Many students enter college with inadequate reading, writing, and critical thinking skills to successfully navigate discipline-specific college-level coursework (Duff, 2010; Hyland, 2006; Lea & Street, 1998; Tsui, 2002). As such, college faculty, and specifically community college faculty, are challenged to meet the multiple literacy needs of…

The primary aim of this study was to examine the vocabulary size of native speakers of English in New Zealand secondary schools. Two equivalent forms of the 20,000 version of the vocabulary size test were used in this study. Two hundred and twenty-seven 13-18-year-old native speakers of English at secondary school took an individually administered…

This article describes how participants in the California Teacher Inquiry Network learn the art of making their invisible thinking processes visible, helping them see more clearly that they have internal resources to help students master similar kinds of thinking processes.

Recently, rhetorical genre studies scholars have challenged the field to de-center the study of genre as artifact to focus on the conditions that surround, inform, and constrain how those genres get used by writers: the genre uptakes. While prior research has begun to identify many of these consequential influences, these endeavors would benefit,…

Developmental reading courses that use specific content-area reading skills and whose reading specialists interact closely with discipline-specific faculty improve student learning (Cox, Friesner, & Khayum, 2003, p. 191). Additionally, content-area instructors who teach strategies such as utilizing study guides and graphic organizers, and who…

This paper describes how a three-day summer workshop on using primary sources helped teachers increase the emphasis placed on disciplinary literacy when teaching social studies and history. Two specific issues in teacher education and practice are addressed. First, increasing teachers' content knowledge of history topics can help them plan lessons…

Students with severe and persistent academic or behavioral challenges may benefit from data-based individualization (DBI). Starting with an evidence-based standard protocol and systematic progress monitoring, teachers can evaluate growth and implement individualized interventions to meet students' needs. Specifically, this article addresses the…

This guidance report aims to help secondary schools improve literacy in all subject areas. It provides seven recommendations related to reading, writing, talk, vocabulary development and supporting struggling students. Throughout the report, recommendations emphasise the importance of disciplinary literacy. Disciplinary literacy is an approach to…

This practical resource emphasizes the special contribution that visual art, drama, music, and dance can make to student literacy and understanding of content-area reading assignments. Focusing on those areas where students tend to struggle, this book helps K-5 teachers provide an age-appropriate curriculum that is accessible to an increasingly…

Education in science and engineering should develop students' ability to read and write domain-specific texts (NRC 2012). Unfortunately, "science teachers are not generally well prepared to help their students penetrate the linguistic puzzles that science texts present" (Snow 2010, p. 452). Thus, Juanita Boliha (a biology teacher) and…

This article examines the issues of how Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will impact adaptive teaching. It focuses on 2 of the major differences between conventional standards and CCSS: the increased complexity of text and the addition of disciplinary literacy standards to reading instruction. The article argues that adaptive teaching under CCSS…

The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to investigate the impact that the addition of middle school classroom libraries would have on student achievement, student motivation and teacher efficacy. Recent reports have identified adolescent literacy as being in a crisis with the number of students reading proficiently in grades 8 and 12…

Research Findings: A social validity measure was used to examine 56 bilingual preschool teachers' perceptions and acceptability of an interactive shared book reading vocabulary intervention implemented in English with Spanish-speaking preschool children (N = 334) in a dual language program model. Social validity outcomes indicated that bilingual…

Literature in this field of English language learners (ELLs) in US public schools indicates that the needs of these adolescent ELLs are not being met due to a lack of language support and inaccessibility to content. This research examined the enactment of a curriculum with preservice teachers designed to address the specific needs of adolescent…

Accommodations are often necessary to help students with reading difficulties access instructional materials that facilitate learning across content areas. However, the extent to which students with disabilities use accommodations during instruction is unclear. We surveyed and interviewed special educators and students with reading-related…