The areas of reading comprehension theory that provide insights for writers are examined and the way in which a basic knowledge of reading theory provides a backdrop for explicating certain conventions and responding to certain problem area in student writing are explored. With the examples of successful classroom activities, it is shown how a…

The purpose of these two studies was to redirect interest to the Neurological Impress Method, a multisensory approach to reading instruction that occurs between a teacher and a student, which has been largely forgotten in mainstream and special education circles over the past decades. In addition to its emphasis on oral reading, we included a…

For the past three decades and more, researchers in adolescent literacy have illuminated the challenges and opportunities facing adolescent learning. This article explores the connection between what we know about adolescent literacy and the mandates and initiatives of the No Child Left Behind Act in the United States. It connects what we know…

Reading fluency has been identified as a key goal for the elementary school reading curriculum. Despite its theoretical importance in reading development and research that has demonstrated its effectiveness in improving reading performance, many teachers are not familiar with effective methods of instruction for reading fluency and ways for…

Little empirical evidence supporting various instructional strategies for teaching reading comprehension exists. Because difficulties with comprehension are intensified as students reach the intermediate grades, it is essential that middle school educators provide research-based instruction. This study examined the effectiveness of the Directed…

Direct instruction and cognitive comprehension strategies can improve literacy, and many students can make significant gains in comprehensive literacy programs. Most students with poor reading skills will need in-class learning strategies and accommodations to improve their competency in content areas. Student success in school and upon graduation…

In recent years, significant progress has been made in the study of reading and reading disability with the use of functional neuroimaging techniques. There is substantial converging evidence that skilled word recognition requires the development of a highly integrated cortical system that includes left hemisphere dorsal, ventral, and anterior…

This paper summarises findings of discourse analyses of traditional stories from eleven language phyla around the world. The aim is a preliminary exploration of relationships amongst diverse languages in patterns of discourse, using a systemic functional language model. Several techniques were developed for managing and displaying the analyses,…

Objective: In this exercise, students collectively summarize a long and perhaps difficult reading into a shorter, more condensed version of itself; in the process, students experience the virtues of teamwork (the divide and conquer approach), gain valuable reading and note-taking skills, and collectively distill the essence of a reading in class.…

Sales of manga or Japanese comics dominate the publishing market in Japan. Manga cater to a wide variety of readers, ranging from children's comics to adult pornography. In this paper, we focus on adolescent readers and describe patterns of learning to read manga. The findings demonstrate the importance of belonging to a community of readers since…

Elaborating on her introduction to "Pentimento: A Book of Portraits," Lillian Hellman remarked that the book's title signaled simply her interest in examining, now that the paint had aged, "what was there for [her] once, what is there for [her] now" (p. 3) in terms of the people and events she was about to portray. Here, the author draws on…

First-year students in literature-based composition courses do not read the way instructors would desire and do not seem to respond actively enough to their reading, judging by both the lukewarm responses in classroom discussions and the superficiality of their written reactions. In an attempt to make students respond actively to their reading,…

Compelled by student interest and her search for more meaningful class discussion, teacher Elaine Insinnia found support from technology coordinator Eileen Skarecki for introducing chat room discussions about class reading. The results were more engaged students, deeper discussions, and more egalitarian participation. Along the way, Elaine learned…

Preschool children at familial risk for reading disability were assessed on cognitive and linguistic variables and compared with preschoolers without familial risk. Risk children displayed performance profiles resembling those of older children with reading disability. Each group received intensive instruction in phonemic awareness and structured…

The purpose of this study was to compare two oral reading fluency treatments (repeated readings and phrase drill error correction) which differ in the way they prompt student responding. Repeated readings (RR) and phrase drill (PD) error correction were alternated with a baseline and a reward condition within an alternating treatments design with…