This article discusses the effectiveness of using an approach based on a virtual learning environment (VLE) to enhance the close-reading skills of first-year English undergraduates. The first two sections explore the practical and theoretical issues involved in adopting such an approach; the third describes the design and functions of a VLE…

The widely adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) call for raising the level of text complexity in textbooks and reading materials used by students across all grade levels in the United States; the authors of the English Language Arts component of the CCSS build their case for higher complexity in part upon a research base they say shows a…

Research on implementing reading strategy instruction has primarily focused on teachers' verbal communication with limited attention to other semiotic resources such as gesture and artefacts. In this paper, we construct a "telling case" on the basis of how one primary teacher from the United States used speech, gesture and artefacts…

Despite the high numbers of students with disabilities struggling with literacy, few teachers report feeling well prepared to address it. Most students with disabilities encounter challenges in reading and professional development can help teachers learn a range of ways to address those. In this article, we discuss a professional development…

Case studies provide two views of adaptive expertise in teaching by analyzing the written reflections of teachers working in a reading clinic. David, with 20?years of experience, described adaptive judgments he made after careful description, data gathering, and analysis of students' responses that allowed him to form hypotheses and craft…

A group of elementary school reading teachers used their time in a Professional Learning Community to develop a systematic intervention to address the needs of struggling readers in grades 3 to 5. Working as a team, they identified a collection of books that was culturally diverse, high interest, appealing to boys and girls, aligned with…

Many educators would agree that one way to enhance reading fluency is by being read to by fluent readers. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of providing students with audio books via an iPod Shuffle during silent reading time at school. For six weeks, Kindergarten participants spent time either silent reading or listening to a…

The aim of this self-study was to critically consider the authors' individual thinking and practices as they worked toward a shared understanding of connecting science and literacy during instruction. As teacher educators from different disciplines, this work required them to carefully and recurrently examine their individual understandings of the…

This study addressed the effects of multiyear, response-based, tiered intervention for struggling readers in grades 6-8. A sample of 768 sixth-grade students with reading difficulties was randomized to a response-based, tiered-intervention condition or "business as usual," and initial treatment status was maintained over the three-year…

After briefly reviewing how reading is conceptualised in the "Progress in International Reading Literacy Study" and the English National Curriculum, this article examines two unofficial reading activities in a class of 10-11-year-olds' to see how far these activities match up with the official definitions of reading, or whether they…

Two studies from English-speaking samples investigated the methodologically difficult question of whether the later reading achievement of children learning to read earlier or later differs. Children (n = 287) from predominantly state-funded schools were selected and they differed in whether the reading instruction age (RIA) was either five or…

"As Kroll (1993), among others, has pointed out, reading has traditionally been seen as a skill to be taught separately from writing, as well as something students are somehow expected to already know about when they reach the writing course, Teaching reading in a writing course may seem like an odd idea, if not an entirely unnecessary one. It may…

Teaching reading in terms of its connections to writing can motivate students to read and increase the likelihood that they find success in both activities. It can lead students to value reading as an integral aspect of learning to write. It can help students develop their understanding of writerly strategies and techniques. Drawing on qualitative…

People who have impacted generations have left legacies we can explore today through biographies. The 5L instructional design introduced in this article includes five components: Listen, Learn, Locate, Link, and Legacy. In the "Listen" section, teachers use storytelling and read-alouds to introduce individuals who shaped history. During…

Policy mandates to increase the time dedicated to the teaching of reading and mathematics has left little time for arts instruction. Recent research has indicated a positive relationship between improvement in reading comprehension and the integration of arts into instruction. Teaching students to use mental imagery as a reading strategy is one…