This case study addresses a middle class family's role in their son's literacy development through an investigation of the socio-cultural practices that support his literacy acquisition. Rogoff's socio-cultural framework, which proposes three planes of analysis for observation of human development, is used for the analysis. The literacy practices…

"Read Naturally" is designed to improve reading fluency using a combination of books, audiotapes, and computer software. According to the developer's web site, this program has three main strategies: repeated reading of text for developing oral reading fluency, teacher modeling of story reading, and systematic monitoring of student…

A study investigated whether text illustrations improve the reading comprehension of second graders. Subjects, 14 second-grade students, read five stories from a basal reader. The control group read each story with accompanying illustrations, while the experimental group was exposed to only the written version of the same stories. Questions based…

A study investigated what pregnant women and mothers of infants do to develop language and promote a love of reading in their children during the early stages of life. Two surveys were used, the first completed by 15 pregnant women, and the second completed by 15 women with infant children. Results indicated that: (1) the majority of pregnant…

Resarch on discourse comprehension in adulthood has yielded inconsistent findings. Some studies have reported age-related differences in comprehsnion and recall while others have found no differences between younger and older adults. To examine the recall style of younger and older adults, a narrative was presented to 40 younger (mean age=18.73…

Two interventions were studied in this project: a drama program presented by three visiting drama consultants in five classes and a daily story-reading period presented by the teacher in three classes and by the co-investigator in another three classes. The interventions lasted for 12 weeks. Subjects were 325 first grade pupils from 21 classrooms…

Questioning why illustrated text is commonly used for children in the absence of significant proof of its usefulness, the present author undertook a study to measure fourth graders' retention of three variations of a story book text. Results indicate illustrations have several effects on retention. (BJG)

Two experiments were conducted to examine children's understanding (metacognitive awareness) of the parts to a simple story. The following parts were considered essential for comprehending a story: what precipitates the character's action (initiating event), what the character did (action), and what followed the character's action (consequence).…

Most criticisms directed at basal reader stories concern the unreal characters which tend to depict only middle-class families and use unreal language patterns. However, such criticisms do not get to the core of the problem. A comparison of stories from basal readers with some famous folk tales illustrates how the here-and-now stories from basal…

Reading to children provokes curiosity about books and arouses the desire to learn to read quickly and well. It helps them to learn what reading is all about, it enlarges their vocabulary, and it exposes them to new and exciting experiences. Reading to children also helps them to become familiar with books, their use and their handling. In…

As an instructional module, this training booklet provides the vehicle to assist the school volunteer to master library skills and effective story telling techniques and to become proficient in the operation and use of materials and equipment in the media center. This booklet specifically focuses on learning through the use of audio-visual…

A revised version of the 1968 Michigan Speech Association Curriculum guide (ED 026 391), this volume is intended to provide the student between the ages of 11 and 14 with learning experiences which enable the student to acquire and utilize oral communication skills. The guide is divided into six units--interpersonal communication, group…

The importance of parents reading to their preschool age children is stressed.

Presents an evaluation of the Houghton Mifflin and Scott Foresman Reading Programs which reveals that stories in both of these series satisfy the requirements of a conventional story grammar. Suggests that such stories help children comprehend and remember the stories they process and serve as excellent models of narrative. (ARH)

Suggests that retelling a story or expository text can help less proficient readers improve their reading comprehension. Provides guidelines for the use of retelling in the classroom. (ARH)