This paper discusses various approaches educators can use to evaluate the reading skills of students who are deaf and hard of hearing, with special emphasis on reading fluency. Various assessment measures are described and examples of how mature users of American Sign Language read English are given. It highlights the use of a literacy portfolio,…

This multimedia program (a CD-ROM and a teacher's guide) features reading comprehension activities to encourage students to read for meaning. It includes exercises for 100 intermediate level books that are commonly available in classrooms or libraries. The program provides 20 "island destinations" that contain activities that assess comprehension,…

This book provides directions and sample activities to help parents teach their children to follow an easy system for study reading: set clear purposes for study; ask targeted questions; read quickly for specific information; summarize effectively; and gather information from charts and tables. The first section, Flexibility and Reading Speed,…

This book provides functional, pragmatic activities for educators, future teachers, and parents to promote the gift of literacy to others. The book offers 101 detailed lesson plans for the four literacy domains of oral and written language, word recognition, comprehension and strategic reading for narrative text, and study skills and strategic…

This instructor's edition of a vocabulary textbook for college students, who read at the fifth to eighth grade level, features 25 chapters and teaches 250 basic words. The first and third chapters in each unit contain word-part practices. The second and fourth chapters in each unit contain synonym-antonym practices. The book's last chapter in each…

This report, the fifth of a series of annual reports on the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP), presents a review of students' performances in spring 2001 in Grade 3 Reading Comprehension (English and Spanish); Grade 4 Reading and Writing (English and Spanish); Grade 5 Reading and Mathematics; Grade 6 Reading; Grade 7 Reading and Writing;…

The wealth of information available on the Web affords teachers and learners access to language learning resources like never before. Online journals, listservs, newspapers, and magazines provide authentic material for language learners, while teachers can find lesson plans and ideas, exercises, assessment tools, and other materials for use in…

This revised language arts curriculum framework lists the content standards for writing; reading; and listening, speaking, and viewing. The writing section's standards are designed to help students employ a wide range of strategies as they write; use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate to different audiences for a…

Students in the targeted school exhibited a decline in reading scores between second and fourth grade. Due to poor reading levels for 2 consecutive years the state put the school on a probationary list with in its district. Evidence for the existence of the problem included documented low reading test scores, below proficiency assessment records,…

A study investigated the out-of-class learning experiences of non-native speakers of English, and the impact of the experiences on the individuals' second-language conversation skills. Subjects were eight international students enrolled in an intensive English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program at Indiana University, Bloomington. Data were…

This book presents strategies for helping struggling readers, from those who simply need extra assistance to those needing more intensive help. The book is useful for classroom teachers and reading teachers as well as undergraduate and graduate students, and it offers a quick reference guide and full page resource materials ready for photocopying.…

The attitudes and practices of teachers of English in an elementary school in India were studied through a questionnaire completed by all 11 teachers who taught the English classes in grades 1 through 5. The survey elicited data about participants' beliefs about teaching English and their instructional and assessment practices. Teachers believed…

Experience and research on the appropriateness and reliability of various criteria used in oral language tests are discussed. It is concluded that global marking schemes, which are less detailed, may enable the scorer to better evaluate communicative effectiveness, which includes both linguistic and paralinguistic factors. (MSE)

A study inspired by previous research investigated comprehension of three complex English structures by Dutch high school students at three levels of proficiency. Dutch learners responded similarly to speakers of other languages in an earlier study, but had significantly more ease with one structure familiar in Dutch. (MSE)

Describes an experiment with 332 students enrolled in an instructional media course at Pennsylvania State University which evaluated the instructional effectiveness of self-paced instruction when units were accompanied by visual aids differing in amounts of realistic detail and the relationship to a student's reading comprehension level. Nineteen…