Focuses on the expanded literacy skills which are required to prepare children to fully participate in a variety of social contexts, including school, home, and eventually the workplace. Discusses criteria of literacy, emerging issues in the literacy debates, home and school literacy, and implications for educators. (RS)

Examines two independent data sets to support argument that although onset-rime sensitivity typically predicts school entrants' later word reading skills, phoneme sensitivity predicts more variation. Maintains that multiple regression analyses do not reveal level of phonological sensitivity needed to understand alphabetic reading instruction and…

Reviews 25 college reading skills textbooks for their context skills presentations. Provides six suggestions for revising the instruction of contextual skills to college students. (RS)

Presents a rationale for instruction in critical reading (i.e., using a questioning attitude, logical analysis, and inference to judge the worth of what is read). Discuss factors involved in critical reading, including previous thinking, attitudes/prejudices, topical knowledge, and knowledge of critical reading skills. (DMM)

Discusses the dilemma concerning whether students should be taught specific knowledge or strategic knowledge. Focuses on E. D. Hirsch's position in his book "Dictionary of Cultural Literacy" and a synthesis position presented by David Perkins and Gavriel Salomon in several articles. Argues that students need both specific and strategic…

Analysis of second-language literacy is discussed in light of first-language perspectives on literacy, reading, and writing, and expanding these perspectives into second-language contexts. The current perspectives on literacy are also identified and reviewed. (GLR)

Refutes Leslie MacLean and Harvey Goldstein's charges (in the January 1988 "Kappan") that the National Assessment of Educational Progress Reading Proficiency Scale is based on a single assumption (reading proficiency) accounting for responses to all reading tasks. Characterizes the scale as developmental, with points corresponding to…

Rebuffs Leslie Maclean and Harvey Goldstein's claims that the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading Proficiency Scale is unidimensional. Critics' confusion may stem from failing to separate what a test measures from a score's usefulness. The Lexile Reading Scale should be integrated with the NAEP scale. Includes eight…

Argues that direct instruction can be democratic when the content comes from the pupil. Argues that minimal reading achievement levels result from using text-centered, behavioral-objective-based, criterion-referenced, and profitable commercial reading programs. Asserts that students' writing improves when they internalize the alphabet. (RS)

Mediated and "live" picture books engender different patterns of interaction between reader and child. The reading of a TV picture book is a text, not an interaction centered on a text. Exposure to mediated picture books alone appears to be an inadequate replacement for "live" book reading in the acquisition of literacy. (18 references) (CP)

Suggests that, rather than ignoring the enormous interest of children for joke and riddle books, educators can take advantage of humor's natural attraction by using it to involve children in reading and to provide worthwhile learning experiences. Discusses humor as an instructional tool, classroom use of joke and riddle books, and teacher…

Defines a type of literacy task, the search task (locating specific information). Explains why it is of concern, describes research on high school and college students' searching, and offers suggestions for search instruction. (SR)

Provides an overview of the approaches being attempted by reading educators to revise reading assessment based on what it can be, rather than what it is. (MG)

Rethinks the concept of book reports, refuting most reasons for their use. Notes other, more enjoyable ways to teach the skills usually targeted with book reports. Offers guidelines to optimize learning and opportunities for success with book reports. (SR)

Argues that a primary goal of foreign language instruction should be acquainting students with foreign culture. Discusses how language teachers might facilitate student encounters with foreign cultures. Presents an eight-step process for developing reading skills in a foreign language. (HB)