This book discusses how to approach critical literacy in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. It responds to the concerns of educators who get enthusiastic about teaching critical literacy, but become perplexed when they start reading about its theories. This causes some to avoid it altogether and leads others to argue for practicing it…

In today's diverse and global world, the importance of disciplinary literacy is rapidly increasing. Thus, elementary educators must consider ways to incorporate disciplinary literacy into their instruction. Elementary educators often implement the transactional theory of reading to enhance comprehension and evoke aesthetic responses to fiction…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Reading aims to measure reading comprehension for students in the United States and to monitor progress in our education system. NAEP Reading is developed based on an assessment framework document that is periodically revised to reflect the latest understandings about reading comprehension…

Lack of interest in classroom activities, difficulty in understanding reading texts, and unfamiliarity with using reading strategies are the three major problems that negatively impact students' achievements in English as a foreign language (EFL) reading classes. This article considers integration of drama activities into EFL reading classes,…

Reading comprehension is contingent upon the integration of various reading skills, including word reading, reading fluency, and comprehension strategies. Students who encounter challenges in both word reading and reading comprehension present an opportunity for growth across multiple reading-related domains. Recent intervention data, as…

More and more students with learning disabilities and other diverse learners are placed for instruction in general education classrooms, which often leaves teachers grappling to design successful peer interactions and literacy activities to meet the needs of all learners in their classrooms. As the shift is made to align literacy instruction to…

Reading and understanding scientific literature is an essential skill for any scientist to learn. While students' scientific literacy can be improved by reading research articles, an article's technical language and structure can hinder students' understanding of the scientific material. Furthermore, many students struggle with interpreting graphs…

Well-established theoretical models and a body of empirical research elucidate the critical role of content knowledge in comprehending texts. However, the potential of supporting knowledge in service of enhancing linguistic and reading comprehension has been a relatively neglected topic in the science of reading. The authors explicate why…

In this article, we report on a cross-age peer learning program, the Martha's True Stories Reading Buddies program, focused on supporting the vocabulary and comprehension of multilingual learners and their peers in elementary school. We describe the principles of the program and provide information about our evaluation of the program. Then, we…

The demand for confident reading teachers is greater than ever before. To guarantee successful reading instruction, teachers across the nation are being trained in the science of reading, which focuses on explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Large reading initiatives are tirelessly working on…

Phonemic Awareness is the understanding that words are made up of individual sounds. These individual sounds are referred to as phonemes. Within the English language, there are about 44 sounds, and several of these are rather difficult for children to grasp. Mastery of phonemic awareness is a foundational skill for reading, yet is often skimmed…

The use of multiple-choice items for classroom testing is firmly established for many good reasons. The content any unit or course of study can be well sampled. Test scores can be reliable (trusted). And time spent administering and scoring can be minimized. This article provides a current review of best practices in the design and use of a…

This article describes how to design an entangled literacy model, which blends verbal skills with multimodal features of visual, auditory, and other sensory cues to enable students to experience online classes with authentic and comprehensible material; paying attention to modes of communication in online classes also helps approximate…

New strategies come along all the time, but these strategies matter little if educators are not sure why they are using them or what the desired outcome is. Quality literacy instruction should be rooted in effective foundational practices. Text-dependent questions offer a foundation for literacy practices that support students' comprehension,…

Much attention has been paid to storybook reading as a context for supporting preschoolers' emergent language and literacy. Inferential thinking is essential to listening comprehension and to reading comprehension. Understanding the story deeply and reasoning about events and characters are central to children's enjoyment and to comprehension…