Despite being a critical emergent literacy skill and an indicator of risk for later reading difficulties, relatively little is known about how alphabet knowledge develops over time. This study utilized a person-centered approach and longitudinal sample of 998 preschool-aged children (M = 56.50 months old) to examine patterns in letter name and…

Using L1 in L2 classrooms is still a topic of controversy, especially in EFL contexts. Parallel texts are bilingual language learning materials in which L1 translation of the L2 text is given on the same page with a proper alignment. These materials are quite popular for self-study but their efficiency in EFL classroom practice is still vague.…

Gamification is becoming increasingly popular in primary education due to the widespread use of digital technology. However, gamified reading is new, and there is little empirical evidence regarding its effectiveness. The sustainability of the effects of gamification pedagogy is also in doubt as some scholars think that such effects are short-term…

This study investigates the effectiveness of digital games designed specifically for the formation of correct reading skills in the learning of the Latin alphabet by learners with special educational needs in primary school. Learners participating in the study (N = 36) were randomly selected from primary school with inclusive education. During an…

Background: Learner performance in literacy in the primary education sector is in a state of crisis in South Africa. Whilst many more learners have physical access to education post-1994, the quality of education remains polarised along socio-economic lines. This article sets out to engage with current literature on literacy interventions…

This article describes how to use data to align student performance to a phase of learning by using a skill-by-treatment interaction, and how that information can help select an appropriate intensification strategy. It describes the Fuchs et al. (2017) taxonomy of intervention intensity through a skill-by-treatment interaction (STI) for reading in…

Research indicates a powerful correlation between students' reading enjoyment, motivation and achievement. This Australian case study investigates how reading for pleasure (RfP) approaches are demonstrated in the teaching of reading in a Stage 1 (6-year-old to 7-year-old students) classroom. The methodology was designed to mirror aspects of…

Two methods of decoding instruction were compared. Participants were kindergartners who knew letter sounds but could not decode nonwords, M = 5.6 years. The segmented phonation treatment taught students to convert graphemes to phonemes by breaking the speech stream ("sss -- aaa -- nnn") before blending. The connected phonation treatment…

In this meta-analysis, the authors synthesize results from 44 (quasi-)experimental studies on informational and narrative text structure interventions involving students in grades 4-6 in regular school settings. Findings show that text structure instruction had positive immediate effects on students' reading comprehension but that effect sizes…

Extant coverage of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) in the research literature has tended to focus on student outcomes as opposed to the process of adult implementation. This conceptual article presents a model of process evaluation as a means to assess the fidelity of implementation of a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) framework to…

This study attempts to depict the secondary school eighth grade students' epistemological beliefs and their critical reading in terms of several variables and to examine the relationship between them. Descriptive and relational survey models were used within the scope of the study. The population of the study consisted of the secondary school…

According to research by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD; 2000), reading is the single most important skill a child will learn in life. Reading proficiency is a powerful predictor of academic success, on-time graduation, and future earning potential in the workforce. Children who reach adulthood without adequate…

The current study focused on the required Grade 4 reading textbooks published by Mainland China's People's Education Press. Using the construction-integration model (C-I; Kintsch in Psychol Rev 95:163-182, 1988; Discourse Process 39:125-112, 2005) as the theoretical framework, we analyzed the texts and activities in the textbooks on the following…

Some bad ideas never seem to die, despite research showing they do not actually work. It can be hard to spot them at first. Those dispelled education theories that research shot down long ago. They creep up in studies, shuffling around mumbling in the reference lists, or moan loudly in blog posts. The author often stumbles across these…

Mind maps are often used to help readers process texts, but their effectiveness is empirically under-investigated. This study explores whether the use of mind maps presented either before or after the text can prime successful selective processing strategies related to the text topic structure. Differences in performance outcomes (i.e., memory and…