This article describes two educational settings in Nigeria where teachers adapted a language experience approach for reading and writing instruction. The first setting is a professional development workshop for public school teachers of students in grades 1-6. The second setting includes two groups of students with special needs: a grade 6 class…

A study of children's preferences in book format factors revealed that children are not as concerned with the eye appeal of materials as they are with order and a desire to avoid confusion when reading. Suggests that designers place illustrations at the top or bottom of a page. (FL)

Presents the results of a research study which was designed to determine gains or losses in reading proficiency during summer vacation, investigate the characteristics of those students whose proficiency increases or decreases, and aid in planning summer reading programs which maximize gains and minimize losses. (RB)

Researches a basal reading and a language arts method of teaching reading, advancing the possibility of using reading readiness instead of intelligence tests to predict later reading achievement. (RB)

Describes a project that included prewriting activities based on the students' experiences, imaginative literature, encouragement to expand their descriptive ability, and opportunities to revise and edit their own work. (FL)

Describes how the educational experience of sixth grade remedial readers was revitalized and enriched through a project that grew out of reading "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes." Suggests using "real" books (literature) to liberate remedial students from skill drills and reading games. (NH)

Describes an art technique--creating paper dolls of main characters--to help remedial readers develop their comprehension of characters in novels. (MM)

Recommends pretesting intermediate grade students' basal skills to eliminate unnecessary basal skill instruction. Provides guidelines for pretesting reading comprehension skills. (MM)

In a replication of two studies, the author found that sixth and eighth graders performed comparably to their counterparts of 60 years ago on reading comprehension and vocabulary tests. (MKM)

Shows how teaching sixth grade ESL students the story grammar of fairy and folktales enabled them to learn to express themselves in their own fiction writing. (FL)

Describes a cross-age reading and writing program in which sixth-grade students (all average and low-average readers) were paired with kindergarten children to read and write collaboratively on a regular basis. Finds evidence from the students themselves, their parents, the teachers, and the school librarian showing how students' attitudes toward…

Describes a Language Experience Approach (LEA) dictation given by sixth-grade remedial readers, and discusses some weaknesses in using LEA to teach remedial reading. Explains how LEA can be modified to produce a more effective model for reading comprehension and writing instruction. (MM)