In the late 1970's, Durkin's landmark study showed that less than 1% of elementary classroom reading instruction was dedicated to comprehension strategies because teachers were not explicit in their instruction. This qualitative study explored the types of questions posed by elementary and middle school teachers to elicit students' responses and…

Picturebook read-alouds play an important role in primary grades. Despite the plethora of research on them, no empirical evidence was found on the way in which picturebook introductions shape student talk surrounding the read-aloud. Nonetheless, the introduction of a picturebook is a critical juncture that invites children into the story world and…

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the potential of Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) pedagogy to support English language learners (ELLs) in enhancing their meaning making potential as they engage in persuasive writing practices within academic contexts. The dissertation results from a teacher action research project in which the…