As part of a longitudinal study of the acquisition of reading skills, a study tested kindergarten children at the beginning and end of their kindergarten year. The children were also observed for nine full days in their classrooms. Subjects were approximately 650 children in two cohorts. Data were collected in three school districts in Illinois,…

Intended for classroom teachers and reading specialists, this monograph features high-interest, easy-to-read materials for readers who experience difficulty with text. The monograph, a revised and updated edition of a 1979 publication, includes an overview and a bibliography that contains reviews of 44 book series and 15 periodicals. The entries…

Presenting a representative sample of recent (1977-1988) professional literature dealing with reading instruction, development, and performance of children who have been labeled at-risk, this 227-item annotated bibliography encompasses qualitative and quantitative research, literature reviews, and conceptual pieces that are undergirded by…

The study investigated the effectiveness of an ecological inventory and screen writing for the acquisition of reading words for secondary-aged moderately mentally handicapped students. The study utilized an ecological inventory model which is an adult-referenced curriculum based on adult tasks and local resources and environments, rather than on…

The Wisconsin Rural Reading Improvement Project implements a research-based telecommunications model of professional development and school improvement that rural school districts can use when redesigning K-12 reading curriculum. The project's approach to staff development assumes that change in school reading programs proceeds via extensive…

A study compared the reading instruction provided by classroom, remedial reading, and resource room teachers. Subjects, 31 classroom teachers, 7 resource room teachers and 10 remedial reading teachers from 6 upstate New York elementary schools were observed during reading instruction using a structured classroom observation procedure. Results…

Japanese and American reading programs in kindergarten and the primary grades differ extensively. This is partly because the Japanese written language makes initial learning easier and later learning more difficult. In addition, bolstered by a long history of literacy, Japanese parents provide more uniform support for their children's academic…

This paper examines the context of critical reading and considers how it can best be taught. The paper also includes some reflections on the current "state of the art" in critical reading in an English for Special Purposes (ESP) or English as a Second Language (ESL) context. The paper details a series of attempts to develop a set of…

A study examined time spent on comprehension instruction by award winning, masters degree, and non-masters degree teachers. Observations of reading lessons were made under two conditions; not-cued and cued to teach "ideal" comprehension instruction lessons. Subjects were 36 public school third-, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade teachers…

This booklet by a committee appointed to assess the teaching implications of the Reading and Writing tests of the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test (NJCBSPT) is intended to provide ways of helping teachers assist students to improve their skills in reading and writing by, in part, pinpointing the major weaknesses of students taking…

Addressing many aspects of the use of computers in elementary reading instruction, this annotated bibliography in six sections contains 27 items from the ERIC database from 1987 to April 1989. The first section contains items discussing the pros and cons of such use; the second section deals with organizational aspects of computer use in the…

The extent and impact of adolescent illiteracy, brief descriptions of several successful programs designed to combat adolescent illiteracy, and a more detailed description of one of those programs are included in this collection of articles. The first article argues that while experts may disagree about the numbers of illiterate adolescents and…

Part of a series focusing on the classroom needs of special students, this book supplements more comprehensive and theoretical treatments of teaching language arts with practical classroom teaching strategies. The book is divided into the following five parts: (1) "Special Language Arts Needs of Special Learners," with chapters outlining…

This set of materials for a cultural writing curriculum for adult basic education students (5-8 grade level) consists of a teacher's guide and student manual (videotape and an audiocassette complete the set). The materials are intended to develop the adult learners' writing and reading competencies through their active involvement with the…

To illustrate the interdependent relationship between critical thinking and reading comprehension, and to show that critical thinking can be infused into classroom instruction using ordinary classroom materials (e.g. selections from a basal reading series), a study analyzed the transcript of a critical-thinking reading lesson for sixth grade…