As part of a year-long, classroom-based research study examining literacy instruction and development, the research team observed emerging decoders draw from a range of semiotic resources while reading picturebooks. Utilizing a case study approach, the researchers selected eight first graders to act as a representative case, and examined their…

Existing reading assessments have increasingly been criticized by researchers, educators, and policy makers, especially regarding their coverage, utility, and authenticity (e.g., Magliano, Millis, Ozuru, & McNamara, 2007; Pellegrino, Chudowsky, & Glaser, 2001; Rupp, Ferne, & Choi, 2006). Specifically, there is concern that current…

The democratic aim of American education is to provide "all" students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become informed, effective, and responsible citizens. Like civic education itself, literacy education can be embraced by all teachers across all disciplines. There are strategies that all teachers can use to help address…

The democratic aim of American education is to provide "all" students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become informed, effective, and responsible citizens. Like civic education itself, literacy education can be embraced by all teachers across all disciplines. There are strategies that all teachers can use to help address…

Summarizes good reading research published in journals during 1986, focusing on studies that deal with reading comprehension, prior learning, and word recognition. (SRT)

Two experiments examined developmental trends in children's lexical decisions for abstract and concrete words. The first experiment examined children's on-line comprehension of abstract and concrete words. Subjects were 15 second or third graders and 15 college adults at the University of Georgia. The second experiment provided a stronger test of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which problem analysis facilitated the subsequent processing of expository text, both for novices and a comparison group. A text on osmosis consisted of six-pages and was used as reading material. The ninth-grade students were considered novices because they were unfamiliar with the…

This article discusses different approaches to reading instruction for EFL learners based on theoretical frameworks. The author starts with the bottom-up approach to reading instruction, and briefly explains phonics and behaviorist ideas that inform this instructional approach. The author then explains the top-down approach and the new cognitive…