This study proposes a model for integrating multicultural children's short stories as an extension activity or as a supplement to in-class instruction to develop college students' reading and speaking skills in English as a foreign language (EFL), together with cultural awareness. It gives the advantages of using multicultural children's short…

Literature holds the potential to significantly influence the lives of readers, but what is the nature of this influence for very young readers? This study investigated the question: What are the relationships between beginning readers and their personal literature? A first grade class of 18 students individually assembled a collection of personal…

How can teachers motivate students to read extensively in a second language? One strategy is for teachers to read aloud to students to promote the joys of reading generally, to build students' language skills and to introduce students to specific authors, book series, genres, websites, etc. This article begins by discussing why teachers might want…

This study is a comparative analysis of literary curricula in six European countries and is part of the project LiFT-2, funded by Comenius' Life Long Learning Programme of the European Commission. The result of this project, that involved almost 4,500 teachers, is a European literary framework for secondary education which can be described as a…

The Texas Literacy Initiative (TLI) was first implemented in Austin Independent School District during the 2012-2013 school. This report summarizes Spring 2014 survey responses from administrators at TLI campuses.

This paper deals with the role of both the teacher and the student when choosing materials for the course, more specifically, with the selection of books for extensive reading. Although carried out in a first year tertiary education level, the results of this small scale study could be a good starting point for reflection in previous secondary and…

Today's elementary classrooms are made up of a representation of all cultures, races, religions, ethnicities and abilities. The reading instruction of elementary students should equally represent the demographics of our rapidly growing student population. Students are not being provided with an equal education through a lack of accurate and…

The purpose of this action research project report was to increase engagement during independent reading for 32 fourth-grade students and 26 seventh-grade science students. At Site A, data was collected from August 27, 2012 through December 14, 2012. At Site B, data was collected from September 24, 2012 through December 14, 2012. Students'…

This is a conceptual paper, based on several semesters of collaboration in which the American author interacted with students in the Taiwanese author's EFL classes in Taiwan. The best native language users are typically those who read extensively, especially reading for pleasure in their youth. This gives them a large vocabulary and an intuitive…

High school English teachers need to respond to the diversity of cultures that our schools possess, and be open-minded in our construction of the curriculum that English classes should encompass. There is a disconnect between the "core" books that drive curriculum and what really interests students. I am invested in the process of altering the…

This document presents the proceedings of the 20th Annual Research Forum held June 25, 2015, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included are the following 21 action research papers: (1) History Lives! The Use of Simulations in a High School Social Studies Classroom (Lydia Adkins); (2) Using Francophone Music in the High…

Book challenges have become more and more frequent in recent years. In particular, those books that address issues most relevant to preteens and teenagers seem to be the object of many challenges. Many of the hundreds of challenged works represent literary classics and high-quality writing for young audiences. Teachers, administrators and other…

The ability to read is vital. It paves the way to success in school, which can build self-confidence. It is power, key to personal growth. Through reading, we generate learning power that helps us know ourselves better and others as well. It also helps us understand past, present and future more clearly. So it is necessary for the teachers to find…

This action research project was developed in order to increase student literacy, particularly in the area of reading, for students who were considered at-risk. The targeted student population was 2nd grade students who were served within a primary cross-categorical special education program. The classroom was housed in an elementary (K-2) school,…

The aim of this paper is two-fold: (a) to investigate scaffolding strategies employed by two EFL teachers in the process of instructing more and less proficient learners, and (b) to explore the most effective strategies used by teachers with students. Two elementary school English teachers were invited to take part in this study. Both were asked…