Reports on a nationwide survey of instructional beliefs and practices of elementary public school teachers. Finds that teachers generally do not assume a polar, either/or approach to phonics and whole language, but instead provide children a balanced eclectic program involving both reading skill instruction and immersion in enriched literacy…

Sixty-six grade six students were subjects in a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a direct instruction paradigm for teaching children the reading comprehension skill of main idea identification. Both experimental groups (strategy and basal) and the control group received eight lessons of 30 minutes each. All instruction occurred over a…

Presents a case study of an eighth-grade girl who received one year of nontraditional remedial reading instruction in which she was treated more like a good reader than a disabled one. Reports that the program produced a moderate improvement in reading ability. (FL)

Describes the characteristics of effective reading programs and presents implications for the improvement of reading instruction. (HOD)

A university reading educator exchanged jobs with an elementary school teacher for a full year of teaching and research in a second-grade classroom. The educator's perspective on teaching and learning literacy was based on the 3-part principle that immersion in a rich literate environment, explicit teacher instruction in literacy skills and…

In direct instruction, the teacher, in a face-to-face, reasonably formal manner, tells, shows, models, demonstrates, and teaches the skill to be learned. Therefore, it is the teacher behavior aspect of classroom instruction that underpins the instructional strategy for teaching main ideas. Much has been learned about teacher behaviors that…

This report highlights key studies, salient findings, and the significance of research supported by the National Reading Research Center (NRRC), which was charged to conduct research on reading instruction appropriate for prekindergarten through 12th-grade learning environments. The first chapter of the report elaborates on a foundation principle…

Introduces a two-step instructional model that promotes independence in reading comprehension by transferring responsibility for strategy use to the students throughout the course of instruction. Includes extended examples. (NKA)