Extensive reading means reading in quantity to gain a general understanding of the material read. The purpose of extensive reading is to train students to read directly and fluently in English as a foreign language (EFL) for pleasure without the help of their teacher. It aims to develop good reading habits, expand the students' knowledge of…

Reviews theory and research relating to fluency instruction and development. Found that fluency instruction is generally effective; assisted approaches seem to be more effective than unassisted approaches; repetitive approaches do not seem to hold a clear advantage over nonrepetitive approaches; and effective fluency instruction moves beyond…

The purpose of the study was (a) to examine the development of four sublexical fluency skills over the second semester of kindergarten and (b) to identify the predictors of fluency level (estimated at the end of kindergarten) and growth. Ninety-two kindergarten children enrolled in six full-day kindergarten classrooms participated. The students…

Two eye-tracking studies assessed effects of grammatical and conceptual gender cues in generic role name processing in German. Participants read passages about a social or occupational group introduced by way of a generic role name(e.g., "Soldaten"/soldiers, "Kunstler"/artists). Later in the passage the gender of this group was specified by the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the concurrent criterion-related (or convergent) validity of first grade measures from the "Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills" (DIBELS; Good & Kaminski, 2002). The DIBELS subtests of Phoneme Segmentation Fluency, Nonsense Word Fluency, Oral Reading Fluency, Retell Fluency, and…

The purpose of this study was to design, implement, and evaluate the efficacy of scaffolded silent reading (ScSR) compared with the evidence-based practice of guided repeated oral reading (GROR) with feedback on 3rd-grade students' fluency and comprehension growth. Using a mixed-model dominant-less dominant design, the authors collected both…

This study evaluated the ability of the kindergarten and first grade Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), measures of early literacy development, to discriminate among low average, average, and above average students considered at risk emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) on the Total Reading cluster of the Woodcock…

The body of knowledge on critical components of reading instruction is broad and deep with phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension serving as building blocks for literacy. The importance of fluent reading (i.e., with speed, accuracy, and proper expression, as well as comprehension) in the formula for success is widely…

This article compares 2 fluency-based assessments of letter sound knowledge: letter sound fluency and nonsense word fluency (NWF). Ninety-one children were administered both assessments 5 times during the second half of kindergarten. The assessments were comparable for concurrent and predictive criterion-related validity at single points. The…

Latino English Language Learners represent the largest group of language minority students attending public school in the United States. Research is needed to address the early literacy problems which impede this population from acquiring literacy in the English language with efficacy and to determine the most effective assessment and intervention…

"Accelerated Reader"[TM] is a guided reading intervention used to supplement regular reading instruction in K-12 classrooms. Its aim is to improve students' reading skills through reading practice and quizzes on the books students read. The "Accelerated Reader"[TM] program calls for students to select and read a book and then…

This quantitative study analyzed data to find a valid and reliable assessment for progress monitoring also having predictive power of a student's future reading performance on a state-mandated standardized reading achievement evaluation. The Response to Intervention (RTI) model was implemented in the language arts classrooms of a rural middle…

The Woodcock Johnson III Brief Assessment is a "maximum performance test" (Reynolds, Livingston, Willson, 2006) that is designed to assess the upper levels of knowledge and skills of the test taker using both power and speed to obtain a large amount of information in a short period of time. The Brief Assessment also provides an adequate…

This article reviews the literature and presents data from a study that examined the effects of professional development in scientifically based reading instruction on teacher knowledge and student reading outcomes. The experimental group consisted of four first- and second-grade teachers and their students (n = 33). Three control teachers and…

The purpose of this evaluation of Scholastic's "System 44" conducted by RMC Research was to expand the existing research on students with learning disabilities by conducting a randomized study of struggling readers with approximately half of the sample comprised of students with learning disabilities. Specifically, this evaluation…