Modern information technology holds both threats and promises for the young generation in every aspect of life--social, political, economic, cultural, and personal. Already research is showing some consequences previously unsuspected. The case for mass literacy must be reappraised to assess what sort of literacy is now required, how it must link…

A review of several classroom observation and survey studies of comprehension instruction, content area reading for homework, and aspects of reading assignments raises the question of whether enough is being done in Irish schools to develop critical reading competency. It appears from these studies that many students are being left to their own…

A second grade teacher in a rural Appalachian school draws heavily on familiar regional literature and the children's own rich mountain heritage and culture to teach reading to her students, covering the required basal readings in only one day per week. Students use the basals on Mondays and retell the texts on paper. They spend the rest of the…

Summaries of several papers are presented to develop a working theoretical analysis of reading comprehension and an understanding of development in language comprehension based upon empirical studies. Contributions from the areas of assessment, artificial intelligence, cognition (including schema theory), instruction, linguistics, learning…

A study examined the practitioner's perspective of literature and how literature is being used in the classroom. Teachers, librarians, and administrators at a suburban school serving over 700 children from kindergarten through fifth grade were interviewed, and professional journals directed toward practitioners, published curriculum guides, and…

A study measured the background knowledge of American culture of international students relative to American college students and the extent to which variations in context facilitate their ability to access or supplement this background knowledge. Subjects, three groups of students at Indiana University (27 international students, 28 American…

In this case study illustrating teacher-centered curriculum development, teachers in the Walpole (Massachusetts) public school system were asked to select a reading program for use in grades K-8. Twenty-five teachers served on two teams over a two-year period. They used developmental learning kits at the kindergarten level, basal reading series…

The purpose of this book on reading instruction in the elementary school is twofold: firstly, to share with colleagues some of the significant works of research and theory that suggest answers to important questions about reading instruction, and secondly, to describe specific teaching strategies implied by these answers. The book assumes that…

To evaluate the 1987 Compensatory Language Experiences and Reading (CLEAR)-Reading Recovery Summer Project undertaken in the Columbus, Ohio Public Schools, data on reading improvement of 59 first grade pupils from Douglas Alternative School were collected. The objective of the 5-week, 3-hour-per-day-program was to give students enough instruction…

This volume marks the completion of Phase II of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) project of inquiry into the issues inherent in the introduction of new information technologies in education. It summarizes the issues discussed and the recommendations made by four working groups at an international conference, each of which…

Project Teach and Reach involves six basic skills teachers, from six different campuses, at kindergarten through third grade in reading and math for low-achieving black students in the Austin Independent School District (Texas). This document contains the final technical report, responding to the following questions: (1) what is Teach and Reach;…

Numbers 1 through 5 of the 1984 TECFORS newsletter include these articles: "The Skills that Cannot Wait: Improving the Academic Performance of Underprepared Students through Integrated Curriculum" (Laurel Corona); "Meeting Culture Shock Head On," part 2 (Michele Molinaire); "Directing First Language Reading Research toward…

Noting that parents have considerable influence on their children's learning during the process of general socialization, this paper reviews literature from primary and post primary schools about involving parents with their children's reading development. Following an introduction which summarizes the pertinent literature, the first section…

A companion piece to "Improving Students' Abilities To Read and Think: A Source Guide" and to the training manual of the same title, this guide is designed to help middle, junior, and senior high school personnel responsible for reading instruction learn new strategies for improving student comprehension of text and learn new ways to…

This paper describes the experience of a German teacher of English as a second language (ESL) in using recreational reading as an integral part of ESL instruction and gives suggestions for materials and techniques to use in the classroom. The discussion begins with a description of foreign language instruction in the German school system and…