Research suggests that writing the dissertation is one of the major barriers to doctoral students completing their degrees (Di Pierro, 2007). Much of the research on dissertation writing focuses on teaching the technical aspects of dissertation writing and fails to address the underlying issues that give rise to students' struggles with…

This paper looks at the positive and negative aspects of utilizing literature in an ESL class. The writers discuss that if any genre of literature is to be utilized effectively in the class, it should be precisely chosen and investigated precisely in a way which promotes a strong connection between the reader and the content. A particular example…

Engagement markers (hereafter, EMs) are crucial interpersonal devices to interact with readers through texts. However, little is known about the differences of EMs use in Humanities and Science journal research articles (hereafter, RAs), as well as the changes in markers use over the passage of time. The present study provides a quantitative and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate what teachers in a Western Canadian province were doing when engaging their students with literature. Forty two teachers from Kindergarten through to Grade 12 were interviewed, which allowed us to get a broad perspective on the types of reader response activities that are being taught in the classroom…

Adopting a qualitative design, the present study aimed to highlight Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of dialogism in relation to the objectives of teacher education in KSA. To bring this theory to teacher education, the study considered the ways in which students, texts and the instructor interact--enter into dialogue--in order to generate meaning and…

Literature holds the potential to significantly influence the lives of readers, but what is the nature of this influence for very young readers? This study investigated the question: What are the relationships between beginning readers and their personal literature? A first grade class of 18 students individually assembled a collection of personal…

Though its popularity has waxed and waned, cloze continues to be regarded as an instructional strategy for the fostering of reading comprehension. This article takes the view of cloze as one tactic in support of strategy instruction, rather than a strategy in its own right. In contrast to the formulaic applications of cloze for assessment…

Whether constructed on literary analysis models or inspired by conventional acting theories, Reader's Theatre performance techniques are an invaluable instructional tool available to teachers who want their students to see, hear and feel Shakespeare texts in classroom discussion and performance. These exercises are designed to promote both a…

This report describes an individualized literacy intervention program that was developed for a fifth grade boy who struggled with reading. Based upon informal assessment and evaluation procedures, the following literacy strategies were taught within a one-to-one instructional setting: Repeated Readings, Personal Vocabulary Journal, Phonemic…

This paper revolves around the great potential that children's literature and traditional literature may display in social transformation, when associated with the school curriculum. Displaying a role as an important element in children's education and establishing a connection between school and out of school contexts, children's literature can…

The current study aimed to diagnose the probable significant differences in the use of language learning strategies among medical-text readers of opposite sex from different levels of proficiency. 120 (N=120) participants were randomly selected from Azad Medical University of Mashhad: 60 medical students (age range 23-25; 30=male and 30=female)…

This study investigated the role of bibliotherapy in value system formation by undergraduates in seven faculties of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Out of the 1,372 sampled students, 746 (54.37%) were males and 626 (45.63%) were females. The Chi-square statistical method at the alpha level of 0.05 was used in testing four hypotheses developed…

This study considers the degree to which two quantitative indices--Lexiles and Coh-Metrix--discriminate across levels of difficulty and types of beginning reading texts. The database consisted of 444 texts, representing seven text types that are part of reading/language arts instruction. These text types were distributed across seven levels of…

The purpose of this action research project report was to increase engagement during independent reading for 32 fourth-grade students and 26 seventh-grade science students. At Site A, data was collected from August 27, 2012 through December 14, 2012. At Site B, data was collected from September 24, 2012 through December 14, 2012. Students'…

This is a conceptual paper, based on several semesters of collaboration in which the American author interacted with students in the Taiwanese author's EFL classes in Taiwan. The best native language users are typically those who read extensively, especially reading for pleasure in their youth. This gives them a large vocabulary and an intuitive…