Orthographic facilitation refers to the boost in vocabulary learning that is provided when spellings are shown during study periods, but not during testing. The current study examined orthographic facilitation in beginning readers and whether directing their attention to print enhances the effect. In an experiment, first graders (N = 45) were…

Standards of coherence are one of the major factors that influence reading comprehension. This study investigated the standards of coherence that second language (L2) learners employ when reading. In a pair of experiments, Japanese learners of English read two-sentence texts with varying causal and semantic relatedness between sentences and then…

The effects of psycholinguistic variables are critical to the evaluation of theories about the cognitive reading system. However, reading research has tended to focus on the impact of key variables on average performance. We report the first investigation examining variation in psycholinguistic effects across the life span, from childhood into old…

Social science research often uses educational qualification as a signifier for characteristics such as abilities, earnings potential, and civic participation in adulthood. This study focused on two types of adult literacy students who were native speakers of English and identified words at the 3rd to 5th grade levels but differed in one key…

Educators increasingly need to evaluate schoolwide reform efforts; however, complex program evaluations often are not feasible in schools. Through a case example, we provide a heuristic for program evaluation that is easily replicated in schools. Criterion-referenced interpretations of schoolwide screening data were used to evaluate outcomes…

The authors' purpose was to examine adolescents' reading motivation in relation to standardized assessments of reading comprehension and fluency. After a reading pretest, 60 ninth-grade students (M age = 14.9 years) were randomly assigned to two groups. Compared to those in the control condition, those administered brief oral feedback intended to…

This study examined the incidence of reading impairments, the reading profiles, and the outcomes of a reading intervention for youth involved in a comprehensive crime prevention program. Rates of reading impairments were between 55% and 61%. Reading profiles for participants with reading comprehension impairments showed deficits in phonological…

In this study, we explored the potential of two forms of discussion (disciplinary vs. traditional) for 39 sixth- and seventh-grade students with or at risk for learning disabilities (LD), before writing historical arguments. Nine teachers who led small group discussions in six heterogeneous social studies classrooms implemented the intervention.…

Students with disabilities need to be more involved in planning and presenting individualized education program (IEP) meetings, and teachers need an effective, efficient curriculum to teach students how. "My IEP" curriculum uses folding graphic organizers to teach students to self-direct IEP meetings, targeting self-advocacy and…

The current paper examined the effects of A Balanced Reading Approach for Children Always Designed to Achieve Best Results for All (ABRA), a web-based literacy programme developed by the the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP) at Concordia University, on primary school children in Hong Kong. The participants were 249 Primary 1…

A feasibility study was conducted to test a storybook intervention to increase early reading skills of 25 young signing deaf children of ages 4-9 in grades K through third grade. The children had wide ranges of hearing losses, non-verbal IQs, and signing skills. All were at risk for developing early reading skills, reading below the first grade…

This mixed methods action research study explored how students reacted to using literature circles to enhance their knowledge and understanding of reading nonfiction text as compared to students using guided reading. This study showed a minimal improvement for students participating in the literature circle group in overall understanding of…

The goal of the present study was to examine how effective use of teaching strategies predict reading growth among a sample of English Language Learners. The study specifically examined whether the types of teaching strategies that predict growth in decoding skills also predict growth in comprehension skills. The sample consisted of students in…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between principals' perceptions of their transformational leadership behaviors and academic achievement in the areas of reading, math, science, and social studies in South Carolina public elementary schools. The theoretical framework for this research was provided…

"Methods and Procedures in PIRLS 2016" documents the development of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) assessments and questionnaires and describes the methods used in sampling, translation verification, data collection, database construction, and the construction of the achievement and context questionnaire…