Talk is the foundation for thought and understanding and the key to literacy learning. Research demonstrates that powerful metacognitive strategies can be taught to help students self-monitor their comprehension when reading print and digital texts. This article provides a repertoire of speaking and listening strategies to develop the…

Defines metacognition, discusses its importance in reading, and provides suggestions for its development. (FL)

Discusses why elephant riddles are viable catalysts for word play and language development in the primary grades. Explores some relationships between children's thinking and elephant riddles. Offers some suggestions for incorporating them as a regular part of the classroom flow. (SR)

Argues that bibliotherapy can be used to help children develop reading comprehension skill and to use that skill to understand their own personal and social development in a better way. Provides a list of books suitable for bibliotherapy. (FL)

Argues that a problem with the storage and conduit metaphor lies in its attention to representational knowledge while giving little attention to cognitive knowledge. (JC)

Presents a language arts unit designed to create bridges between the real world and the story in order to help children develop both social understanding and reading comprehension skills. (FL)

Argues that Piaget's cognitive stage theory complements psycholinguistic theories of fluent reading by clarifying how readers acquire and then use prior knowledge. Suggests that, in this light, teachers may want to rearrange the order and manner in which they present units from basal readers. (FL)

Inferential questions were found to elicit longer responses than factual questions, reflecting complexity and the use of higher cognitive processes. (MKM)

Establishes a developmental perspective for using caption books (picture books with short language captions closely related to simple pictures), then details how the books can be used in the classroom. (FL)

Noting that the reading process is interactive, describes the use of guided imagery as a strategy to help children monitor their own comprehension. Presents support from research. (NH)

Reports a study examining the differences between the types of questions asked while teaching reading by teachers educated in the Science Curriculum Improvement Study method of inquiry-discovery science instruction and teachers of reading not educated in this science instructional approach. (TO)

Uses the case study reported in "GYNS AT WRK" to illustrate the five stages of development that children go through in learning to spell. Explains what is involved in each stage and what a teacher can do to help. (FL)

Explains a strategy called "What Do I 'S'ee? What Do I 'T'hink? What Do I 'W'onder?" (STW) which helps students look carefully at pictures in storybooks and think about a story's character, setting, and events. Notes that the STW strategy provides opportunities for students with varying reading abilities and diverse experiences to work together…