In this commentary, several core principles underlying the editorial and articles comprising the Special Issue on improving literacy engagement are identified and discussed. Those principles pertain to the multidimensional nature of literacy engagement, the explicit or implicit definitions offered for the construct, the positive contributions that…

Purpose: In this article, we respond to Catts and Kamhi's (2017) argument that reading comprehension is not a single ability. Method: We provide a brief review of the impact of strategy instruction, the importance of knowledge in reading comprehension, and possible avenues for future research and practice. Results: We agree with Catts and Kamhi's…

The discussion provides insights into reading problems with the help of research. The interested educators will find the ample information about reading research on the web.

Replies to an article in this issue that responded to an earlier article ("On Balanced Reading") by this author. Argues that Welna's unbalanced coverage of research and critique is the very fuel that continues the Reading Wars. Argues that a study of past and present research can lead the profession to common ground. (SR)

Discusses practice reading and the pause, prompt, and praise remedial reading procedures used with low-progress readers of primary school age. Results are discussed in terms of the interactive social contexts provided by the two procedures and of the opportunities for reciprocal gains in skill between reader and tutors. (Author/BSR)

Reviews the literature concerning the role of play therapy (particularly sandplay and nondirected play therapy) in the improvement of reading. Suggests that the role of play therapy is to support the child, encourage the child, and build self-esteem thus creating the optimal learning environment for reading improvement. (RS)

Establishes the logical validity of instructional activities for teaching reading evaluatively. Supports the view that the 20 characteristics of literate students who read evaluatively were translated into valid instructional activities by experienced classroom teachers. (HB)

Addressing the question of how schools and teachers can foster an advanced level of reading awareness among secondary students, this paper focuses on the similarity in language used to describe recent research on both the composing process and comprehension as acts of constructing meaning. It presents a perspective on the reading/writing…

Concludes that poor readers benefit from a cooperative strategy that gives them practice toward fluency in a supportive situation. Explains how repeated reading works and offers a strategy for using it. (FL)

Describes two aspects of reading theory: a reader's background knowledge and the organization of text events and ideas. Illustrates how these aspects were applied to instructional design and discusses the results of this application. Includes recommendations on how to apply background knowledge and to create more comprehensible texts. (RDN)

Describes a case study that focused on the influence of the family's literacy interactions on all family members. Describes how, once the student learning to read (a 47-year-old father and grandfather) invited the family to take part in his learning, his reading improved, and the frequency and nature of family interactions changed. (SR)

Offers five suggestions gleaned from research that can help teachers to develop in their students a life-long interest in reading. (PRA)

Explores the early childhood through high school reading experiences of teenagers. Provides details about favorite books, television viewing habits, and students' memories. Provides the results of a survey and explores how students who like reading got that way. (PRA)

Phonological awareness has little, if anything, to do with reading or the acquisition of literacy. Learned opinion has been divided as to the relationship of phonological awareness and reading. Some scholars hold that the ability to analyze speech into discrete phonic segments is a precursor to, even a cause of, successful reading acquisition,…

Proper application of the alphabetic principle rests on an awareness of the internal phonological (and morphophonological) structure of words that the alphabet represents. Unfortunately for the would-be reader-writer, such awareness is not an automatic consequence of speaking a language, because the biological specialization for speech manages the…