In February 1992 "Kappan," Frank Smith advocated formal reading instruction be abolished and teachers merely read to students and turn them over to authors. This article argues that the scientific study of learning is essential. This country can ill afford to rear generation of illiterates who have learned lazy, inefficient work habits from being…

Early childhood educators are concerned with the most effective method of integrating whole language and phonics to maximize emergent literacy skills. In kindergarten, it is especially important to provide the students with a variety of institutional approaches to accommodate different learning styles. A study examined the effectiveness of Super…

Practitioners and researchers argue about how reading should be taught, about what students should read, and about how best to organize reading instruction in the classroom. Diverse methods are used to teach reading. These range from isolated skills-based (intensive phonics/basal reading programs) to integrated, whole language approaches that…

Critiques current understandings of children's motivation for literacy learning, and argues for a reconceptualization of motivation that centers on the learner as agent in the social construction of meaning. Uses vignettes and examples from studies conducted in whole-language classrooms to investigate children's perspectives of their own literacy…

A program was designed to improve the reading skills of the second grade at-risk students in a suburban K-6 elementary school located northwest of Chicago, Illinois. The second grade at-risk students could not read fluently at the conclusion of the academic school year, and consequently did not exhibit strong reading comprehension skills. A…