To explore how instruction in questioning can enhance teachers' use of questions that promote comprehension and how teachers' instruction of students in such strategies can enhance their ability to comprehend content area texts independently, this paper looks at prereading, during-reading, and postreading questioning activities. The first major…

Research and descriptive studies of the active reader (one who starts reading early in life with a broad range of interests and continues this behavior) are of particular interest, because they identify salient characteristics and acquired traits of people who like to read. For example, the mature reader has been characterized as being able to…

Reading is a multileveled, interactive, and hypothesis-generating process in which readers construct a meaningful representation of text by using their knowledge of the world and of language. Reviewing research on the reading process, it is clear that context, script (a form of general event representation derived from and applied to social…

Reviews the literature on classroom reading instruction and elaborates the results of a series of studies that hypothesized that high-risk students, such as those typically found in low reading groups, would become more aware of how to reason during reading if their teachers explained the mental acts associated with strategic skill use. (NKA)

This executive summary discusses our current understanding of the difficulties that children with reading/learning disabilities encounter as they start down the road to reading and summarizes research on early identification and intervention. The focus is on children in kindergarten through second grade. Findings from the analysis indicate: (1)…

Reports on a study of predictive judgments and evaluation methods among 33 elementary teachers. Finds that inaccuracy in teachers' judgments of students is due partly to inappropriate use of consensus or comparative performance data. (CFR)

In order to help adult readers with problems, it is necessary to develop an approach to teaching them that is sensitive to language and that makes explicit reference to the way language works to make meaning in texts. A language-based approach requires teachers to become more aware of the relatively invisible language system that lies behind the…

This article discusses the reading fluency and comprehension problems of struggling secondary students who can read, with assistance, on a fourth-grade reading level or above. Difficulties with vocabulary and sentence construction are described, along with problems with pronoun reference and noun substitutions, metaphor, and conventions of print.…

Maintains that pictures are one constant aspect of children's books. Reviews research on whether pictures hinder or facilitate the development of reading skills in young children. Provides suggestions on when and where pictures might provide instructional support. (CFR)

Reviews current research on free voluntary reading and discusses its benefits for vocabulary development, reading ability, writing style, spelling, grammar, pleasure, personal discovery, and literacy. Positive correlations are made between free voluntary reading and academic achievement and second-language acquisition. Eleven relevant documents…

Reviews research streams in metacognition, reading strategies, and training of reading strategies that are converging in the field of English as a foreign or second language (EFL/ESL) and impacting the teaching of English to non-native speakers for academic purposes. A research design for investigating the efficacy of metacognitive strategy…

This article reviews 27 legal decisions published between 1989 and 1998 involving students with learning disabilities and parental requests for specific methods selected and used by the school district. Rationales employed by hearing officers, judges, and federal agencies in reaching decisions related to educational methods are discussed and…

To assist second language teachers, administrators, parents, and other teachers to better understand how foreign language instruction helps students develop literacy skills, this paper discusses research about the commonalities between first and second language reading and writing. It is an outgrowth of the North Carolina State Board of…

Based on research findings and practical experience, this booklet presents 10 interrelated ideas to transform instruction in reading and heighten literacy learning for all students. The booklet notes that research has led to new understandings about basic cognitive and instructional processes (particularly those involved in reading comprehension).…

The development of fluency in beginning readers is a gradual process that often involves different oral strategies such as word-by-word reading, pointing to words, and reading aloud to oneself. A review of research related to these behaviors and to corresponding spelling behaviors suggests a number of implications for instruction, including the…