The Science of Teaching Reading (STR) has received increasing attention as states continue to pass educational policy initiatives grounded in STR research. One major change resulting from STR policies is the heavy focus on the systematic instruction of phonics. Texas in particular has seen sweeping changes to their preservice teacher (PST)…

In the late 1980s Batia Laufer worked with teachers who believed that to understand a text it was enough to understand 80% of the text's word tokens. In response, Laufer set out to calculate the minimal text coverage, i.e., percentage of running words in a text the reader should understand to comprehend it reasonably well. In 1992, she explored…

This article investigates the potential benefits of using children's literature in adult second language (L2) classrooms. A short-term, intensive university course for English reading and writing was designed incorporating children's literature into the curriculum. The author describes the course and discusses how children's literature can be used…

The dichotomy a teacher educator experienced as a child between reading library books and "store-bought" books at home and reading the textbooks in school turned out to fuel major debates in the teaching of reading. She always believed that she had learned to read with books--she simply endured the school readers to get through school.…

A Colorado elementary school has developed reading units for the intermediate grades using novels written for children. Classes range from those in which one novel is taught per year to those in which novels form the entire reading program. These novel presentations are guided experiences, much the same as developmental reading lessons in most…

Containing a review of recent research on critical reading and six appendixes detailing course tasks and assignments in an introductory literature course, this essay aims to help teachers develop students' ability to read and write about literature critically. The essay, which focuses on how these course tasks coincide with the findings of recent…

Describes the contents and evaluation methods used in a high school course designed to get students to read more. (RB)

Describes an eight-week course at the University of Connecticut designed to introduce parents to the available literature for children. (RB)

Presents a Holocaust literature class that brings new voices to the community college literature curriculum. Describes a course that involves reading five survivors' autobiographies, hearing four survivor speakers, one of whom was one of the authors, and hearing a speaker who had researched the murder and victimization of her family during the…

A collection of papers concerning the application of language studies to the instruction and promotion of English literature appreciation in foreign countries includes an introduction by Neil Gilroy-Scott and these essays: "The Deviant Language of Poetry" (H. G. Widdowson); "Approaches to the Study of Literature: A Practitioner's View" (H. L. B.…

Presents arguments for the use of ethnic literature, specifically the literature of African and West Indian writers, to support and develop positive reading attitudes and habits in students. Includes a selected bibliography of West Indian and African novels. (AEA)

Intended for use by reading teachers, this document presents classroom activities for using drama as an aid to reading comprehension. Following a brief introduction discussing the rationale for drama in the reading classroom, the paper details various phases in comprehension, matching each level with suggested books and appropriate dramatic…

Asserts that extending reading journals to case studies of classmates as readers and viewing journal responses as "texts" help to redefine the study of literature and to build a community of interpreters of texts. Describes a course based on these ideas. (PRA)

This curriculum guide is designed for a course based on Ovid's poetry. It includes a statement of the broad goals and performance objectives of the course, a summary of course content, suggestions for the expansion of material, sample evaluations, and a list of references. (PMP)

Included in this document are (1) guidelines for elective secondary English programs which provide class designs for reading, writing, listening, speaking, and language instruction; (2) objectives and guiding principles for language arts instruction, K-12; (3) the Jefferson High School Language Arts elective program philosophy and requirements in…