This study describes an approach for enhancing reading strategies through the use of technology for improving reading comprehension and vocabulary. The targeted population consisted of middle school students in a growing low to middle class community, located in central Illinois. The problem of declining reading scores was evidenced in data…

This report is a compilation of four different studies involving kindergartners (N=950) who participated in the "I LIKE ME!" program. I LIKE ME! is a 12-week program that uses a personalized reader with "I" statements as positive inducements for learning and achievement for kindergartners. The goals of the program are to bring home, school, and…

The report, entirely in French, describes Alberta's curriculum for seventh-year French immersion, as revised in 1998. An introductory section offers background information on the curriculum revision, links between the core curriculum and French immersion, underlying principles of second language instruction, the revised curriculum's objectives and…

The report, entirely in French, describes Alberta's curriculum for eighth-year French immersion, as revised in 1998. An introductory section offers background information on the curriculum revision, links between the core curriculum and French immersion, underlying principles of second language instruction, the revised curriculum's objectives and…

Using the example of Taking a Stand in Cyberspace, the authors articulate issues confronting school, community, and higher education groups as they create online discussions geared to deepen the level of student discourse about literature. Through a collaboration between the Vermont Center for the Book, the WEB Project, and six Vermont schools,…

The Informational Text Reading Inventory (ITRI) was created when the Center for Innovation in Assessment (CIA) observed that students in grade four experience a significant drop in performance in all of their subject areas. CIA researched solutions and identified the critical issue as the students' struggle to apply the reading skills they have…

The kind of teacher performance that prompts witnesses to say that someone is a good teacher is not always equivalent to good teaching, if good teaching is what produces good learning. Teacher evaluation by colleagues and students, testing, and reading are discussed, and a new hypothesis and proposals are presented. (MLW)

Describes a course designed to improve the scientific reading proficiency in English of Italian students of political science. (CFM)

Examines methodology used to determine a hierarchy of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students' written error gravity and describes a new error substitution methodology for identifying the communicative interference effect of ESL errors on naive native speakers of English. Findings indicate that lexical and verb-related errors interfered with…

Overviews three experiments exploring the value of extensive reading in English as a foreign language for college students in Japan. Notes that in extensive reading, students do self-selected reading with minimal accountability, i.e. writing brief summaries or comments on what they have read. Findings reveal extensive reading to be superior to…

Describes teaching strategies for students' initial exposure to nonfiction materials to help students' comprehension of new materials of varying opinions, and integration of new knowledge. Provides specific questions to elicit student understanding and utilization of new content, author, organization, biography, style, publishing conventions,…

These exercises and examples pertain to readability information presented in preceding articles. They are designed to help speech language pathologists test their intuitions about word and text difficulty and to see readability data from a number of quantitative formulas applied to passages across a wide range of levels. (Contains 8 references.)…

Outlines a working model of the 10 elements that make up the teaching method, "instructional conversation." Profiles the use of this method to teach moral education and reading comprehension to an elementary class making the transition from Spanish-reading instruction to English. (MJP)

Investigated how intermediate students of French interacted with a computerized second language reading gloss from three perspectives: (1) the relationship between the group's choice of program options and their comprehension; (2) individual user styles; and (3) student perceptions of program effectiveness. (31 references) (Author/CK)

Implements a literature-based instructional intervention using a series of high interest, predictable trade books. Engages students in story reading supported by teacher modeling of fluent reading, repeated and choral reading of predictable text, and use of multiple cues in written language. Indicates students gained in reading fluency and…