Educators and researchers have been fighting the reading wars for the last century, with battles see-sawing literacy instruction in American schools from phonics to whole language and, most recently, back to phonics again. Over the last decade, 32 states and the District of Columbia have adopted new "science of reading" laws that require…

Equipping elementary (i.e., grades K-5) teachers with adequate content and pedagogical knowledge to promote effective reading instruction based on the science of reading is a crucial piece of the reading education puzzle. We reviewed 20 empirical studies to examine the impact of teacher preparation and training programs on elementary teachers'…

The growing English language learner (ELL) population in the United States warrants an examination of reading intervention effectiveness with this population. The reading achievement of ELLs is of particular concern due to the importance of reading skills and the innate language barriers that exist for ELLs. This article reviews existing…

This topical bibliography and commentary provides an overview of current thinking on the role of phonics in reading instruction. It discusses the value of phonics, phonics and phonemic awareness, the need for explicit instruction, principles in phonics instruction, and recommended instructional procedures. It concludes that findings from research…

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…

The research described in this report is the first part of an attempt to study the development of both overall reading ability and verbal encoding efficiency in an effort to see how the two are related. The report proposes a theory of prerequisite or hierarchical relationships and suggests that there may be differences between performance of a…

That the attainment of literacy does not represent a unitary process or a unitary set of skills is reflected in this collection of papers from a variety of disciplines showing concerns about reading problems. Following an introduction by Sheila White, the first half of the book contains the following articles: "The Practice of Literacy: Where Mind…

This response to Vicki Snider (EC 602 672) claims that teaching reading through students' learning style strengths has resulted in accelerated learning and significant gains in student motivation, reading fluency, and comprehension. The commentary discusses the research base on phonics instruction, learning styles, and The Reading Style Inventory.…

Drawing upon those aspects of "Becoming a Nation of Readers" directly relevant to classroom teachers, this booklet suggests ideas for classroom practices, based on research, that will improve students' reading achievement. The booklet is organized around five instructional themes: defining reading, reading readiness, beginning reading,…

Creating a link between current research findings and classroom practice, this book analyzes, compares, and critiques prevalent classroom strategies in beginning reading instruction in light of expertise available in other countries. The book begins with a section on "Points of Departure," consisting of three chapters:…