Research substantiates that inferencing is a critical component to making sense of texts. The ability to make logical inferences is a key characteristic of proficient comprehenders that can be developed before children become fluent readers. This article argues for teaching inferencing via teacher or parent read-alouds to help young readers…

The authors' institution exceeded the Texas Science of Teaching Reading (STR) exam's passing rate of 86.6% for the 2021-2022 academic year. The authors think this success was largely due to conducting an analysis of test questions and helping preservice teachers better prepare for the exam. The authors helped preservice teachers supplement the…

The debates about what are the most effective ways to teach young children to learn to read have been described as 'the reading wars'. In 2022 the research published in a paper by Wyse and Bradbury (2022) stimulated widespread attention including in the media. Wyse and Bradbury concluded on the basis of four major research analyses that although…

In this article, the author presents a teaching prompt--Write-it-Out--to instruct readers who seemingly guess at words with no or limited use of grapheme-phonemic correspondences to recontextualize word-solving into writing. Through the nature of this prompt, slowing down the pace of solving words on the run with writing also reciprocally builds…

Senior secondary Literature courses in Australia all aim, to various extents, to develop students' critical literacy skills. These aims share emphases on reading, reflecting and responding critically to texts, on critical analysis and critical ideas, and on forming interpretations informed by critical perspectives. Critical literacy is not…

Educators have many questions about phonics instruction centering on topics including programs, approaches, assessment, transfer, and differentiation. We propose 8 principles to (1) help answer these common questions, (2) tackle current misconceptions, and (3) discuss research-based practices about phonics instruction.

Despite metacognition's profound effects in research classrooms, such research might have a very limited influence on mainstream classrooms. This may stem from a lack of comprehensive and practical pedagogy that classroom teachers can adapt for metacognition instruction as researchers do. To address this problem, this study developed a pedagogy of…

We are in the midst of yet another battle in the reading wars. Before the fog of war overcomes us yet again, we should recall recent history where an attempt at a resolution--Reading First--mostly left ambiguity in its wake. Moving forward, there is a foundation upon which to build. But doing so will require learning from the past, addressing…

Through juxtaposing images and text, picturebooks have the unique power to facilitate critical reading and critical literacy. This article presents three analytical approaches to develop critical reading and critical literacy skills through picturebooks: (1) critically analyzing broad representation, (2) critical visual analysis, and (3) analyzing…

Helping students learn how to interpret themes in text can be, without a doubt, challenging. Students benefit from knowing different aspects/textual elements within stories to look for when constructing themes. In this teaching and learning guide, we share seven concrete ways to help students anchor their theme thinking. These seven elements can…

Public policies targeting individuals based on need often impose disproportionate burden on communities that lack the resources to implement these policies effectively. In an elementary school setting, I examine whether community-level interventions focusing on similar needs and providing resources to build capacity in these communities could…

If the White Christian nationalist movement has significantly galvanized parent, community, and larger-scale political groups whose guiding ethos challenges teacher professional roles in shaping literacy curriculum and instruction, then how can literacy teachers and teacher educators better understand this movement, its interpretive orientation to…

Language and culture hold power and significant connections to students' identities. However, these connections are often minimized, especially for students from diverse racial-ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds who are neither white nor monolingual speakers of English. In literacy instruction, we often see complete disregard and…

Some readers thrive more than others because they are more actively involved in their learning. All students can become active participants in their learning through quality teacher prompting. In this article, teachers will learn how to promote emergent learners' active participation as they decode and comprehend, while problem-solving unknown…

Reading Recovery (RR) was introduced throughout New Zealand during the 1980s, for children struggling the most with learning to read after 1 year of formal schooling. In May 2024, the Minister of Education decided the programme would no longer be funded beyond 2024. This decision was based on evidence that the programme was not as effective as…