Language can provide an entree into an academic discipline, but can also serve as a barrier to exclude newcomers. How does this apply to academic developers trying to promote teaching and learning on their campuses? Using an online survey, academics at two institutions in the UK and USA were asked to describe their typical and ideal reading in…

The article surfaces, examines and draws conclusions on the varying perceptions, expectations and operationalised "realities" of tutor and student behaviour in relation to reading lists. The argument identifies a paucity of literature on reading lists, but, nevertheless, locates a number of potential literature sources with which to…

Discusses aspects of two qualitative studies that focused on: (1) children's interests in comics; and (2) reactions to a home-school comic lending library based in three classrooms over a period of seven weeks. Discusses results from both studies and implications for development of the primary school literacy curriculum. (BT)

Reported here are the results of a research project that examined the role of UK public libraries in addressing adult literacy including approaches and issues. Eight public libraries were selected as case studies and adult literacy provision was investigated using staff interviews. The interviews provided support for the role of public libraries…

Examines the practical side of readablility in the United Kingdom as well as some theoretical considerations focused on research on text difficulty, microcomputer prediction of difficulty, validity of cloze procedure, and the effect when students rewrite textbook prose. (HOD)

This paper explores reading for pleasure, its importance, and its impact on literacy attainment and other outcomes and reviews much of the research on the importance of reading for pleasure. A debate has been rife in the UK over the past few years as to how best to teach children to read, which culminated in an "Independent Review of the…

This article traces the development in Britain of the 'real' book approach to children learning to read. It begins with reference to Kenneth Goodman's seminal work in psycholinguistics published in the late 1960s. It goes on to draw on the work of Margaret Meek at the London Institute of Education and Liz Waterland, a teacher in an English primary…

Findings from a number of studies of the reading interests and habits of British secondary school students are reviewed, and the results of a new survey of the opinions of 55 teachers are briefly reported. The studies indicate that a number of "classic" texts are popular but that "subliterature" is also popular and becomes more…

This article reports an investigation of the attitudes and opinions of children's librarians towards poetry, and towards its promotion in the public library. It also reports some attitudes towards literature promotion to young people in general. A series of structured interviews with library professionals currently working in the public sector…

In the United Kingdom in 1977 a national questionnaire survey was conducted by the University of Sheffield (England) under the direction of Frank Whitehead with children ages 10-14 years old to discover the kind and extent of children's voluntary reading. In 1994/95, Whitehead's study was replicated in the context of the 1990s. This report…

Presents methods for teaching reading using Paired Reading and "real books" to determine the ingredients necessary for a successful program. Factors discussed include (1) materials (choice of books); (2) parental involvement; (3) the teacher's role (as enabler, facilitator, supporter); and (4) within-child factors (such as motivation and…

This paper focuses on a 1997 pilot project carried out in five secondary schools in South Africa that examined children's reading and information use. This study (n=958) was part of a larger study from 1995 and 1996 carried out in the United Kingdom. The primary goal was to examine what young people are reading at the end of the 20th century. The…