The importance of supporting children's reading engagement and reading comprehension from the early years is widely acknowledged, particular for children growing up in areas characterized by socioeconomic challenges. This mission is collectively shared by teachers and librarians, although with differing starting points and responsibilities. This…

This mixed-methods research study focuses on students', teachers', and parents' perceptions of the influence therapy dogs in schools can have on reluctant readers' attitudes about reading and motivation to read at school and at home as well as exploring changes in the participants' oral fluency. Eight student participants read to our school…

Dyad reading is a modified version of the Neurological Impress Method in which a lead reader and an assisted reader sit side by side and read aloud a shared text in unison. This cooperative peer-assisted reading strategy has been shown to be effective in helping English-proficient and English-learning children. What is unclear is how dyad reading…

The purpose of the present study was to explore the beliefs and practices of teachers who implement independent reading in their classrooms. Results showed that teachers who implemented independent reading believed in the importance of both the quantity and quality of student reading. The teachers' practices of independent reading showed students…

Although little attention has been paid to primary-age children's reading motivation in comparison to older readers, one disturbing trend has been repeatedly observed: reading motivation generally declines across the early elementary years. Given that children's perceptions of school experiences shape motivation, and motivation impacts…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how computer-assisted use of Reading-through-Writing (RtW) method relates to the level of literacy and reading motivation of school children in grades 1 and 2 (N = 261-385). The research also explored the extent to which the RtW method was perceived as useful among teachers and by school children with…

Important strides have been made in the science of learning to read. Yet, many students still struggle to attain reading proficiency. This calls for sustained efforts to bridge theoretical insights with applied considerations about ideal pedagogy. The current study was designed to contribute to this conversation, namely by looking at the efficacy…

This article details one teacher's implementation of reading workshop in her second grade classroom. She provided a framework for authentic reading using the five components of reading workshop: time, choice, response, community, and structure. She found that reading workshop is a highly effective practice for not only increasing students'…

In the present project we tested the hypothesis that tutorial situations with peers would benefit children's reading motivation. Participants were from elementary school--80 fourth-graders and 80 second-graders. We used a questionnaire to assess reading motivation. In the tutorial sessions we developed a Paired Reading Program. The children who…

This study investigated how students' extrinsic motivation, home literacy and classroom instructional practices were related to the students' reading proficiency of 734 Chinese second-graders (48.2 per cent girls and 51.4 per cent boys) from twenty-two classes in seven primary schools in Hong Kong. The mean student age was 7.5 years. All…

Why are children off task? What is going on in classrooms where a majority of children are off task? In this study we analyzed primary-grade classroom literacy instruction in which there was considerable off-task behavior. Using Turner and Paris's frame for understanding student motivation in the classroom, we analyzed 73 activity settings where…

There are few research studies on the effects of teaching comprehension strategies to young children in the primary grades. Using a Dominant-Less Dominant Mixed Model design employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection, we evaluated two approaches for teaching comprehension strategies to 7- and 8-year-old children in four…