Several articles of interest to teachers of English as a second language (ESL) are included. In "Specific Reading Skills for Secondary and Post-Secondary E.S.L. Learners," Pamela M. Riley provides some ideas for stimulating students to extract meaning from paragraphs. Thelma Grant reviews one region's variety of instructional approaches…

Focusing on some of the techniques classroom teachers are using to help students with reading comprehension, this report also highlights some of the research dealing with that area. The various articles in the report contain the following: a discussion of ways to teach inferential and critical reading skills; a discussion of "Research within…

This newsletter from the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) first discusses The No Child Left Behind Act's strong emphasis on reading skills, in its central article, "Reading a Central Focus of No Child Left Behind Act." It explains that through the authorization of two new programs, Early Reading First (for…

Addressing issues on developmental education, instructional and learning methods, learning assistance and academic support, and reading and research, this issue of the Journal of College Reading and Learning includes the following articles: "Moving the Mountain to Mohammed: Study Skills Tutoring in the Residence Halls" (J. L. Rogers); "Memory…

Mini-lessons (brief, informative explanations that demonstrate what readers do) are a key instructional practice in meaning centered reading programs. The content of the mini-lessons is determined by the needs of learners. In procedural mini-lessons, teachers explain the steps for successfully completing a task or performing a reading-related…

An appreciation for the diverse meanings ascribed to the concept of literacy is fundamental to the affirmation of literacy in human lives. Literacy is something interpreted. Its presence is visible in lives, yet literacy remains an invisible, measureless phenomenon. In the fullness of being literate, there is humanness-wakefulness, liveliness and…

Several articles of interest to teachers of English as a second language (ESL) are included. "Education for Citizenship" by A. D. Spicer presents the suggested content of a citizenship education course for newly arrived immigrants, as set forth by the Australian Adult Migrant Education Service. This course covers various aspects of personal…

Noting that reports by the National Research Council and the National Reading Panel show that children learn to read best if they are first provided with an understanding that sounds heard in spoken words correspond to letters seen in print, this issue of the "State Education Leader" newsletter explains that once this skill is acquired,…

Research shows that children who are not proficient readers by the end of third grade perform poorly in other subjects and have difficulties throughout the course of their schooling. The knowledge exists to teach all but a small percentage of students to become proficient readers. Despite this knowledge, a troubling number of children do not learn…

This volume presents approaches and strategies for integrating literacy acquisition into social studies content and processes, for deepening student understanding of the social sciences, and for motivating students to read and write in the social studies class. The book is intended to be a teachers' reference tool for planning creative and…

Syntheses of reading research conducted by the National Research Council (1998) and more recently by the Congressionally-Commissioned National Reading Panel (2000) provide ample evidence of the skills, experience, and knowledge children need to become successful readers in an alphabetic writing system. This research makes clear that children must…

A study investigated the effectiveness of the "News Read" project in which reading was taught using an analytic procedure (where understanding is a prerequisite for correct decoding) using newspapers as the sole reading materials. Subjects, about 300 students in three classes from each of the three levels of Swedish comprehensive schools…

Focusing on activities that can be directly taught as "survival language situations," this journal (1) evaluates what school critics mean by "survival English," (2) demonstrates that teachers can easily pay attention to "survival"-oriented language, and (3) argues that a comprehensive English course enables students…

The aim of this book is to provide a thorough account of what is known about the acquisition of reading abilities in a second language and to foster a more principled research and instruction in second language literacy. Discussion is set forth from a variety of perspectives: first, through examinations of theoretical models of the reading process…

To add a foundation to the growing excitement among educators about the central role they play in helping learners become strategic readers, the articles in this thematic journal provide insight into current reading theory and practice. Richard Telfer's article reviews research on strategic reading and clarifies what is meant by the phrase…