To promote independent reading in middle school, teachers must understand why adolescents choose to read or not read a specific book. Yet, there is limited research on the factors that students consider when evaluating books that teachers have introduced them to in class. This study aimed to describe factors that 43 Grade 7 and 8 students noted as…

Current standards push for elementary students to have text-based and text-centric discussions of what they read. This study explored what bilingual third-grade students talked about during small-group text-based discussions of informational texts. The author conducted a qualitative analysis of 10 video-recorded discussions, five of books matched…

Culturally relevant text selection and pedagogy support students' motivation, engagement, literacy outcomes, and positive identity formation. Nevertheless, there is limited research on teacher preparation that fosters these outcomes. We explore 17 preservice teachers' challenges and successes with culturally relevant text selection and pedagogy…

Examines the written responses of Hispanic, African-American and Caucasian elementary students after listening to various African-American stories to see whether engagement with text is related to student's ethnicity. Finds that students were equally capable of engagement in the African-American stories regardless of their ethnicity. (RS)

Explores the abilities of third graders to interpret literature that serves as an extended metaphor for real life. Finds that using literature to focus children's attention on the similarities that can be drawn across diverse domains provides an avenue for higher-level thinking. (RS)

Examines patterns in the responses of eight second- and third-grade students as they constructed meaning from fiction and nonfiction when asked to respond in writing to different instructional tasks. Suggests that both the task and the text influence children's responses. Demonstrates that young children are capable of providing rich written…

The purpose of this article is to describe an action research study on the discourse patterns that seemed to best promote "developed" discussions of literature with fifth-grade struggling readers in an urban school. Developed discussions are those in which a substantial topic is maintained and the teacher-student talk included interpretations of…

Describes reading response journals and discusses how and when they can be used to help students foster their ability to connect literature with their own lives and increase comprehension. (MG)

Analyzes, from a reader-response perspective, children's free responses to story characters in nontraditional roles. Investigates the relationship of gender for these responses. Finds that only 20-30 percent of the responses expressed opinions regarding appropriateness of nontraditional gender roles and that the most common response type was…

Examines four fifth-grade students' stances and their responses to a narrative text in three classroom activities--a peer-led discussion group, a story map activity, and written responses. Investigates issues regarding the accessibility of shifts in stance for the students. Calls into question L. Rosenblatt's construct of the aesthetic-efferent…