Secondary-level students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds who struggle with reading need strategies for aligning new information with their previous knowledge as well as for obtaining and retaining essential information from the text. Important components of all secondary literacy support must include instruction in…

The impact of hypertext presentation formats on learner control and cognitive load was examined in this study using Campbell and Stanley's (1963) Posttest Only Control Group design. One hundred eighty-six undergraduate students were randomly assigned to read a web-based text with no annotations, online glossary annotations, embedded annotations,…

As a teacher with more than 30 years experience at the middle school, secondary, and college level, primarily in English studies, Patterson (the first author) decided a few years ago to reexamine his practices and instructional methods. He wondered what would be the effects on him and his students when he would begin to utilize ideas emanating…

Matching learners with the right level of graded readers is necessary when graded readers are exploited as both simplified reading materials in extensive reading programs and major instruments in the experiments. A lack of controlling ability level can prevent learners from succeeding in developing reading in an extensive reading program. It would…

Increasing numbers of English-language learners and the challenge of supporting their learning in social studies and science brought together a group of urban literacy coaches and university faculty. This article describes the development and refinement of a partner reading routine, Partner Reading and Content, Too (PRC2). Partners with similar…

In the last twenty years, the teaching of reading in Britain has moved away from an interest in how children take delight in, and make meaning of, their literature to a preoccupation with a mechanistic approach to literacy which breaks down texts into bite-sized chunks and fragments reading into a series of isolated skills. Although an expensive,…

In this qualitative study, the author explores how young readers build literary understanding through performative responses in picturebook read-alouds. Performative responses allow children to create and express meaning in ways that go beyond talk and that engage their creativity and imagination. They include a variety of modalities, such as…

The objective of this paper is to use psychoanalytic theory to examine how attempts at critical teaching in two English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms related to changes in student subjectivity. The research critiques critical pedagogical assumptions regarding transformation and empowerment through a Lacanian perspective. More specifically,…

Instructors in academic settings may be naturally inclined to view their students from the outside, their style of communication, their level of competence and engagement, or their punctuality with attendance and assignments. Consequently, they risk missing the rewards afforded by the view from the inside. Autobiography can be an important means…

Although experts may debate the literary value of series books and bemoan readers' reluctance to move away from familiar characters and settings, the fact remains that they often draw reluctant readers to the printed word. There is no evidence that reading series books ruins the literary health or moral fiber of readers (Tunnell & Jacobs, 2008).…

Storyboards deliver a narrative through discrete visual representations. The purpose of the storyboards was always to "scaffold" the final product and students were free to add, delete, or adapt those images that were most helpful to their project. The storyboards served as a brainstorming activity, much like a prewriting exercise for a written…

This article describes one student teacher's interactions with mathematics curriculum materials during her internship in a kindergarten classroom. Anne used curriculum materials from two distinct programs and taught lessons multiple times to different groups of children. Although she used each curriculum in distinct ways, her curriculum use was…

Wilson asserts that the quest for absolute objectivity in scoring student writing--including the use of rubrics--creates harmful distance between reader and writer and ignores the unique, transactional characteristics of writing. She puts forth the view of Rosenblatt and other literacy theorists that meaning and value of texts are not rigidly…

Due to the dominance of behaviorism, applied linguistics, and cognitive psychology since 1960s, many research studies in reading focused on the accuracy and speed required for successful comprehension. There exists a research gap in understanding the individual differences among readers when reading the same text. This study aimed at investigating…

This combined quantitative and qualitative study examined the responses of students to participation in literature circles and the use of trade books in a university classroom. Students in an adolescence course participated in this strategy throughout the semester. The literature circles involved small groups of students who had chosen to read the…