South Africa has low literacy levels and teachers face multiple challenges in their endeavours to elevate levels of literacy. This is especially prevalent in rural and township schools where teachers face the additional challenges of isolation, limited resources and access to professional development. This article reports on the findings and…

Background: Learning which letters correspond to which speech sounds is fundamental for learning to read. Based on previous experimental studies, we developed a serious game aiming to boost letter-speech sound (L-SS) correspondences in a motivational game environment. Objectives: The goal of this study was to determine the efficacy of this game in…

The Sixth Edition of this comprehensive resource helps future and practicing teachers recognize and assess literacy problems, while providing practical, effective intervention strategies to help every student succeed. DeVries thoroughly explores all major components of literacy, offering an overview of pertinent research, suggested methods and…

Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak, and listen in a way that facilitates effective communication. For students with extensive support needs (ESN), acquiring literacy skills is challenging because these students often need accommodations, modifications, and multiple layers of support to learn and practice literacy. These challenges are…

This article is written by two researchers and a teacher involved with the development and implementation of a web-based intelligent tutoring system for adults reading at elementary levels. A description of the tool is provided, followed by some of the challenges faced in designing, developing, and using the tool in adult literacy classrooms.

This study used open coding to analyze 662 idea-units that 44 preservice teachers expressed about successes and challenges related to technology integration in literacy lessons in a reading methods class. Data sources included reading responses, self-reflections on videos of their lessons, and Collaborative Peer Video Analysis. Eleven categories…

As information is becoming easier to access and harder to evaluate, literacy teachers face new challenges in helping students become astute independent readers. Building on the ideas of Lewis Mumford, the authors argue for embracing the role of the generalist--or "expert information seeker" who is able to identify and evaluate different…

Despite significant initiatives to improve education globally, policy makers and researchers are concerned about literacy outcomes in developing countries, as students lack basic literacy skills even after many years in schooling. Educational technology has been championed as a potential solution to low-quality education in developing countries,…

In response to the COVID 19 pandemic, universities and colleges closed abruptly and teacher educators had little time to move instruction from face-to-face classrooms to digital learning environments. This sudden shift created a myriad of obstacles as instructors worked to retain pedagogically sound and effective instruction through online…

Today's secondary virtual teachers are tasked with designing and implementing effective literacy instructional approaches for adolescent online learners. Neglecting to consider the magnitude of possessing literacy skills needed in today's world and not teaching literacy effectively may lead to challenges for students in school and beyond. For most…

Digital storytelling is the process of telling stories in a multimedia platform while foregrounding meaning making, collaboration and the amplification of marginalised narratives. Grounded in a theory of "turn-around pedagogies," this research article aims to expand discussions of digital storytelling to include providing opportunities…

Supportive digital resources are key to supporting educators' pedagogic practices in teaching children to be literate. But locating suitable resources can be confusing, with as claims about products being educational, aligned with curriculum outcomes, and even as 'silver bullets'. In Australia, a lack of specificity in national and state…

By nurturing early literacy skills, we invest in young minds, building a strong foundation for lifelong learning, communication, and success. This Spotlight will help you evaluate research on early literacy gains from tutoring; analyze what experts say makes a strong early reading law; learn how reading on screens can worsen comprehension for…

In this article Joris Vlieghe defends the view that technologies of reading and writing are more than merely instruments that support education, arguing that these technologies themselves decide what education is all about and that they form subjectivity in substantial ways. Expanding on insights taken from media theory, Vlieghe uses the work of…

There is little empirical research available on the substantial problem of adult low literacy rates, and limited educational technologies are available to address distinct instructional needs of this population. This paper reports on development and testing of a version of Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking (iSTART) for…