Contends that second language learners need to have a strong grasp of the reading process for school success. Explains how three intervention strategies (t-charts, sticky notes, and key words) were employed to give students an understanding of the reading process. Concludes that using t-charts helped students organize their thoughts, and using…

Outlines instructional activities for developing three subsets of metacognitive awareness--task awareness, strategy awareness, and performance awareness. Argues that students will be effective and efficient learners only by knowing what to study, how best to study it, and whether it has been learned. (RS)

Outlines how contemporary reading theorists conceptualize reading fluency, discussing why it is a good indicator of reading process efficiency. Suggests ways to foster development of reading fluency. Children must acquire the automatic word and phrase processing that enables fluent reading and lets them allocate cognitive capacity to…

This tribute to Samuel Kirk, an early leader in the field of learning disabilities, describes his prominent achievements in reading instruction, including research in remedial reading and identification of reading instruction principles such as stages of reading development, importance of prereading abilities, and the need for explicit, systematic…

Are programs that emphasize systematic phonics instruction truly superior to other types of programs for young readers, as the National Reading Panel claims? The authors conducted a study of three different programs to see what kinds of readers are actually emerging from them. Two were commercial programs that used explicit and systematic phonics…

The study investigated EFL students' ability to comprehend and analyze advertisements and identify their stylistic features. Results of a test with sixty six EFL college students showed lexical and structural features that are easy to identify and those that are difficult to identify. Responses also reflected the difficulty level of the lexical…

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive strategy instruction (CSI) on Chinese reading comprehension of Hong Kong low achieving students. A total of 88 Grade 7 students from four intact Chinese language remedial groups were randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions. Students in the treatment group received a…

Designed to include a broad base of information about how children acquire and develop literacy, this book discusses the knowledge that is necessary to be an influential teacher of reading and writing. Each chapter in the book begins and ends with a "Double Entry Journal" (DEJ)--an interactive strategy designed to stimulate thinking and…

In its report "Becoming a Nation of Readers," the Commission on Reading defines reading as the process of constructing meaning from written texts, a view of reading that makes the use of strategies seem probable. If a book is a source of partial information, and readers are supposed to use knowledge they already possess to determine the…

A study examined primary grade children's comprehension processes while reading a particular story in which specific areas likely to pose reading difficulty had been identified. Based on the children's readings and on their answers to questions concerning the text, five problem areas were identified: (1) poor decoding or word attack skills (2)…

Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest explores the nature of students' metacomprehension, or their awareness of their own understanding, and the implications of this awareness for reading instruction. After defining metacomprehension, the digest discusses why this awareness is important to the learning…

While the look-say versus the phonics controversy has existed for years in reading instruction, a similar debate regarding spelling instruction is only now emerging out of the literature and into the hands of the classroom teacher. "Subskill" spelling, most frequently found in current spelling programs, presumes that good spelling is achieved by…

An informal study examined the impact of a simple behavior modification procedure on the reading habits of second and fifth grade students. Behavior modification theory was pared down to two rules ("reinforce proper behavior" and "reinforce anything close to proper behavior") so that no additional burdens would be placed on…

This journal issue addresses itself to the humanism versus back to basics controversy in education by focusing on its relationship to reading skills. The eight articles explore the following issues: (1) the importance of reading skills as a foundation for any type of curriculum; (2) the necessity of some balance between teaching basic skills and…

In discussing word recognition, Kenneth Goodman argues that preoccupation with words, leters, and sounds cuts off children from the meaning-seeking function of reading; that oral and written language are parallel modes of obtaining meaning from language; and that reading is a selective rather than a precise process of word perception. A review of…