The challenges of selecting and reading children's literature about slavery have implications for the kinds of slavery narratives students internalize. Guiding principles for teachers' critical selection of literature depicting slavery remain increasingly necessary as needed critical discussions of children's literature with depictions of slavery…

Teachers spend a lot of time finding 'just right' picture books for their students. However, much of what is known about a book's difficulty level was developed with native English speakers. More needs to be developed with the distinctive characteristics of English Learners (ELs). This study reports on the selection of picture books to teach in an…

Lack of motivation to read is the culprit of many students' struggles in literacy achievement, resulting in wider gaps in reading achievement and resulting inequities in schools across America. When students are provided with the ability to choose the text they read for English class, they have an increase in interest and commitment to read, which…

Learning about being a reader is more than teaching phonics. A pilot study of shared picture book reading in early childhood education as a means to support young children in developing a broader understanding of literacy, in addition to phonics and phonological awareness, is discussed. The Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO)…

Reading plays a pivotal role in education. Yet, there is a lack of diverse literature present in elementary classrooms. Therefore, some children may not encounter literature that mirrors their identity. Elementary teachers, although not all, tend to label and organize their classroom libraries. This Naturalistic method study consisted of a setting…

The problem addressed in this quantitative ex-post facto study was that African American, Latino, and Native American students have lower reading fluency than Caucasian counterparts. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent incorporating more literature written by African American, Latino, and Native American authors had on the…

Inspired by the work of Muhammad (2020) and building upon the previous work of Hays (2021) in using young adolescent literature as a tool for social change, the authors highlight the ways in which educators such as Amardeep Bajwa can cultivate students' intellect through literature circle-based activities. More specifically, Hays worked with local…

In the United States, research on reading difficulties is predominantly carried out by scholars who project findings on L1 English reading difficulty to generalized difficulty in learning a second language (L2; e.g., Galuschka et al., 2020; Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020; cf. Sparks, 2023). This research extrapolation creates a negative feedback…

The main objective of this study was to assess the appropriateness of literary texts in teaching reading skills at some selected high schools in Ethiopia. The study employed survey research design. Different instruments and sampling techniques were used. Document analysis was conducted to examine the appropriateness of literary texts and reading…

A recent survey aimed at identifying the most popular current programs used to teach reading found that one common feature of all the top sellers was that they organize their teaching around leveled books. Other recent surveys show that teaching reading with leveled books is on the increase and that teachers believe it is endorsed or supported by…

The purpose of this quantitative survey research study was to explore educational preferences among individuals of conservative and liberal political orientation and of both genders in the United States of America with a 13-questionnaire survey that includes questions relating to different educational preferences. The literature review has…

A quality picture book can enhance instruction and build positive and meaningful connections that enable students to visualize and engage in mathematics. To learn more about how preservice teachers analyze and select quality picture books in their mathematics lessons, a study was conducted over two semesters during a required field experience…

Providing challenging curriculum in a literacy classroom of students whose reading abilities range widely can be a challenge. Integrating interdisciplinary book selections into a self-selected reading program, however, provides students with challenge by engaging them with big ideas. This article describes methods of integrating advanced…

This explanatory sequential mixed methods study sought to understand the influences of teaching experience on perceptions of autonomy and competence on 7th through 12th grade English language arts teachers' text selection decisions through a survey and interviews. The findings of this explanatory sequential design survey study could affirm…

Students deserve to see representations of themselves in the books that they read, but with low amounts of culturally diverse books being published, this is not an easy feat. Students are exposed to a wide variety of literature in their classrooms, and as the need increases for culturally responsive teaching, it is important to explore how…