Proficient writers spend substantial time planning for writing, and that planning begins with analyzing the writing task. They spend time considering the topic, the audience and its needs, and the genre and form of the writing. This rhetorical analysis helps them set goals, orient their attention, and get organized. Task analysis can also help…

Twenty-first century literacy requires students to analyze and create images for communication across and within academic disciplines. Thus, literacy teachers are now responsible for supporting students as they engage with visual texts. We must carefully and intentionally choose images for teaching practice and consider the reader, instructional…

In this article, the authors suggest that many of the problems struggling readers encounter while reading stem from distinct yet fundamental sources of difficulty related to the types of text read (print or online), the task or activity readers engage in, and the sociocultural context of reading. The authors further argue that although these…

One of the challenges of teaching disciplinary vocabulary effectively is the paucity of available, classroom-friendly vocabulary assessments that can be used to gauge students' vocabulary growth and to inform vocabulary instruction. This article describes the intricacies of word knowledge that make assessment difficult. Three continua…

ACCESS is an organizational framework to help educators plan instruction that prepares students for high-stakes tests and promotes self-regulated literacy learning. ACCESS stands for tasks that are authentic, that require collaboration among students, that challenge students, that culminate with an end product, that allow self-direction by giving…

By viewing standardized reading tests as a unique genre that could be taught, the author designed a two-week genre study for her reading workshop. The article describes how she planned, taught, and reflected on the unit. This genre study resolved some of the dilemmas she faced around preparing students for mandated testing. (Contains 1 table and 2…

Explains six tasks which require comprehension of words and which can be used to teach beginning readers. (MKM)

Suggests ways in which a teacher can change the learning task to suit the student's level of development. References. (VJ)