Each class session of a reading methods course at a Texas university begins with an instructor reading aloud from a children's book. The instructors, who hoped this method would reduce future teachers' reliance on basal materials and help them prepare for assignments involving children's literature, came to believe that this time was well spent.…

Reading, writing, and speaking/listening are integrated in this teacher-developed language arts curriculum guide designed for use in grades 7-12. English and reading for middle/junior high school students is designed to develop academic skills as well as to help students make adjustments to the physical and emotional changes they undergo. English…

A study investigated suggested interrelationships of linguistic awareness, cognitive ability, and reading achievement. The extent to which differences in reading achievement were related to differences in the other areas was also explored. The Linguistic Awareness in Reading Test (LARR), the Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM), and the Stanford…

Teacher logs for 600 reading group sessions from grades 1, 3, and 5 were analyzed to identify whether the amount and mode of assigned contextual reading differed systematically between "good" and "poor" reading groups. Analyses indicated that groups comprised of good readers read more total words and more words silently than…

On the one hand, the social science tradition of imitating hard scientific methodology has led to a situation in which much research has little to offer the real and complex world of the practicing teacher. On the other hand, some educators measure education by the angle of students' heads and the quality of their graffiti in the washroom. Most…

A study investigated the size of the perceptual span within which adults use visual information to distinguish among letters as they read. The eye movements of fifteen college students were monitored as they read passages from a cathode-ray tube. On occasional fixations, letters in specified visual regions were replaced by other letters. The…

This brief, non-technical narrative for teachers addresses the following questions: (1) What are computers? (2) How do they work? (3) What can they do? (4) Why should we care? (5) What do they have to do with reading instruction? and (6) What is the future of computers for teachers and students? Specific topics discussed include the development of…

A great deal can be taught using the newspaper because this medium contains a variety of information in a number of differing formats. Straight news and sports stories can be used to teach or reinforce the skills of attending to detail, comparing and contrasting, categorizing, determining the main idea, understanding vocabulary, sequencing,…

This descriptive study investigated the reading instruction service provided by Chapter 1 teachers in the Minneapolis Public Schools. Subjects, 105 Chapter 1 teachers who had reading groups, completed a survey concerning the reading instruction given to their Chapter 1 students. A proportional random sampling procedure was used to select 12…

The integrated approach to facilitating student achievement undertaken by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) is described. The goal of SEDL's Programmatic Theme on Facilitating Student Achievement is to contribute to the improvement of programs and activities in the Southwestern Region for teaching reading, writing, and…

This project was designed to help college teachers determine and enhance the teaching competence of their students in methods and practicum courses. Traditionally competence has been determined through the use of objective or essay tests. Cognitive knowledge of students may be determined in this manner but the student's ability to apply that…

A study examined th phonics instruction that five basal reader series provide from kindergarten through grade six. The five basal programs (designated as Series A through E) that were examined are both similar and dissimilar in the recommendations they make for phonics. One series covers as many as 129 letter-sound correspondences; another covers…

A study examined whether there was any difference in student achievement if students used computer-assisted instruction or traditional reading lab activities. Subjects, 42 students enrolled in 1988 in a 5-week summer early enrollment program, were placed in a reading improvement class based on performance on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test. Subjects…

A professor of literature recounts and draws on his experiences in the undergraduate English classroom, providing guidance to other teachers through theoretical and anecdotal comments on teaching and learning styles, curriculum, and teaching methods. The first chapter sketches a theoretical framework synthesized from models of learning and…

Articles in this yearbook address the problems associated with how reading research informs practice. Articles, listed with their authors, are as follows: (1) "Reading Research into Policy and Practice: Practitioner's Viewpoint" (Deborah L. Thompson); (2) "Michigan's Reading Program: A Decade of Change" (Elaine M. Weber); (3)…