This longitudinal study from Grades 1 to 4 investigated (a) the extent to which children select peers based on similarity in reading skills and (b) the extent to which children are influenced by the level of their peers' reading skills. The sample consisted of 1003 Finnish children in Grades 1-4, for whom reading fluency and comprehension were…

This study examined how U.S., Finnish, and Irish educators identified and supported struggling readers. Using Johnston's (2011) framework for evaluating reading interventions and activity theory (Engeström, 1999), we interviewed educators in four U.S., three Irish, and three Finnish schools. In the United States, the adoption of three…

There is plenty of research on teaching reading skills as well as on the prerequisites of literacy, but not so much on children's opinions on learning to read. Few know what a child thinks itself of his/her learning to read and ability to learn to read. The aim of this article is to reveal the children's (n = 43) opinions on learning to read at…