Argues that schools and teachers underestimate the demands that particular texts place on readers, especially as students reach middle school. Describes how the author uses think-alouds as one particular technique to actively give contextualized strategic knowledge over to students. Shows how this helps readers overcome their struggles to develop…

Two experiments tested whether the orthography of readers' first or second language affected their reading time and comprehension in each. English and Hebrew bilingual graduate students and faculty read texts translated into both Hebrew and English. The English native speakers read the English texts significantly faster than the native Hebrew…

Classroom observations and field notes were collected during group reading time in four southeast London primary schools to investigate the interplay between gender, teacher, and peer group influences. Reading behavior among boys differed in each classroom. English as an Additional Language (EAL) male students seemed highly motivated;…

This article examines studies that have attempted to help increase comprehension of expository text for students who are struggling readers and/or have reading disabilities. In doing so, this review reveals that (a) few studies have explicitly claimed to include these students in their work and (b) future research needs to include larger numbers…

Introduction: The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether children who have reading disabilities in an alphabetically transparent orthography show a syntactic processing deficit. This research focuses on exploring syntactic processing and the use of morphological markers by subjects with reading disabilities. We analyze these groups'…

It is argued that attention to effective evidence-based early reading interventions are a co-requisite to genuinely inclusive education, with implications not only for reading acquisition, but also for a range of other social and academic domains. This paper briefly describes some of the recent developments in reading research that have the…

In this article the authors review the reading status of urban learners and examine the role of phonemic awareness in reading acquisition. Their review indicates that phonemic awareness alone is not sufficient for reading acquisition, and that phonemic awareness in combination with alphabetic principle is needed to promote reading competence. The…

A study evaluated the Chapter 1 Reading Program that served 5,946 underachieving pupils in grades 1 through 8 in the Columbus, Ohio, public schools. These children appeared unlikely to learn to read successfully without additional reading instruction. The program featured small group instruction each day for 40-45 minutes on reading and writing…

A study examined what kinds of books middle schoolers will read when given the freedom to choose. Subjects were 55 children of middle-class parents enrolled in 2 sections of eighth-grade English at a university laboratory school. Of the original population of 55 students, 7 elected not to have data from their reading included, and records were not…

A pilot study explored the nature of the relationship between test and classroom evidence and considered how these different sources of evidence were used in assessing and promoting student growth and development in reading. Test estimates of third-grade children in two public elementary programs in New York City were compared with estimates of…

A study used qualitative methods, as part of a 2-year collaborative university/middle school effort, to understand the instructional reading practices in effect at the seventh-grade level and to investigate whether any of the practices might be related to differential reading performance of the school's African-American students. Few of the…

This paper addresses the study of children's reading interests and their attitudes toward reading as these factors relate to leisure-time reading. The problem of poor performances on measures of reading achievement by African-American children from low-income families has been studied for over 3 decades. Additionally, sociocultural and…

Written to focus attention on the emerging philosophy and practice of whole language, this book serves as a "portfolio" for the graduate or undergraduate student who is interested in pursuing ideas, considering issues, and thinking about problems related to whole language. The 48 selected articles from 24 major education journals presented in the…

This paper describes a program intended to motivate elementary students to read for recreational purposes. The targeted population consists of first-, second-, and third-grade students in a growing middle class community located in the south suburban area of Chicago, Illinois. The problem of students' attitudes toward recreational reading was…

A study examined a reading recovery program in Great Bend, Kansas. Subjects were 70 first-grade students divided into a treatment group and a control group. In the treatment group, 19 were Caucasian, 6 were Hispanic, and 6 were Vietnamese or Afro-American. In the control group, 31 were Caucasian and 8 were Hispanic. Independent variables were:…