Because reading is not a natural process like language, young learners must be taught to read. Knowledge about how the reading brain develops has critical implications for understanding which teaching methods to use and helps reconceptualize previous debates. In this excerpt from "Reader Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World",…

Reviews the literature in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). (RB)

Offers guidelines in such areas as reading readiness, use of tests, organizational patterns, and the goals of reading instruction, as well as counseling principals on what they can do personally to improve a school's reading program. (IRT)

An effective tool for motivating children to read and for reinforcing their reading skills, creative drama includes all forms of improvised drama--dramatic play, pantomime, puppet shows, and story dramatization--and all four of the major language arts--listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The use of creative drama activities lets children…

Argues that teachers should apply the same techniques to teach expository writing in social studies textbooks as they do with teaching children's literature. Presents four activities that can be used in whole class and small group instruction. Provides examples and a 13-item bibliography of more information. (CFR)

This article briefly summarizes what is known about how phonological awareness fits into the beginning reading process and effective methods for teaching phonological awareness. Special difficulties with phonological awareness of children with learning disabilities or from culturally diverse backgrounds are noted. (DB)

Results from reading tests and demographic variables indicated that knowledge about books and print conventions is strongly related to reading achievement, and is predictive of comprehension involving the inferential linking of two pieces of information separated in the text. Students in a subskills-emphasis program outperformed those in a…

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)

Reviews selected instructional procedures in the four reading readiness skills that can be taught and learned: auditory discrimination, auditory comprehension, visual discrimination, and visual memory. Stresses that readiness skills are prerequisite to reading skills. (RS)

Oral language development, the single most important factor in determining readiness for reading, may be enhanced through creative drama, especially role playing. Role playing is spontaneous play which traditionally has served many purposes, including promoting socialization. It can also be a unique method of recreating historical episodes in…

Three instructional approaches have worked well in increasing reading fluency of students with reading difficulties: previewing; hypothesis/test training; and repeated readings. However, it is crucial that students also receive instruction in reading comprehension. (CB)

Several reading readiness activities developed in a class on teaching reading are explained in detail. The article shows how these activities can be adapted by the foreign language teacher for use in FLES classes. (CHK)

In order to achieve literacy, children must have mastered the decoding and encoding processes of the language of instruction. Usually this has been accomplished long before the child enters school. However, if the child's language is atypical for any reason, such as cultural or linguistic factors, then the acquisition of literacy requires a…

Statistics from research studies indicate that boys have more difficulty than girls in learning to read. As a result, changes being made in the educational system are aimed at adapting early instruction to the individual needs and capacities of boys as well as girls. This booklet focuses on past research on sex differences in reading achievement,…

Reports on some of the advantages--language creativity, applied phonics, and integrated skills--for the South African Indian children learning to read and write with the Language Experience Approach. (MB)