A study designed to determine what characterizes effective instructional explanation in reading involved reading instruction, by the researcher, of four reading groups and one child in a third/fourth grade classroom in the fall, and two groups plus one child the remainder of the academic year. The researcher was observed 32 times during the year;…

An analysis of reading instructional research reveals eight analytic categories for organizing various aspects of instruction. The first three categories describe the rhetorical distinctions that are often made about instruction, providing a background to the analysis of the instruction found in current research. The distinctions in these…

Classroom studies indicate that turn-taking--when a teacher asks a question or assigns a reading turn, the child responds, and the teacher reinforces or corrects--is the format of most school lessons. The problem with this format is that it emphasizes pupil response without providing for teacher explanation and the other forms of substantive…

In an instructional study, teachers were taught to make decisions about reading instruction while simultaneously following directives about how to use a mandated basal reading textbook. This article examines how such directives influenced elementary school teachers' perceptions of their role as reading teachers. (Author/NH)

The authors examine some reasons why secondary schools ignore or, at best, provide "band-aid" solutions to the adolescent reading problems that so upset the public. They conclude that secondary schools simply do not value reading achievement enough to expend on it the effort they willingly expend on physical education. (SJL)

Based upon teacher interviews and classroom observations, outlines a continuum of nine "points of progress" teachers seem to go through in learning to teach strategies to their lowest achieving students: confusion and rejection; teacher-controlled strategies; trying out; modeling process into content; "the wall"; "over the…

This document identifies teacher attitude as the most important variable in effective teaching, describes a preliminary study of teacher conceptions of reading, and outlines the scope of subsequent research on teacher decisions, patterns of instruction, and time allocation. Two instruments, the Proposition Sort and the Rep Test, were used to…

Reports on an intervention study that trained teachers to be explicit when teaching low reading groups to use reading skills strategically. Concludes that use of the training techniques produced significantly greater student awareness of what was taught but no significant gains in achievement. Copies of the teacher and student rating scales used…

Examines four important outcomes of reading instruction--to enjoy and appreciate reading, to understand reading's communication function, to find information, and to develop word recognition and comprehension strategies--and illustrates how direct instruction varies qualitatively from outcome to outcome. (RL)

A review of the literature reveals little evidence that classroom decision making is an important component in teaching effectiveness. Studies investigating decision making before (preactive) and during (interactive) instruction indicate that teachers are preoccupied with activity flow and procedural concerns rather than with increasing student…

An expert reading instruction teacher was studied for one academic year to explore his interactive decision making processes. Previous lines of research have indicated that, for some teachers, interactive decision making involves more than simply maintaining established routines that assure smooth activity flow and involves deviating from the…

The term "direct instruction" is often used by researchers and educators as if there were consensus regarding its meaning, when in fact, it covers a variety of qualitative differences. To test this hypothesis, two second grade teachers, each categorized as a proponent of direct instruction, were studied using descriptive techniques. The…

Six first- and second-grade teachers were observed while teaching their students how to read in order to examine the methods and rationale they employed for assistance during reading group instruction. (MP)

Indicates that low-reading ability students of teachers trained how to make decisions about when and how to explain the mental processing associated with using reading skills as strategies were more aware of lesson content and of the need to be strategic when reading and scored better on several measures of reading achievement than did students of…

The traditional practice of having students read or respond to questions in turn is questioned. Research suggests that teacher effectiveness improves when teachers clearly explain the task at hand before children respond. (PP)