Ten years after publication of two reviews of the evidence on phonics, a number of British policy initiatives have firmly embedded phonics in the curriculum for early reading development. However, uncertainty about the most effective approaches to teaching reading remains. A definitive trial comparing different approaches was recommended in 2006,…

The purpose of this research is to examine the correlation between the attitude towards reading and the perception of creative reading. The sample group of the study, in which the correlational survey model among the qualitative research designs was conducted, consists of 319 students studying at fourth grade in primary schools. The scale for the…

While composition research recognizes the importance of the body and bodily knowledge, literacy instruction, especially as relayed in writing textbooks, often disembodies the material practice of reading. This move, in turn, contributes to normative assumptions about students' corporeal reading experiences. Drawing together scholarship on…

Teachers of elementary English language arts/literacy (ELA) tend to line up behind one of two very different approaches to reading instruction. The first approach prioritizes reading comprehension strategies over content. The second rests on the idea that building background knowledge of the world, including the vocabulary that accompanies such…

The purpose of this action research piece was to discuss my experience with teaching close reading in the urban classroom using autoethnographic methods. It explains ideas and challenges that I encountered when teaching close reading in conjunction with close reading strategies. I detail close reading strategies and explain how they can be used…

Interactive read-alouds, where adults read text to children and facilitate discussion of the text, are an incredibly effective method for supporting children's literacy learning. In this article, Tanya Wright, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University, describes some of the knowledge and skills that…

Due to the increasing educational use of the Internet, children in elementary school need to critically evaluate source information to judge the trustworthiness of information. Studies with adult readers show that sourcing prompts and mutually exclusive claims in reading materials promote the use of source information. However, little is known…

Aim: This position paper illustrates prominent theories of reading comprehension and considers how these models have informed reading instruction within the classroom. It then considers how reading comprehension can be supported by educational psychologists (EPs). Methods: This paper presents five sociocultural models of reading comprehension.…

This action research study guided teachers in the development of a growth mindset approach to reading instruction during 4 pivotal years of reading development. To address the academic and cognitive needs of emerging readers, teachers developed an approach to reading instruction with specific growth mindset applications by adapting existing…

This article seeks to complicate the understanding of Bishop's (1990) metaphor of mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors, with particular emphasis on sliding glass doors and the emotional connections needed for readers to move through them. The authors begin by examining the importance of the reader and the characters he or she meets. Next, the…

Through an exploration of effective reading instructional approaches and intervention strategies that focuses on struggling readers at the elementary level, an understanding can be gained in knowing what works in the quest to close current reading gaps as identified by the state of study. By knowing the preferred methods of effective teachers'…

An early skill in learning to read has as much to do with hearing how words sound as it does with seeing how words are written. Phonological awareness involves being able to recognize and manipulate the sounds within words. Learning to identify the sounds in words through instruction happens best when the sounds are explicitly connected to the…

Purpose: Our world had always been multimodal, but studying how young children enact and embody literacy practices, especially reading, has often been overlooked. The purpose of this study was to examine how young children respond to nonfiction picturebooks in multimodal ways. This paper aims to answer the question: What multimodal resources do…

A large-scale, cluster-randomized controlled field trial (N[subscript classrooms] = 47; N[subscript students] = 1,013) assessed the impact of a digital text-to-speech reading material that supported 8-year-olds' decoding and reading comprehension. An active control group used the most prevalent Danish learning material with a research-based…

A wide share of secondary school children does not reach the expected competence level in reading. These children could benefit from more efficient intervention responses, providing a better understanding of their cognitive weaknesses/deficits. Our aim was to explore the cognitive heterogeneity of a population of poor readers identified from a…