Although educational standards call for children to read information effectively, emphasis on using narrative texts with young readers persists in the early literacy community. This book shows that nonfiction texts can be as effective as narrative in early reading instruction, and offers suggestions for developing classroom libraries and choosing…

Because fluency instruction was identified, only recently, as a cornerstone literacy subject--it is still unfamiliar terrain for many teachers. This volume fills a crucial gap by offering a thorough, authoritative examination of what reading fluency is--and how it should be taught. Contributing authors, who include the field's leading authorities,…

Rita is a Pacific island grade 2 teacher in a local village school. She has established a 90-minute daily literacy block in which she focuses on literacy-related activities. As she sits with her students during the literacy block, she realizes some of them are having difficulty comprehending text, and many are unable to retell the stories…

Purpose: The purpose of this action research presentation is to discuss how explicit comprehension instruction can take place along with writing, in the kindergarten classroom. Methodology: This action research project took place in a suburban kindergarten with learners of diverse ability levels and ESL students as well. In this classroom small…

Social scientists emphasize reading as one way of obtaining knowledge and skills together with other approaches such as visiting museums and observing purposeful items. Then too, they emphasize using a variety of approaches in helping students achieve worthwhile objectives in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. A quality social studies…

The ability to read fluently and make use of text is crucial for all learners. The training of secondary teachers, however, takes almost no account of this. Reading skills develop and change as the individual meets new situations and demands throughout life. Reading should be understood as a complex process of making meaning from text, for a…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Oral Language and Vocabulary module elaborates on a student's comprehension of text as it relates to the overlap between the student's system of language and the author's system of language.…

This paper discusses and demonstrates how to use children's interests combined with children's literature to make learning easier. According to the paper, the concept is to choose an area that excites children, one where they already have a developed schemata or knowledge base, then to use children's trade books about that topic to teach the…

Since regular teachers miss on average 8 days of work each year due to illness, there is a need to have well trained substitute teachers for the public schools. The substitute teacher needs inservice education programs which prepare him/her to do a quality job of teaching students. The following are essential reading skills to develop within…

This paper discusses the amount of vocabulary required by students learning in a second language to comprehend academic texts, explaining that a wide vocabulary is essential for reading comprehension and for speaking and writing clearly. It highlights an assessment of the vocabulary levels of students entering Hong Kong University, which found…

This study examined meta-cognitive strategies utilized by bilingual, Hispanic 6th graders from three Chicago public schools that had embraced a staff development initiative designed to help increase Hispanic students' reading comprehension levels. The Strategic Teaching and Reading Project (STRP) emphasizes five basic comprehension strategies:…

Researchers at Taiwan's Ming Chaun University and at the University of Northern Virginia investigated whether a strategies-based approach to teaching English reading to non-native speakers would improve reading comprehension. The study also examined whether incorporating culture into teaching would improve reading comprehension in Taiwan and…

The purpose of this book is to give media specialists, teachers and/or teacher helpers and parents a guide to using beginning chapter books to encourage first and second graders to read independently. The book contains in-depth lesson plans for 35 early chapter books. Each lesson contains bibliographic information plus setting, characters, plot,…

The four issues of this journal, written entirely in Spanish, are intended for reading teachers. The first issue focuses on the role of school in the development of readers and writers and contains articles discussing the results of an investigation into the validity of the idea of "level" when measuring students' comprehension of…

This handbook presents brief descriptions of various aspects of reading instruction and related lesson plans and class activities. Sections of the handbook discuss reading readiness, word recognition, word analysis; word meaning, comprehension, and content area reading. The handbook also offers brief biographies of Jeanne Chall, Theodore William…