When selecting children's reading materials, teachers should consider the element of value identification and clarification when relevant in addition to the traditional consideration of theme, plot, characterization, and style. (TO)

Describes a program of workshops held to encourage parents, teachers and children to share reading experiences. Suggestions are given for selecting books, reading aloud, and discussing content. (SET)

Reading comprehension is an important means of increasing the learners' involvement. Texts should be used as stretches of real language rather than broken down into isolated units. In teaching foreign languages to non-language students, care should be taken in selecting, analyzing and presenting texts. (SC)

Validity, the most critical of readability formula characteristics, requires that a measuring device actually measure what is intended to be measured. To examine validity, a study was conducted in which ten popular handbooks used in the teaching of college freshman composition were examined for comparative validity data--the extent to which scores…

Because gifted readers have instructional needs that vary greatly from the norm, curriculum planners and teachers should make plans for the gifted that are different from those for other pupils. An instructional program for gifted readers should (1) have a strong content and value emphasis, (2) group students so as to allow the gifted to relate in…

Intended for use by preservice and inservice teachers, day care providers, and all who work with preschool and primary age children, this book focuses on children's literature as an art form and on the ways it supports children's growth and development. The first two chapters describe the range of literature currently available and demonstrate how…

Teachers can match content reading materials with student needs and abilities in a number of ways. If textbooks are the main or only source, teachers can group students according to textbook difficulty, conduct student surveys of specific topics in the textbook, and use the textbook as a sampler or starting point for more in-depth studies of…

The administrator's role in establishing a sound junior college reading program is discussed. He is warned against the unthoughtful adoption of reading innovations, the hiring of unqualified teachers, and an inadequate supply of reading materials. Effective inservice training programs, a concerned reading committee, and adequate library facilities…

The use of linguistic principles in selecting reading materials is relatively recent. Several years ago at Wayne State University, over 200 principles were identified as possible criteria for the selection of materials. About 50 of these were linguistic principles, some of which conflicted with the others. Descriptive linguistics seems, at…

Ten easy-to-read books were examined for readability using Fry's Readability Graph and Betts' criteria for oral reading performance. Five first-grade and second-grade children read selected passages from each of the ten books. A correlation of 0.73 was obtained between rank orders according to readability graph scores and according to oral reading…

Focusing on readability and interest factors of instructional materials for adult education, the study examined the possible relationships between performance and expressed interest in individual reading passages and in categories of passages. Passages on one of three levels of difficulty were administered to 180 adult education students from…

The purpose of this evaluation of the children's book review centers was to determine the answers to two major questions: Would the children's book review centers(CBRC) receive enough use to justify their continued funding and existence? and would the CBRCs improve the librarians' selections of children's books? Data for the study were collected…

This annotated booklist includes easy-to-read materials for new adult readers. Criteria for selection of the materials were: (1) the content of the books and the form of presentation must be suitable for adults; (2) the materials must be suitable for persons of varying cultural and ethnic backgrounds; and (3) they must be oriented toward the urban…

These 12 articles on censorship in the schools comprise a collection of "representative opinions expressed by concerned individuals"--professors, teachers, school administrators, clergy, high school students, a publisher, and a spokesman for the National Education Association. The essays range in viewpoint from a traditional belief in the…

This monograph discusses the three chief interacting variables which affect the readability of a particular piece of material--format and organization, the reader, and the criterion used to estimate readability. Chapters include "The Concept of Readability," which provides a comprehensive view of readability, analyzes the purposes of…