Vocabulary is the hallmark of an educated person as it not only promotes reading comprehension but also enables to actively participate in the society. The four practices that teachers can use to expand students' vocabularies and improve their reading are presented.

Neurologist and middle school teacher Judy Willis connects what you do in the classroom to what happens in the brain when students learn how to read, including: (1) Why a classroom has to be safe and supportive in order to overcome barriers to reading fluency; (2) How to jumpstart students who are not well prepared for reading with activities that…

Inadequate self-concepts develop due to being a poor and insecure reader. Any company invests time and money wisely if it provides individuals opportunities to develop needed reading skills at the workplace. There are selected prerequisites for reading instructors to stress when teaching at the workplace: (1) the instructor needs to have basic…

Reading research can answer the question of how to teach vocabulary to increase reading comprehension. Literature reviews show that almost any type of vocabulary instruction can produce significant gains in word knowledge, but that since more than this superficial knowledge is necessary to make a difference in reading comprehension, much…

Describes a method of teaching reading skills in a second language that focuses on: (1) eliminating the student's fear of giving a "wrong answer"; (2) discouraging overuse of a dictionary; (3) teaching recognition of cognates, roots, and the use of certain prefixes and suffixes; (4) using a variety of texts; and (5) utilizing skimming, scanning,…

Three teachers discuss using picture books to cure reading problems, boost sagging self-concepts, and tutor handicapped children. Techniques for using books are described, as are follow-up activities. Examples of specific books and their uses with hearing and visually impaired children are given. (MT)

Discusses objectives that can be accomplished through the study of proverbs. Suggests a number of exercises involving proverbs that can be used to improve reading comprehension and hone writing skills and to develop a vocabulary. (RBW)

Describes a reading technique for college writing and a method of teaching word structue. (HOD)

Based on the idea that word knowledge has particular importance in literate societies, this Digest finds that most people feel that there is a common sense relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension, i.e., messages are composed of ideas, and ideas are expressed in words. The Digest considers several viewpoints on teaching…

Part of a basic training series, this booklet describes creating a Reading Coaches (tm) session based on the simple concept of reading good books with children while engaging them in conversation about the book. The booklet notes that exemplary practices found in the SLICE-CORPS program (an AmeriCorps program) were synthesized to develop the…

Part of a basic training series, this booklet describes presenting a Reading Coaches (tm) session based on the simple concept of reading good books with children while engaging them in conversation about the book. The booklet notes that exemplary practices found in the SLICE-CORPS program (an AmeriCorps program) were synthesized to develop the…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Oral Language and Vocabulary module elaborates on a student's comprehension of text as it relates to the overlap between the student's system of language and the author's system of language.…

Research has consistently shown that vocabulary knowledge, including both word recognition skills and understanding of word meaning, is highly predictive of achievement in other aspects of reading--oral and silent reading and comprehension. The importance of instruction in word recognition and decoding has been recently demonstrated by the rise in…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Oral Language and Vocabulary module elaborates on a student's comprehension of text as it relates to the overlap between the student's system of language and the author's system of language.…

A practicum addressing (1) elementary school students' need to increase their sight vocabulary, (2) their needs for self-esteem, (3) their individual learning differences, and (4) the practical difficulties of providing additional practice time and personnel to teach is described in this guide. The introduction of the guide discusses the community…