Multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) provide instruction and intervention to all students in schools. However, when many students within a setting demonstrate reading difficulties, there is likely a tier 1 problem which makes it infeasible to implement tier 2 or tier 3 interventions with large numbers of students due to limited resources. The…

Background: The teaching of reading strategies that enhance comprehension is a priority for many practising lecturers involved in academic literacy programmes. However, due to the unprepared nature of a large section of students entering the Higher Education system, a number of students have been found to lack basic literacy skills such as reading…

Structured Literacy (SL) approaches are often recommended for students with dyslexia and other poor decoders (e.g., International Dyslexia Association, 2017). Examples of SL approaches include the Wilson Reading System (Wilson, 1988), Orton-Gillingham (Gillingham & Stillman, 2014), the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program (Lindamood &…

Writing plays a significant role in language learning. Previous research has reported on the effectiveness of several approaches to develop writing skills to enhance writing competence, but little attention has been given to the paragraph writing of elementary students. The present qualitative action research study used artifacts, teacher's…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of an intervention for second graders at risk for academic failure, which taught reading comprehension embedded in social studies content. The intervention included instruction about the structure of cause/effect expository text, emphasizing clue words, generic questions, graphic organizers, and close…

It has been more than thirty years since Richard Braddock published the notable article in which he examined the manner that professional writers utilize topic sentences. He found in his corpus that expository paragraphs seldom began with topic sentences. Consequently, Braddock (1974) admonished teachers to stop instructing their students that…

Article investigated many features, both cognitive and linguistic, of the processes involved in understanding what is read as well as effective teaching methods for developing reading comprehension. (RK)

To avoid confusing children, a reading approach from the very beginning should stress logical relationships based on experiences. Drilling words, sounds, or even sentences should be avoided since these practices lead to deviant schemes. A lifetime scheme involves teaching a child a process. Children need to learn a process by which they can…

Presents comments from five contributors concerning ways to improve parent workshops, the children's literature requirements for teacher certification, paragraph construction, note writing as a way to improve writing skills, and an in-depth study of the works of Maurice Sendak. (FL)

Flowcharting, a skill used to program computers, can be used to teach reading skills. Like programing, flowcharting requires knowledge of a particular content area and an understanding of how to process the information. Skills such as identifying the main idea and supporting details, sequencing ideas or statements, and distinguishing relevant from…

Describes four procedures commonly used to describe the content and structure of text: T-unit analysis, propositional representation, story grammars, and primary trait scoring. Discusses results of research regarding the procedures and their implications for instruction. (TJ)

This study examined "signals" of relationships between sentences that might be helpful in teaching reading to non-native speakers of English. Logical relationships were given special attention and classified to determine if they could be contained within a limited list to be used for teaching purposes. Five hundred paragraphs (2,720 sentences)…

Argues that the paragraph represents a semantic unit, not just a grammatical convention. Presents original research to establish the types and frequencies of certain paragraph formats found in expository material. Discusses the most appropriate time for teaching students the ideational relationships within paragraphs. (FL)