The purpose of this article is to look anew at the concepts of reading, reading development, and reading research as they exist beyond the boundaries of the "science of reading" controversy. The context for this reconceptualization is reading in the digital age and the challenges that today's readers confront daily. Those challenges…

Improving reading instruction is one of the hottest topics in K-12 education today. It is also one of the most complex, encompassing pedagogy, policy, and politics -- all rooted in a long history of arguments about the best way to teach kids to read. This analysis is a primer on the "Science of Reading" and efforts to implement it across…

This article discusses whole language and phonics approaches to teaching L1 reading. It argues to bring these two perspectives together under an integrated approach to better teach second language reading. The article offers an integrated lesson plan with adaptable activities and techniques that show how to apply the integrated approach.

Examines the results of the National Reading Panel's (NRP) comparison of skills-based and whole language approaches through the lens of reading comprehension. Reveals that the research does not show that skills-based methods are superior. Concludes that the NRP's interpretation of the results is not the only possible one and should not be the…

In this practitioners' guide, a recognized reading expert explains how educators, parents, and concerned citizens can spot ineffective reading programs that may hide under the "scientifically-based" banner. Although the term "whole language" is not commonly used today, programs based on its premises remain popular. These…

Notes that experimental subjects were trained to segment and spell phonetically regular words, whereas controls were trained to read letters, words, and text. Finds that trained subjects made significant gains and were better than controls at posttest in measures of reading nonsense words, real words, and oral passages, but not of silent reading…

Investigates the relationship between type of reading instruction and reading comprehension. Uses predictor variables including IQ, group, race, and comprehension pretest score to predict comprehension score. Finds that the dependent variable was not significantly related to method of reading instruction, and there was no interaction effect…

A study investigated whether there was a relation between methods of language arts instruction and reading comprehension as measured by the Cloze-procedure. Subjects, 88 third-grade students in 4 classes (2 "traditional" and 2 "whole language") at 2 elementary schools in South Dakota, had their reading comprehension tested 6…

Assesses the effectiveness of whole language instruction over the course of a school year. Finds that middle and low progressing experimental subjects and experimental males at each of three ability levels attained significantly higher mean scores on a cloze test than did their counterparts in the control group (who used basals). (RS)

A meta-analysis used Glassian techniques to compare the effectiveness of the whole-language approach to the direct-skills approach. A total of 21 studies included sufficient information to calculate effect sizes and included whole language approach as the independent variables with dependent variables relating to reading improvement. Results…

A study determined the effect of shared writing activities on reading comprehension. The subjects, 40 second- and third-grade students from a suburban school in Mercer County, West Virginia, completed the Reading Comprehension Subtest of the Comprehension Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) for grade 2 as a pretest. A control group of 20 students were…

An action research project studied the attitudes and achievement of low-achieving fifth-grade students after participating in a 1-year heterogeneously grouped, literature-based reading program. The project explored the changes in student attitudes towards reading, and changes in students' knowledge in comprehension and vocabulary development.…

A study examined the effect of whole language philosophy as compared to a more traditional reading program on children's reading comprehension scores. The study included a review of current research indicating the importance of teachers stating the topic prior to reading as well as the importance of students' oral reading ability to assess reading…

A study compared an integrated language arts reading program and a strong phonics basal reading program. Subjects were first graders from five eastern Greenbrier County schools in West Virginia. The control group consisted of students in 15 classrooms, during the 1994-95 school year, when a strong phonics basal reading program was taught and…

An action research study described and evaluated a program for improving the reading comprehension of targeted first, second, and third grade students, in a progressive suburban community in northern Illinois. The problem was noted by the researchers, who in recent years had observed a need for improvement in reading comprehension as indicated by…