Textbooks have been the subject of research within and across disciplines, but have not yet been widely studied from a disciplinary literacy perspective. Readerly agency is also understudied in disciplinary literacy. The present paper aims to illuminate both of these areas by examining facets of agency that readers demonstrated during think-aloud…

This article describes a literacy methods course designed to introduce reading specialist candidates to research-based practices for comprehension instruction. Specifically, this article focuses on a sequence of assignments and class sessions within that course that introduced theoretical perspectives about comprehension processes and how those…

A one-size-fits-all model of instruction cannot provide equitable access to education for all students. Research demonstrates that thoughtfully changing instruction to support student learning during a lesson, known as adaptive teaching, is an important component of effective literacy instruction. To understand this dynamic dimension of effective…

A member of the literacy professoriate, it is expected, has undertaken a program of preparation that leads to a breadth and depth of professional knowledge supporting a career of impactful scholarship along with the training of future generations of literacy teachers, specialists, and often professors. Yet, while current members of the literacy…

Reading competence is one of the main gateways to learning and serves as the foundation for nearly all academic subjects, but reading is not a natural skill. For beginning and struggling readers, the process of learning to read is often fraught with frustration. Thus, abilities to manage affect or emotions and maintain attention or focus (i.e.…

This study integrated reading and bilingual theories to examine the reading behaviors of second grade Latinx students in a Dual Language program. It explored how the students' differing language backgrounds (simultaneous bilinguals and sequential bilinguals who had developed Spanish as a home language) might influence their early reading…

This study investigated the efficacy of the Fluency Development Lesson (FDL) in improving reading achievement in primary grade struggling readers. 30 readers, enrolled in a summer reading clinic, participated in daily 40-min mini-reading lessons across 5 weeks. During the fluency lessons, readers practiced and developed their literacy skills…

The purpose of this study was to determine if first-grade English Learners made patterns of language related errors when reading, and if so, to identify those patterns and how teachers coded language related errors when analyzing English Learners' running records. Using research from the fields of both literacy and Second Language Acquisition, we…

Proponents claim technology will transform classroom teaching and improve children's engagement and learning. Opponents argue that such benefits are oversold because little evidence exists that technology improves teaching and learning. We examined how elementary teachers in an urban school that was well resourced with technology used it when…

This study investigated the influence of teacher language related to a specific network of strategies for problem solving, self-monitoring, and self-correcting on (a) the development and use of independent strategic activities and (b) metacognitive awareness variables in emergent readers. Descriptive analyses of 120 individual lessons conducted…

Concept of word is a pivotal developmental insight that is reflected when preliterate learners are able to repeat a line of print and accurately point to the words while saying them (finger-point reading) and relocate a specific word within that line (word finding). Several studies have shown that letter knowledge, phonemic skills, one-to-one…

This study examined teachers' beliefs about motivating students to read through the development of a new survey questionnaire. The current investigation reports on initial tests of the scale's reliability and validity. The items for this measure were developed from an engagement perspective to reflect the motivational constructs represented in an…

Discusses four definitions of literacy: literacy as a skill comprised of a set of subskills to be mastered; being literate is a way of thinking that is more abstract and analytical; literacy is a set of social practices; and literacy is a body of knowledge. (RS)

We examined the benefits of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) as a supplement to a phonics-based reading curriculum for kindergartners in an urban public school system. The CAI program provides systematic exercises in phonological awareness and letter-sound correspondences. Comparisons were made between children in classes receiving a sufficient…

William S. Gray is considered by many literacy authorities today to have been the premier reading educator of the last century. He was most noted for his extensive research and writing in many aspects of literacy. The following interview with Gray was originally published in "School and Community," a Missouri state teachers' journal, in 1949.…