In the past two decades, sustained silent reading (SSR) has gained attention as a component in many schools' reading programs. Some advocates of SSR differ slightly in their recommendations of specific rules, but most agree on the following guidelines: (1) no interruptions; (2) everyone reads, including the teacher; (3) students choose their own…

Offers an outline of what research says about silent reading and comprehension. Presents suggestions to help children learn to read silently.

Reviews findings on miscue analysis, a psycholinguistic study that seeks to explain why and how readers produce inaccuracies when they read words from the page. Discusses the classification of miscues, oral reading vs. silent reading, and the importance of context. (KH)

Intended for practitioners, this is the first booklet in the Research-Based Practices in Early Reading series published by the Regional Educational Laboratory at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning. The 31-page booklet summarizes research on fluency and fluency instruction and describes strategies for fluency instruction. It also explains…

This paper examines how students' independent reading of good books--one example is "The Phantom Tollbooth"--leads to improved reading performance. The paper also touches on the important factors that are impacting independent reading: priority and time. A literature review in the paper found, among other things, that the best predictor…

Discusses books chosen by teachers to read themselves during sustained silent reading. Selections are arranged under the following headings: professional books, activities books, and children's literature. (FL)

Reviewed theoretical and empirical work in phonological recoding, concluding that phonological representation is used to aid comprehension and suggesting that decoding graphemic information into a phonological form is important for early readers. Asserts that future research should examine differences in the use of visual versus phonological…

Maintains that one of the most important contributions a principal can make to remedial and at-risk students is to support independent reading. Discusses curricular congruence and the use of sustained silent reading, paired repeated reading, maintenance of reading levels, reading recovery, and paired reading for prevention as well as remediation.…

Descriptions of language learning and reading behaviors are presented, in this paper, within the context of a model of cognitive processing that reflects a continuum for the logical procession of language skills in human maturation and learning. Portions of the paper differentiate silent and oral reading in terms of cognitive load, which is a…

A discussion of the use of sustained silent reading (SSR) to improve the reading skills and enjoyment of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students reviews studies on the effects of SSR in both first- and second-language contexts and offers suggestions for its classroom use. Some of the research looks at the effect of the technique on attitudes…

Describes ways in which story telling and reading programs can be used to develop positive attitudes toward reading in young children. (CLB)

As one of a regular series, this report focuses on the status and progress of studies on the nature of speech, instrumentation for its investigation, and practical applications. Drawn from the period of July 1 to December 31, 1981, the 15 manuscripts cover the following topics: (1) phonetic trading relations and context effects; (2) temporal…

A substantial body of reading research indicates that poor readers would become much more successful if teachers pretended that they were actually good readers. First, research suggests that teachers should provide poor readers with more silent and less oral reading time, thereby furnishing them with more reading experience that emphasizes meaning…