summarization behaviors of sixth graders. Finds that the approach students used in writing summaries may be influenced by the structure and length of the story and that interspersed story-focused questions influenced selection and accuracy…

Offers a naturalistic picture of literacy in colonial North America by exploring family literacy in an early eighteenth-century urban New England setting. Uses the diaries and other writings of Cotton Mather (1663-1728) as sources on literacy within his family. Notes the importance of writing within the family. (SR)