This action research project describes a program for improving reading fluency in order to increase reading rate and raise comprehension. The targeted population consisted of second and third graders in a middle class community, located in a suburb of a large metropolitan area. The problems of lack of reading fluency and low comprehension were…

Vocabulary knowledge provides a source of prior knowledge and word meaning that can be used to enhance reading comprehension. It is important that teachers be aware and knowledgeable of the many strategies available to enhance vocabulary growth, and also how to teach these strategies to students. These strategies can range from the use of context…

This paper discusses the importance of teaching English language learners (ELLs) three reading strategies to help facilitate a productive literacy environment, suggesting that students must be taught specific reading strategies in which purpose, comprehension, and memorization are facilitated. The first section presents a pre-reading strategy,…

In this book, Karen Tankersley provides a multiplicity of practical, research-based reading strategies tailored specifically for use with older students. These students may no longer have a reading class as part of the school day, but they are still developing their reading skills--and every teacher contributes to that effort. As in her previous…

This report addresses the relationship between state content standards and assessments and the essential components of effective reading instruction. The extent to which the essential components are addressed in the standards and assessments indicates the extent to which states have integrated the essential components into their reading…

Primary-grade teachers face an important challenge: teaching children how to read while enabling them to build good habits so they fall in love with reading. Many teachers find the independent reading workshop to be the component of reading instruction that meets this challenge because it makes it possible to teach the reading skills and…

This lesson plan can help teach primary students about sentence structure, rhyming words, sight words, vocabulary, and print concepts using a weekly poem. These important skills for reading and writing are demonstrated in a whole-to-parts approach using engaging poems, shared reading, and independent activities. During five 15-minute class…

This report examines the performance, and levels of mastery, on tests of reading comprehension and numeracy of Australian students in junior secondary school between 1975 and 1995. Data were drawn from two national monitoring studies and other studies of representative samples of junior secondary school students designed to monitor the progress of…

Articles focus on the following: teaching of literature as a means to teaching reading comprehension; reading and discussing favorite stories; interactive literature in childhood literacy; new perspectives in teaching literature; construction of graphic aids in promoting and developing writing skills; recommended books for children and…

This study investigated how 12 Taiwanese English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) college students comprehended and interpreted 4 English short stories. Free writing was used to collect the data, and a topical unit was used to analyze the data. The results identified two patterns: the comprehension level and the interpretation level. The comprehension…

Reading management programs have become very popular in elementary schools. Students select a title from a prescribed reading list, then are tested for recall of facts and events in the story. Students are motivated to read as many titles as possible since they must achieve a certain score to win prizes. Although there have been reports that this…

This workbook, for grades four through six, offers a humorous slant on the subject of grammar through comical examples of incorrect usage, in addition to exercises with a logic twist. The workbook teaches basic rules of language mechanics and reinforces the rules by showing the logic behind them. The book gives instruction, examples, and practice…

Teachers at the intermediate level can now take advantage of the small-group differentiated reading model introduced to the early learning community in Beverly Tyner's bestseller of 2004. This classroom-tested, research-based model supports reading, writing, and spelling as integrated processes. Differentiated instruction can help the reader meet…

Based on the idea that word knowledge has particular importance in literate societies, this Digest finds that most people feel that there is a common sense relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension, i.e., messages are composed of ideas, and ideas are expressed in words. The Digest considers several viewpoints on teaching…

Prepared as part of the Extended School Services Program in Kentucky, this paper provides information on how to help students become more proficient readers. The paper begins with a discussion of what reading is, the characteristics of a "good" reader (strategic, motivated, and independent), and beginning readers. It then discusses a few…