David Stephens, a 4th grade teacher in Washington State, was preparing a lesson plan about desert wildlife (all names are pseudonyms). He was planning on assigning his students the chapter book, "Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus." The students had divergent knowledge about the topic. For example, Maryam had grown up in…

This dissertation investigates the potential of sustained use of academic vocabulary in reciprocal dialogue to improve educational equity for fifth-grade students with specific reading disabilities. Students with reading disabilities often struggle with acquiring academic vocabulary, which can hinder their overall academic performance and limit…

Preschool children considered at risk for future reading difficulties experience unique and complex combinations of risk factors. In this exploratory study, we used latent profile analysis (LPA) to investigate the underlying classifications of children identified as at-risk for reading difficulties (N = 281) along selected cognitive,…

Reading involves and is influenced by many factors, which makes reading difficult to understand, teach, and explain to parents, policymakers, and other stakeholders. A metaphor of driving, which likens reading to an everyday practice, demystifies complexities inherent in reading. Both reading and driving are active, strategic processes. Just as…

The authors share how culturally relevant photographs reflecting children's lives and communities were curated and integrated into the literacy curriculum.

The need to explicitly teach letter-sound relationships in U.S. classrooms is settled science. However, too often such instruction is not provided in the most efficient or effective way. These instructional missteps mean that fewer children will develop strong word-reading skills. In addition, ineffective phonics instruction is likely to require…

Teachers' knowledge of foundational reading skills (e.g., phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension) and the impact of this knowledge on the ability to provide effective reading instruction has been a topic of interest in teacher preparation for decades. Given the number of students with disabilities with significant…

Improving the reading achievement of U.S. students is a long-standing challenge, and there is a growing recognition that some prevalent methods of early reading instruction might be drivers of low reading achievement. In response to low reading test scores and an increasing body of scientific knowledge on how young children learn to read--the…

Although several studies underline the importance of a successful opening of a school lesson to spur students' interest and facilitate learning, we have limited knowledge about how openings are enacted in classrooms. This study contributes to the sparse research by asking: "What characterizes the openings of 58 reading lessons in Norwegian…

In this article, I respond creatively to the recent Australian Government Department of Education Teacher education expert panel [TEEP] report entitled "Strong Beginnings." Released in July 2023 and led by Professor Mark Scott AO, the report outlines problems pertaining to teacher education in Australia. It aims to improve student…

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a multi-component homograph processing intervention complemented by Executive Function (EF) skills on the performance of struggling readers. The researchers focused on measuring improvements in literacy, metalinguistic abilities, cognitive/EF skills acquired during the intervention, and…

Automaticity in recognizing the words in a text is fundamental to comprehension. If the number of words readers need to stop and decode exceeds their ability to retain their understanding of a narrative's plot or an expository text's description, their comprehension suffers. The conventional intervention for students who lack the automaticity to…

The effectiveness of English Language Teaching (ELT) materials significantly influences the learning outcomes of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, positioning these resources as cardinal in the acquisition process. Despite this widely acknowledged significance, there remains a notable gap in research concerning the evaluation of key…

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of Fry readability-based digital storybooks on reading comprehension skills among elementary school students. The method used in this study was an experimental research design with a pretest-posttest control group design to measure students' reading comprehension skills. The sample of this study was…

Studies indicate that integrating digital tools into reading instruction significantly enhances student learning. The OK4R (Overview, Key Idea, Read, Recall, Reflect, Review) method goes beyond teaching reading techniques by fostering a cyclic process of reading and critical reflection. Through OK4R, learners develop both reading strategies and…