With good sequence in reading achievement on the primary grade levels, pupils should be increasingly ready to attain well on the intermediate levels of instruction. Textbooks (basals) in reading need to be selected with great care so that they are on the reading level of involved pupils, not the frustrational nor the too easy to read level. Enough…

This paper suggests that vocabulary knowledge is closely related to the background knowledge required for reading a text. It suggests ways in which the reading teacher can select objectives for pupils to achieve in the area of vocabulary development, emphasizing what is relevant and functional. The paper makes the following recommendations:…

This study investigated the effectiveness of color coding, accomplished by highlighting, used to help students differentiate between exact meaning (explicit information) and implied meaning (implicit information) in both narrative (short story) and expository texts. Subjects were 78 sixth-grade students randomly enrolled in four language arts…

This 127-item annotated bibliography contains books on literacy primarily published in the United Kingdom in 1995. In addition to an annotation, each entry provides author's name, full title, number of pages, place of publication and publisher, and ISBN number and price for both hardback and paperback editions when applicable. The bibliography is…

Intended for teachers in primary education, this book draws together the most helpful contemporary thinking and research evidence about the learning and teaching of reading, especially in relation to graphophonics, and shows how these findings can be translated into effective classroom practices. The book summarizes evidence on how children learn…

Scores for five subjects (Reading, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies in grades 2 through 8) from the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program were analyzed for several hundred Tennessee grade schools. Schools which owned the Accelerated Reader learning information system (a computer program which allows teachers to monitor…

Part of a series about research-based programs that show promise for raising student achievement (especially in low-performing schools), this paper describes seven promising reading and language arts programs. Each program shows evidence of high standards, effectiveness, replicability, and support structures. The paper opens with a brief…

This article provides data and discussion of multicultural theme-related issues arising from analysis of a detailed database of commercial software products targeted to reading and literacy education. The database consisted of 1152 titles, representing the offerings of 104 publishers and distributors. Of the titles, 62 were identified as having…

Assessment is the tool used by educators to determine the beginning skills of a student, to show development of new skills, to increase learning, and to monitor areas needing improvement so that learning is ensured. Though many barriers still remain regarding validity of tests, reforms are being made to include the aspect of environment of test…

Intended for grades K-8, this book will help teachers and students launch their own author study programs, making powerful connections with authors while nurturing a community of readers. It argues that, with author study, all students form mentor relationships with authors; gain access to the world of authors and books; develop a wide range of…

The central purpose of this book is to challenge current social constructions of poverty, reading education, and the putative relationship between the two. It explores how official and popular representations of poverty are bound to specific historical, social, and economic conditions of their own production. The book offers four stances of…

Providing a developmental perspective of literacy learning as a way to understand the literacy process, this book describes how children become skilled readers through the following five stages of the literacy growth process: emergent reading, initial reading, transitional, basic literacy, and refinement. Unlike most other literacy books which are…

This paper provides an overview of current controversial issues in early childhood education in Japan. One controversy discussed is the increasing emphasis on cognitive development in early childhood programs since World War II, especially the focus on reading and writing; and presents the controversy surrounding the task of learning Japanese and…

This study examined, through classroom observations and teacher surveys, the instructional beliefs and practices in reading of second- and third-grade teachers in selected schools in the United States and Australia. Australian participants consisted of 16 second-grade and 11 third-grade teachers in New South Wales; American participants were 17…

This study investigated three questions regarding: (1) teachers' views about the role of children's literature in the reading program; (2) how teachers implement literature-based reading programs in their classrooms; and (3) the congruence between teacher perceptions and teacher practice regarding literature-based reading instruction. Subjects,…