This study examined the comprehension skills and strategies presented in current reading textbooks used within the United States as a means of describing a contributor to the ecological component of reading. The ways in which comprehension skills and strategies are distributed across genres as well as connected to the National Reading Panel…

This paper investigates three English textbooks for primary classes 4, 5 and 6 in Ghana from the "Gateway to English for Primary Schools" series, and their complementary teachers' guides, in order to determine the assumptions about teaching and learning which the books embody. The paper pays particular attention to the approach to…

Presents guidelines for use in examining the comprehensibility of a textbook, questions to ask about the book, and suggestions for using the guide questions. (FL)

Proposing two major shifts in how to involve low readers more effectively in textbook learning, this book suggests that students, even those with low reading skills, can learn to use mainstream textbooks, and that textbooks can be designed to make them more usable for all students. The book presents a series of instructional techniques that…

Many students from elementary school through college encounter difficulty understanding their science textbooks, regardless of whether they have language disorders. This article discusses some of the particular difficulties associated with science text comprehension and possible remedies for facilitating and enhancing comprehension of challenging…

Discusses the use of content area textbooks and indicates that content textbooks are difficult for students to understand because the books generally are not well written. Offers solutions for how to use content textbooks and illustrates how lessons can be created through the integration of tradebooks and through discussions in which critical…

A study involving students in two English classes and two algebra classes at the College of Alameda was conducted to assess the correlation between a student's grade achievement and his/her ability to read at the level at which the course text was written. The Fry Readability Scale was used to determine the reading level of the course texts and…

A guide for teachers selecting reading textbooks, this report brings together information about basal programs on the market and clarification of important issues in reading instruction. A general analysis of 20 basal programs includes a prose explication and a table comparing contents (skills), reading selections, methodology, assessment tests,…