Fiction reading is a popular leisure activity associated with a variety of pleasurable experiences, including suspense, narrative transportation, and--as indicated by recent empirical studies--also flow. In the context of fiction reading, flow--generally defined as a pleasurable state of mind experienced during an optimally stimulating…

This paper's objective is to give a thorough summary of research on the reading behavior of Chinese primary and secondary school students. The majority of existing research in this field focuses on the importance of extensive reading, the status quo of reading practices among Chinese students, factors that influence student reading behavior, and…

This study utilized a systematic review methodology to explore best practices in improving reading fluency. The literature was searched to determine how the current curricular trends of technology, phonemic awareness and phonics, independent reading, and complex text and vocabulary can improve reading fluency in K-12 students. Potential studies…

While previous research has provided insights into vocabulary learning through extensive reading, the differential effects of word frequency and word class on active form and passive meaning word recognition remain less understood. By evaluating learners' post-test performance in active form recognition and passive meaning recognition, this study…

While the critical importance of summer reading loss is receiving more attention than in the past, not all summer reading programs are alike. Featuring three new chapters and extensive updating, the second edition of this groundbreaking book describes current research that confirms the importance of key elements in the authors' summer reading…

In an exploration of methods to advance language acquisition without the inconvenience of participating in an immersion option, the authors discovered research on Free Voluntary Reading (FVR). FVR has made a recent resurgence, especially in the context of language acquisition. Krashen (2004) proposes FVR as the answer to building language…

The authors share findings from a recent study of teens who freely select to read texts typically marginalized by schools (dystopia, vampire, romance, horror, fantasy), revealing the distinct functional and psychological benefits of pleasure reading. The students who participated in the study that the authors report on were eighth graders who…

Everyone agrees that reading is important, but kids today tend to lose interest in reading before adolescence. In "Raising Kids Who Read", bestselling author and psychology professor Daniel T. Willingham explains this phenomenon and provides practical solutions for engendering a love of reading that lasts into adulthood. Like…

Long overlooked, reading volume is actually central to the development of reading proficiencies, especially in the development of fluent reading proficiency. Generally no one in schools monitors the actual volume of reading that children engage in. We know that the commonly used commercial core reading programs provide only material that requires…

Michael W. Smith, a professor in Temple University's College of Education, focuses his research on how experienced readers read and talk about texts as well as what motivates adolescents' reading and writing in and out of school. He sees the recent research on adolescents' out-of-school literacies as a challenge to literacy educators to look at…

Research literature concerning gifted male readers relies primarily on more extensive bodies of work regarding gifted males and male readers. Studied as a whole, the two halves portray a worrisome state of affairs for gifted male readers, who lag behind their female counterparts in the same patterns found across the ability spectrum. This literacy…

This article discusses interconnections between research methodology and English pedagogy in a recent study I undertook. The study was designed to deepen understandings about adolescent reading, using particular English teaching approaches to generate data, mindful that ideas about what constitutes the act of reading are often wide-ranging. I…

To examine the current state of reading attitudes among middle school students in the United States, a survey was developed and administered to 4,491 students in 23 states plus the District of Columbia. The instrument comprised four subscales measuring attitudes toward: recreational reading in print settings, recreational reading in digital…

This research synthesis examines whether the association between print exposure and components of reading grows stronger across development. We meta-analyzed 99 studies (N = 7,669) that focused on leisure time reading of (a) preschoolers and kindergartners, (b) children attending Grades 1-12, and (c) college and university students. For all…

Reviews research findings concerning the recreational reading habits of students in colleges of further education. (FL)