Describes a classroom-based research project that investigated how talking and writing about the novel "Sarah, Plain and Tall" (by Patricia MacLachlan) and rereading parts as a group helped four deaf teenagers build meaning and broaden their understanding of the story. (SR)

Discusses the rationale and technique for using subtitled foreign films with an integrated language approach in a developmental college reading class. Reports student attitudes. Shows that the subtitled films motivated students to read, gave them good time on task, and improved their knowledge of other cultures and eras. (SR)

Suggests that the combination of reading, writing, and art has the potential to reach those students who may not be reached by other vehicles. Describes the use of the directed reading, writing, and art activity, which has been used with all students from the gifted to those in Chapter 1 Reading and Resource classrooms. (RS)

This article describes the Schoolwide Reading Improvement Model and its stages and application in the primary grades of two schools. The model assumes that reading improvement requires a multidimensional intervention based on research and integration of curriculum, instruction, and assessment and must build on the conditions and contexts of the…

Describes the home and school literacy experiences of a group of children with severe motor and speech disabilities in order to examine the relationship between these experiences and reading and spelling abilities in this population. Finds that home literacy experiences in the groups studied at best had a marginal influence on reading development.…

Argues that regular homophone practice enhances vocabulary knowledge, spelling skills, pronunciation ability, and overall reading proficiency. Describes how card games played with decks of homophones helped to accomplish these things. Notes particular benefits of homophone games to English-as-a-second-language students, and outlines key advantages…

Describes how two fifth-grade boys developed and sustained a love of fantasy books. Describes how these two discriminating readers have developed taste and a social context for their reading experience. Shows how their experience demonstrates important principles about reading and about reading curriculum. (SR)

Suggests that autobiography is a fertile context for students to develop a facility for reading and writing and for defining and constructing themselves within an academic setting. Discusses using autobiography in an introduction to academic discourse course for developmental college students. (RS)

Presents a discussion paper reflecting on the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) after one year of operation. Argues that once the NLS becomes established it will be necessary for all teachers to engage with the research literature so that they teach from a position of professional understanding of the processes involved in reading and writing…

Notes that many students in general education classrooms exhibit problematic behavior at some point during their academic careers. Suggests that these students often have special learning needs. Considers how using thematic units for reading and language arts instruction can improve these students' reading skills and help students with problematic…

Describes how pairing fiction and nonfiction books on the same topic, along with interactive class strategies (such as Venn diagrams, K-W-L, DR-TA, webbing, and activating prior knowledge), can boost students' understanding and enjoyment, help teach content material, and help to ease students into reading content area textbooks. (SR)

Describes how English teachers of grades 6-12 in one high school have given more direct instruction in the explicit strategies students should use when reading. These strategies, combined with frequent opportunities for students to reflect on their effectiveness on integrating these strategies into their reading processes, resulted in more…

Describes how an English teacher of disenchanted high school kids made students apprentice writers, and used genre study to bring reading and writing together in the classroom. Shows how students learned to do closer readings, looked at the writer's craft, did occasional sentence-by-sentence analysis, and wrote their own pieces in these genres.…

To be successful in nursing courses, students must be able to read and comprehend a large volume of information. This requires different types of reading and study skills from other courses to which they have been exposed. The formal teaching of these skills in a nursing course takes second place to the teaching of required nursing skills. Because…

Historically, many educators have felt that the number of children who read less effectively than they should is far too high. As long ago as the 1960's, authorities reported that about 18 to 25% of America's school-age children were suffering from some form of reading impairment. Recent NAEP results suggest unacceptably high failure rates (below…