Assesses the effects of the Language for Learning (formerly DISTAR) program on the receptive language skills of a general sample of kindergarten children. Indicates that the Language for Learning program produced both statistically and educationally significant effects on the receptive language skills of children. Discusses results, limitations,…

Notes that what all middle school students need is another kid like them but with words. Presents some examples of adolescents going through the rites of passage--someone like T.J. in Chris Crutcher's "Whale Talk," or Sara Louise Bradshaw in Katherine Paterson's "Jacob Have I Loved," or Brian in Gary Paulson's…

Notes that the REAP system (Read, Encode, Annotate, Ponder) improves reading, writing, and thinking. Describes how the "i" in iREAP represents its currency and connection to Internet community building. Presents applications to help students internalize REAP "spectrum thinking," or thinking from different perspectives, so that it becomes a habit…

Explores how the imagination might contribute to a sense of knowing in the reading process. Discusses the significance of the imagination when creating meaning from text. Asks about the nature and function of the imagination and seeks answers through the metaphor of "la tristesse" as describes by Francoise Sagan's novel "Bonjour Tristesse" and its…

Observations for 2 years of 34 grade 1 classrooms, in which at least three-fourths of the students were English learners, link specific instructional strategies to reading growth among English learners. Six facets of instruction predicted student growth in reading--in both reading comprehension and reading fluency and accuracy. (Contains 24…

Examined the effect of multiple choice glosses and periodic second language text reconstruction on lexical acquisition. Second language readers of German engaged in a think-aloud procedure while reading a short test and retelling its content in German. Target words were embedded. Half of the participants' passages contained multiple-choice glosses…

Investigates the effect of middle-ear infections on phonemic awareness on first-grade Bedouin Arab elementary school children in northern Israel. Divides 49 children who were screened according to their infant medical records into two groups: one with repeated middle-ear infection and one without. Indicates a nonsignificant effect of middle-ear…

Reviews 42 studies of computer-assisted instruction published from 1990 to the present, comprising 75 experimental comparisons. The corrected effect size estimate was 0.19. Two variables, effect size at the time of pretesting and language of instruction, accounted for 61% of the variability in effect sizes. Advises caution in interpreting results…

Introduces the authors of the articles in this theme issue, who are all members of the Reading Initiative study group at Bradley Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina. Defines this Reading Initiative group as a learning community. Outlines language and literary theory and practice the group came to value through experience. (PM)

Reports on the authors' revisiting of the reading process using proficient adult readers (advanced graduate students in a school of education) as their informants. Begins with a brief overview of the current debate concerning the nature of reading and explains how they went about investigating the issue. Discusses what they learned from their…

Notes that the Public Broadcasting System's children's series "Between the Lions" has become a very useful tool in the authors' kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. Describes how their students have enjoyed actively viewing the episodes, reading books that tie into the program, and doing follow-up activities around the themes…

Offers a method of selecting, analyzing, discussing, and testing from college reading materials that has worked significantly better than previous traditional approaches. Concludes that by employing greater student responsibility for what they read, students' interest, enthusiasm, and scholarly use of read material seems to have risen. (SG)

Uses the blues to teach the universal Faust theme, which was a common motif expressed in many lyrics coming out of the Mississippi Delta region in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. Uses this opportunity to open students' eyes to a musical form often overlooked and misinterpreted in mainstream culture, and to improve students' critical…

Addresses how a reader draws upon three major sources of information, or cueing systems: graphophonic, syntactic, and semantic. Discusses how effective reading instruction, at all levels, fosters independence in the use of these cueing systems that allow developing readers to remain squarely in control of their own learning. Presents a teaching…

Reports on a three-year inquiry into intertextuality in early grade classrooms. Identifies intertextual conflicts during teacher-class interactions where teachers are reading texts and guiding children to read. Concludes the greater power of mandated syllabi over teachers and the greater power of teachers over children make intertextuality a…