Provides suggestions and guidance to help students who are good readers, but have low self-efficacy for taking reading tests. Discusses four sources of self-efficacy: enactive mastery; vicarious experiences; verbal persuasion; and physiological/affective state. Concludes that these four sources provide a framework for developing and evaluating…

Conversation is a basis for critical thinking. It is the thread that ties together cognitive strategies and provides students with the practice that becomes the foundation for reading, writing, and thinking. In recent years, proficient reader research has yielded information about what good readers do as they comprehend text. This article provides…

Describes ways to accelerate reading and language skills by experience stories, creative writing, and books. (TO)

Points out, by citing a recently completed longitudinal study at the University of Iowa, that children are more likely to discover how reading works and make it work for them if the book is not too hard. (EL)

Discusses the use of analogy strategies, which involve comparing word parts to other known words, to teach reading. Reports on a study that showed positive effects from teaching analogy strategies to second-grade students and to learning disabled fifth-grade students. (FL)

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 the directed group reading technique used by a middle grades teacher in Japan to help her students get the most from a book. Explains how the technique not only allowed the students to acquire more knowledge, but also taught them how to study and think. (FL)

Five contributors suggest ways to (1) develop oral reading skills; (2) adapt the language experience approach for use with the mildly handicapped, slow learner; (3) conduct a "ditto-less day" in the classroom; (4) use microcomputers for reading comprehension; and (5) use LEA with basal readers. (FL)

Argues that concepts of literacy develop gradually and that in a natural language environment, saturated with good stories, meaningful conversation, and abundant writing materials, the process can begin even before a child goes to school. (FL)

Notes that student learning declines or remains stagnant during the summer months and that the magnitude of change differs by socioeconomic status. Explains a summer reading program called Continued Connections which used a converted recreational vehicle as a mobile classroom. Concludes that this program helped students increase their reading…

Explains that the Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (TROLL) measures skills critical to the New Standards for Speaking and Listening. Notes that TROLL is used to track children's progress in language and literacy development; to inform curriculum; and to stimulate parent teacher communication. Concludes children who are busy talking,…