District leaders in a large urban school district in central Florida wanted to test the efficacy of a new curriculum designed to enhance the word knowledge of grade 5 students so as to improve reading achievement. The new curriculum, called Word Knowledge Instruction (WKI), consists of 15-minute lessons taught 4 days a week for 20 weeks. The…

Purpose: The purpose of this narrative review of the literature is to provide a description of intensive interventions for elementary grade students with dyslexia, students with learning disabilities, and students with intensive reading and writing needs. Method: First, we provide a brief overview of response to intervention. Second, we explain…

Traditionally, many English language teachers around the world have conformed to an English as a foreign language (EFL) model. In this model, they expose their students to the standard language norms of English-dominant nations, such as the United States and the United Kingdom. However, English learners do not only need language skills to…

The most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Because reading affects all other academic achievement and is associated with social, emotional, economic, and physical health, it has been the most researched aspect of human cognition. The fact that teachers need better preparation, professional development, and…

This article presents a protocol for utilizing conferring strategies for reading conferences with English Language Learners (ELLs) as a means to support their reading comprehension skills and develop content area vocabulary in middle level education. The Conferring with English Language Learners (CELL) Protocol emphasizes ELLs' conversational…

Reading comprehension expectations in content areas have increased for students during the past decade. Many secondary students, including students with learning disabilities, improve their reading proficiency of grade-level text when they receive explicit instruction. The authors propose a self-questioning strategy routine designed to enhance…

For students to be able to read with greater fluency and comprehension, they must first develop their understanding of morphology, the knowledge of meaningful word parts in the language. To develop this understanding, students must learn the following: letter patterns and word parts, the relation of sounds to letters, and high-frequency word…

Close reading requires students to unpack the implicit relationships within and across sentences. The authors discuss three potential barriers to comprehension embedded within text that they have seen with their own students and with the teachers they have worked with: anaphoric relationships, connectives, and appositives. The authors begin each…

In this article, the authors outline an innovation curriculum that can be taught to elementary-aged students to expand their creative and innovative abilities and potential. The curriculum focuses on divergent and convergent thinking principles embedded in a hands-on learning pedagogy. The curriculum framework is based on an innovation model known…

Choral reading is reading in unison, like a chorus, with the teacher taking the lead (Rasinski, 1989). It is highly efficient because all students practice at the same time (Paige & Magpuri-Lavell, 2014). It is also effective with struggling readers and English Learners because of the "tent of anonymity" it provides when readers read…

To understand complex disciplinary texts, students need to possess a rich store of background knowledge. But what happens if students don't have that knowledge? In this article, Doug Buehl explores frontloading strategies that can bridge the gap between what students know and what they need to know to comprehend a disciplinary text. He outlines…

Teaching and learning of technical terms constitute a major problem for ESP instructors and students. To help the students learn, retain, apply and relate technical terms, a multiple-associations instructional approach that focuses on connecting the printed form of the technical term with its pronunciation (the hidden sounds, double and silent…

The following article is an adapted and abridged excerpt from The Language Immersion Life: A Guide for Families by Millie Park Mellgren (2017). This book features answers to the most common questions Dr. Mellgren was asked as an elementary immersion principal. The volume features commentary and data gleaned from surveys given to hundreds of former…

Purpose: Narrative interventions are a class of language interventions that involve the use of telling or retelling stories. Narrative intervention can be an efficient and versatile means of promoting a large array of academically and socially important language targets that improve children's access to general education curriculum and enhance…

This article provides background on the major perspectives involving the development of English language and literacy with respect to the evolving demography of d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing children and adolescents. It synthesizes research and controversies on the developmental similarity hypothesis--that is, whether the acquisition of English…