Up until third grade, reading instruction is focused on learning to read, while in fourth grade and up, students begin reading to learn (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2024; Grunke et al., 2013). This reading with purpose includes increasing critical thinking skills and using newfound reading skills to understand complex subjects such as math and…

This study aimed to determine if the T3 framework for technology in education impacts students' vocabulary learning, oral language, and reading comprehension, specifically for students labeled as English Language Learners (ELLs). Students were asked to learn two root words a week for four weeks. During each instructional week, students were asked…

The purpose of this mixed-methods sequential explanatory study was to investigate the effects of watching text-relevant video segments on reading comprehension of a culturally unfamiliar text when technical words are present or absent. Therefore, 44 adult English Language Learners (ELLs) with higher-intermediate to advanced English language…

How hard should the books be in elementary small-group reading? This study explored text difficulty for bilingual students reading below grade level in third grade. Using a convergent parallel mixed methods design, I used qualitative methods to analyze students' engagement and discussion during small groups and single case design to evaluate…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of explicit instruction combined with video prompting to teach text comprehension skills to students with autism spectrum disorder. Participants included 4 elementary school students with autism. A multiple probe across participants design was used to evaluate the intervention's…

Previous studies (Collins, 2015; Kennan & Meenan, 2014) have shown how variations in text and task factors and individual reader skills affect performance on reading comprehension assessments. The present study examined whether different presentation conditions (silent reading, watching a video) and response formats (open-ended vs.…

This qualitative research study examined the connections made by refugee and immigrant youth to a teacher proposed mirror text at an elementary ESL book group. Mirror texts, or books in which youth with marginalized identities can see themselves reflected, have been argued to promote text connections and reading comprehension for minoritized…

Across one school year, in which I coached a fourth-grade teacher, she and I took an inquiry stance investigating how we could come to understand the reading identities kids held relative to Stephens' (2013) list of characteristics of effective and efficient readers. We also sought to understand how we could help kids develop, sustain, or extend…

Individuals with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFA) demonstrate atypical development resulting in significant deficits in the areas of perspective-taking and observational learning. These deficits lead to challenges in social interactions and academic performance. In particular, children with HFA tend to struggle with comprehending…

Learning by example is nothing new to the education landscape. Research into think-aloud protocols, though often used as a form of assessment rather than instruction, provided practical, content-specific literacy strategies for crafting the instructional intervention in this study. Additionally, research into worked examples--from the earliest…

A well-documented curricular gap exists in L2 pedagogy between the introductory courses, focusing mainly on language, and advanced courses, focusing mainly on literary content. Intermediate learners, despite their proficiency, generally have difficulty in bridging this gap, as it requires a shift from decoding to interpreting and analyzing texts.…

Currently, the majority of students with disabilities are educated in a general education classroom, which led to a paradigm shift and pedagogies used to meet the needs of all students. The research problem was that general education teachers use of highly effective evidence-based interventions that improve academic achievement for students with…

This qualitative study examines children's comprehension of conventional, wordless, and postmodern picturebooks. The research question was: How do children construct meaning of conventional, wordless, and postmodern picturebooks? More specific questions were: 1) What are the reading strategies that children use as they make sense of…

This study investigated the effects that critical literacy instruction had on comprehension in a seventh grade reading class. Numerous studies have examined critical literacy instruction in the classroom, as well as effective methods of comprehension instruction; however, few studies have combined these two lines of inquiry. Therefore, the purpose…

Struggling adolescent readers are distinct from others in two important ways: (1) They are "adolescents"; and (2) they have a "history" of struggle with reading. Good pedagogy prescribes that effective programs "meet students where they are." For middle-school students, this means meeting them in adolescence.…