This dissertation investigates the efficacy of LitFit, an innovative reading workshop program, in enhancing the reading skills and habits of male high school students in a rural setting. The study addresses the critical issue of lower reading proficiency among male students, a demographic that has historically received limited attention in English…

This study used the portraiture method to explore the reading lives of four college students by examining their reading lives in three eras: the present, the past, and the future. Using long-form, active interviews, this study asked participants to reflect on their daily reading habits, their experiences learning to read, and their aspirations for…

The aim of this qualitative study was to examine home literacy environment (HLE) and how this environment affects the way parental responded to their children's oral miscues during shared reading. In addition, parental behavior-specifically corrective feedback as it relates to children's perceptions of reading in terms of their reading attitudes…

This qualitative case study explores the practices and perceptions of key stakeholders (administrators, educators, parents, and students) in the development of the elementary reader within the context of 100 Book Challenge. Studying the most influential stakeholders will provide a holistic understanding of the events and beliefs around developing…

The purpose of this qualitative interview study was to explore how pre-service elementary teacher education students form their reader identity, specifically how their reading identity is socially constructed by school literacy contexts and relationships. Social constructionism provided a theoretical framework for investigating how pre-service…

Considering teens' progressive reading decline and disinterest, this mixed methods quasi-experimental study investigated the impact of providing high school students freedom to choose books in English class on their reading volume and reading identities. In a rural Midwestern school, the control group followed a traditional English curriculum with…

Elementary students' literacy skills are decreasing nationwide ("The Nation's Report Card," 2019). This is concerning because as literacy skills slip, the literacy demands for American workers are steadily increasing (OECD, 2013). Unfortunately, adding to the situation is the fact that students' attitudes towards reading are worsening…

One in seventy-five college students sustains at least one mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) each academic year. Individuals with TBI, including mTBI, tend to have difficulties with passage comprehension and reading rate, along with reporting reading to be effortful. As reading is fundamental to students' academic success, contributors to reading…

When English Language Arts (ELA) students are not engaged in ELA coursework, they miss out on opportunities to practice reading, writing, speaking, listening, and--most importantly--critical thinking. The purpose of these two cycles of Action Research was to investigate the authentic pedagogies of ELA teachers at Ryken private preparatory school…

Research into the effects of extensive reading (ER) in second language acquisition has surged over the past few decades. Many studies report several benefits that come from engaging in ER, including reading rate gains. However, these studies almost exclusively focus on English language learners and tend to be limited by their lack of control over…

While there exists substantial research on struggling and developmental readers, few research-practitioners have sought to examine the histories and circumstances that result in strong readers. This study drew upon the reading autobiographies of doctoral students in an English Education program at an Ivy League institution, in order to discover…

The academic achievement gap is the educational separation on standardized tests between students in low socioeconomic and high socioeconomic areas. The purpose of this study was to research academic variables that could impact the achievement gap for African American students by studying third grade literacy practices of Caucasian American and…

Through qualitative coding and analysis of 121 literacy narratives, this study examines first-year college students' references to former reading sponsors, defined as the people, institutions, and entities that played a role in their reading development. The study was designed to locate the sponsors present in the narratives, to determine patterns…

"Contexts of Digital Reading: How Genres Affect Reading Practices" is a study of the different ways university students use digital devices to read. Many mainstream representations of digital reading fail to distinguish between different contexts or genres of reading, making digital reading appear transparent rather than mediated by…

Over the last four years, East Coast High (a pseudonym), a midsized high school on the East Coast, has failed to meet adequate yearly progress targets in reading as set forth by the Department of Education (DOE) in response to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Each year, many students at East Coast High entered the library and chose a book they…