This study examined reading instruction and its effects in schools with two different philosophical stances (process and traditional approaches to reading). Observations of six classes, three using traditional and three using process approaches, indicated that there were far more similarities than differences. Differences in school philosophy made…

Examined along three assessment criteria (self-esteem and attitudes toward school, writing, and reading) the effects of literature-based mixed-age grouping compared to traditional grouping that emphasized a basal-reader approach in language arts. Found significantly higher increases in pretest-posttest scores for students in mixed-age settings.…

During a time of reform and accountability, school districts are closely monitoring teachers' instructional decisions, practices, and classroom environments. In this paper, we apply neocolonial theory to describe the experiences of elementary grade teachers in one California school district who are required to follow a scripted basal reading…

This final report describes a 3-year project at one elementary school in Renton, Washington, which used hypermedia to develop supplementary reading materials for students with and without mild disabilities in integrated elementary classrooms. The hypermedia software provided reading selections designed to supplement a basal reader series by…

A national survey of programs (N=798) for deaf students examined: (1) the organizational frameworks (theoretical or methodological) that programs use for reading instruction; (2) the extent to which "Reading Milestones," a basal series developed for deaf/hard-of-hearing (d/hh) students is used; (3) respondents' satisfaction with "Reading…

A practicum was conducted to improve reading comprehension in classroom performance with the basal reading series and on norm-referenced tests. Subjects included a fifth-grade class of 28 students who were paired with another fifth-grade class as peer teachers. New skills were taught and practiced with the target population early in the week. On…

A compendium of reading instructional practices from approximately 1950 through 1970, this compilation of essays supplies a theoretical background of the reading discipline for elementary and secondary school reading instructors. The five articles deal with different aspects of the reading curriculum. "The Basics in the Reading Curriculum"…

Commercially developed basal reading programs are used in most elementary school classrooms in the United States. Yet often neither the publishers developing these programs nor the members of textbook adoption committees selecting programs are able to take advantage of the best available knowledge about the reading process and reading instruction.…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 11 titles deal with the following topics: (1) teacher self-assessment and analysis of feedback to student miscues during oral reading; (2) the humor found in basal readers appropriate to second and fourth grade students; (3) an…

Written from a psycholinguistic perspective to assist teachers-in-training to prepare for reading instruction in grades one through eight, this book can clarify basic issues in reading as well as supplement current knowledge. The three major parts into which this book is divided examine reading in the "human context," the "teaching context," and…

To determine how textbook publishers have changed the content of teachers' manuals designed to accompany basal reading series, a study was undertaken to examine manuals published by two different publishers since the l920s. Ten fifth grade manuals were reviewed for physical characteristics, tests, number of stories, instructional suggestions,…

Ideas of educational psycholinguists Frank Smith and Kenneth Goodman can be combined with the ideas presented in current basal reader manuals to help teachers teach reading more effectively. Since reading and speaking are parallel processes, teachers may invite children to "read" with them, hearing the melody of language as they point to…

A study was conducted to determine whether students who mapped prior and post knowledge of a basal reading lesson would achieve higher scores on a comprehension test and write better summaries of those stories than would students who received traditional basal reading instruction. Subjects, 30 fifth grade students, participated in either a…

A study examined the ways that basal readers portrayed the family. It was expected that the readers would give only token representation of both parents working or of one-parent or mixed marriage families, and that very few portrayals of reading or of reading materials would be found. Eight basal readers from 6 publishing companies for grades 1…

Noting that major publishers have begun to depict a more balanced portrayal of ethnic story characters and content in their basal reading series, a study was conducted to investigate the extent to which stories depicting the three largest ethnic groups in the United States were contained in nine of the major and current basal reading series…