A study of 1,242 children in 20 fifth, sixth, and seventh grade classes in Richmond, British Columbia, was undertaken over a seven-month period to discover the effects of a sustained silent reading program (SSR) on the students. Ten classes and the four schools they were in participated in the SSR group and ten classes selected from five other…

Discusses four studies of the Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading method designed to determine whether teacher modeling of appropriate reading behaviors would consistently lead to increases in student reading activity. Concludes that this method provides an effective environment in which students model teacher behavior to improve attentiveness…

Students who lag behind in vocabulary commonly experience academic failure. A student's vocabulary knowledge directly impacts reading comprehension. To improve comprehension, students need exposure to a variety of literature and opportunities for meaningful practice of vocabulary they encounter daily. Vocabulary is developed through a variety of…

Intended for practitioners, this is the first booklet in the Research-Based Practices in Early Reading series published by the Regional Educational Laboratory at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning. The 31-page booklet summarizes research on fluency and fluency instruction and describes strategies for fluency instruction. It also explains…

Reports that regular participation by groups of fifth- and sixth- grade students in a program of uninterrupted sustained silent reading was accompanied by improved performance on a measure of reading achievement over groups who did not participate in the program. Whether the program affected reading attitudes is not clear. (FL)

Suggests that content-area teachers can encourage students' voluntary reading by maintaining classroom collections of subject-related books and magazines and by providing class time for independent reading. (SJL)

Practical suggestions from teachers include activities for defining new English words, using free association and writing, stocking the sustained silent reading library, and using the compare/contrast strategy for word recognition. (MKM)

A junior high reading teacher explains how she got teachers and students involved in a daily school-wide reading period. (SJL)

Questions if various methods of Recreational Reading would affect the reading attitudes of students who are identified as learning disabled. Finds that the following methods were both motivating and enjoyable for the student: self-sustained silent reading, book talk by teacher, books on tape, partner read when students selected their own partner,…

Examines the effect of sustained silent reading (SSR) on reading attitudes of boys and girls. Finds that boys have a substantially poorer attitude toward reading than girls and that SSR has no demonstrable effect on either sex. (RS)

This article describes the implementation of an extensive reading (ER) program with 43 first language (L1) and second language (L2) adult literacy students. Among them, 16% were nonnative speakers of English. The main principles considered in the design of the program were (a) purpose of reading, (b) reading tactics, (c) material used, and (d) …

Due in part to conflicting opinions and research results, the practice of sustained silent reading (SSR) in schools has been questioned. After a frustrating experience with SSR, the author of this article began a data-driven decision-making process to gain new insights on how to structure silent reading in a classroom, including a comparison…

Alternatives to traditional testing techniques are proposed for use in the adult English as a second language classroom. It is argued that traditional testing does not place responsibility for achievement on the learner as is appropriate with adult students. The suggested alternative methods are: the language experience approach, sustained silent…

The purpose of the present investigation was to sample the range of texts selected by 21 students in sustained silent reading in a single fourth-grade classroom. Using a sampling technique developed by French and Foster (1992), single pages from sampled texts were evaluated. The evaluation found that most students were reading fiction (n = 14),…