This qualitative case study explored reading comprehension and vocabulary skills and strategies used by middle school teachers in grades 6-8. Theoretical foundations for the research revolved around constructivism, social constructivism, and adolescent literacy theory. Prior research showed that students in grades 3-8 were performing at…

In northeastern United States vocational and technical high schools, students who participate in career technical education (CTE) demonstrate varying reading levels of informational literacy. CTE educators, in two high schools, were challenged to support students' literacy performance, which is critical for entry in post-secondary institutions or…

The vocabulary deficit shown by English Learners (ELs) has become evident among many educators over decades of research (Becker, 1977; Biemiller, 2001; Chall, Jacobs, & Baldwin, 1990; Hart & Riseley, 2003), and has shown that a student's limited vocabulary becomes a "major barrier to school success" (Graves, 2005, p. 18).…

This qualitative phenomenological research study examined parent perspectives on shared reading in science. This study was designed to understand parents perceived shared reading to influence their child's science vocabulary and comprehension. The purpose of the study was to determine how parents perceive shared reading to impact their…

In the local school district under study located in southern United States, English as second language (ESL) students are experiencing lower than expected standardized testing scores according to expectations set forth by the state Department of Education. The purpose of this project study was to explore the strategies ESL teachers use to teach…

Readers read for different purposes and the texts they read vary in topic and difficulty. These situational factors influence standards of coherence--how much understanding a reader aims to have for a given text. Three studies examined whether individual differences in reader-based standards of coherence influenced off-line and on-line…

English language learners (ELLs) from an urban high school in the southeastern United States struggled to achieve reading proficiency on the federally mandated reading assessments. The purpose of this case study was to gain an understanding of ELL teachers' perceptions about how using effective vocabulary pedagogies affected the reading…

Studies of proficient readers have shown that the use of certain strategies (e.g., relating personal background knowledge to text, attending to headings and images, and summarizing) is important for comprehension of challenging texts (Afflerbach, Pearson, & Paris, 2017; Duke et al., 2011; Goldman et al., 2016; Shanahan, Shanahan, &…

Research has shown a strong positive relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension (Elleman, Lindo, Morphy, & Compton, 2009; Crosson & Lesaux, 2013; Lubliner & Smetana, 2005). Vocabulary acquisition is possible for all learners through explicit vocabulary instruction and incidental word learning (Cunningham,…

This dissertation aims to identify the locus of L2 processing inefficiency. Previous studies suggest that non-native processing is a specific result of an inefficient predictive mechanism that limits the ability of learners to generate linguistic expectations (Gruter, Rohde, & Schafer, 2014; 2016). Thus, this study employs two distinct online…

Policy mandates to increase the time dedicated to the teaching of reading and mathematics has left little time for arts instruction. Recent research has indicated a positive relationship between improvement in reading comprehension and the integration of arts into instruction. Teaching students to use mental imagery as a reading strategy is one…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of parent training on shared reading practices in families of children with hearing loss. This intervention augmented a multifaceted school program in emergent literacy. In a community based format, parents were explicitly taught three shared reading strategies that have evidence to support the…

Reading comprehension of school-aged students is an important topic of research; however, research on the reading comprehension of adult foreign/second language learners whose first language is English is limited, especially studies investigating the reading comprehension strategies that readers of different proficiency levels use when they…

This study examined the additive benefit of parent dialogic reading techniques in older, high-risk preschool children using multiple baseline design across participants, a single subject research design, as was as well as pre-test and post-test measures. Five preschoolers age-eligible to begin kindergarten the following school year participated.…

The incorporation of dialogic reading techniques in adult-child book reading has been effective in improving early literacy skills in children with language delays and those from at-risk populations. There is, however, limited research that examines the potential utility of dialogic reading strategies for children with disabilities such as Autism…