Many adolescent readers experience difficulties comprehending informational text, which may result from underlying difficulties with foundational skills (e.g., word recognition and fluency), knowledge demands (e.g., background, text structure, and vocabulary), and/or reading motivation. Supplemental interventions for adolescents targeting only…

The authors argue that nonfiction reading and writing instruction in K-12 settings must include authentic opportunities for students to seek information online. To that end, the authors provide two frameworks for thinking about information acquisition in the 21st century. The first, the intentional and incidental information continuum, describes…

Career and Technical Education (CTE) centers offer an opportunity for students to engage in authentic reading and writing activities. In many states, "embedding" English and math credits (i.e., allowing students to earn traditional core subject credits in the context of their CTE programs) has become a popular trend. This article reports…

This column explores the idea of using 21st-century mentor texts to guide students in the development of critical literacy. The column focuses on one example from the U.S. presidential election of 2012 to illustrate how teachers might engage students to unpack the socially constructed nature of literacy. The author argues that the changing reading…

Graphic novels are an increasingly popular format that educators can use as a tool to teach reading and writing skills across the K-12 curriculum. This article describes a project in which incarcerated youths collaborated with a graphic illustrator to create a graphic novel about teens dealing with issues related to HIV/AIDS. The graphic novel is…

In this column, Kenji Hakuta and Mario Santos described the challenges and opportunities the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards present for language development in the context of English language arts/literacy, mathematics, and science. They heightened educators' awareness of the critical role language plays…

With the advent of Web 2.0, the "social web," microblogging has emerged as a popular literacy practice through platforms such as Twitter. Yet the potential of microblogging in educational communities is currently underexplored. This case study of 150 preservice teachers shows how microblogging can positively influence reading and writing, with…

This article presents the author's response to Rafael Heller's critique of her commentary on foregrounding the disciplines in secondary school literacy teaching and learning. Heller challenges the idea of approaching secondary literacy instruction from a disciplinary perspective by arguing that rather than teach young people the literate practices…

In light of emerging technologies prompting new avenues for teaching and learning, students are positioned to "create" to learn, with video production being an important process for literacy development. There is a growing need for innovative instructional practices in reading and writing that are aligned with student interests and the activities…

In an October 2008 "JAAL" Commentary, Moje took issue with the teaching of generic reading strategies in the middle and high school content areas. She argued for teachers to provide "disciplinary literacy" instruction, focusing on the specific kinds of reading and writing that go on in content areas. The present article concurs with that argument…

The speed with which the technologies of literacy are changing is dazzling and unsettling. Almost every year, it seems a new way of combining words, images, and video emerges and becomes a phenomenon among students. Meanwhile, teachers are left wondering how to respond to these new ways of writing and reading and the identities that students…

Although there is evidence that literacy deficiencies in adolescents can be remedied with one-to-one tutoring using research-based instructional strategies, a review of current literature provides only limited information on transferring effective instructional strategies to learning environments outside of one-to-one tutoring centers. The authors…

This article presents a lesson cycle of activities for teaching reading and writing skills for expository text. The lesson cycle consists of four parts: (1) vocabulary words, (2) text structures, (3) modified sentence completion activity, and (4) rewriting text. Sixth- and seventh-grade summer school students were taught to recognize and…

Members of a site of the California Writing Project conducted the study in this article in partnership with a large, urban, low-SES school district where 93% of the students speak English as a second language and 69% are designated Limited English Proficient. Over an eight-year period, a relatively stable group of 55 secondary teachers engaged in…

Describes several ways in which the newspaper is a useful resource for teaching reading skills and for allowing students to model just about all types of writing. (SR)