A study examined from a feminist poststructuralist perspective the discourses available in a classroom using a critical pedagogy, based on a belief that teaches need to make it possible for their students to question the social world constructed in texts. The teacher of an Australian junior primary classroom (with students age five to eight) took…

Taking into account what research says about getting all children off to a better start in becoming literate, this booklet discusses recent "cutting-edge" research in the area of reading and spelling acquisition, focusing on the practical implications. The first part of the booklet notes what happens in the homes of early readers,…

Noting the continuing concern about reading standards, reading processes, and methods of teaching reading, this booklet reviews current research in reading. Sections of the booklet discuss: (1) research on reading processes; (2) how fluent readers recognize words; (3) what beginning readers need to know about language; (4) what beginning readers…

Reading is construed as operating within the dynamics of the relationship of reader, text, context, and language system. Context is understood as the cultural and situational environment of the text, itself a semantic unit that is an instance of the language system. A related variable for reading is the awareness of the reader of the language…

The approach known as the Storyline Method was developed by a group of educators at Jordanhill College of Education in Glasgow (Scotland). The development of the Storyline Method took place over years, and the approach, with its simple framework of Storyline, key questions, and activities, has stood the test of time. Storyline uses the power of…

The "Doctor Bird Readers" represent a first attempt by the Jamaican government to produce readers for children in grades four-six by using Jamaican authors and artists. This study examined whether cultural relevancy was achieved in the development of stories for the "Doctor Bird Readers." A quantitative questionnaire combined…

A study hypothesized that if prediction, clarification, question-generation, and summarization strategies were taught using scaffolded instruction, then poor comprehenders might be able to learn the strategies so that they could apply them to text on their own and thereby improve their performance on standardized comprehension measures. Subjects…

A comparative analysis evaluated three studies that dealt with the differences among five-year-olds that should be considered before reading instruction is initiated in kindergarten. The premise of the comparison was that children from different countries (especially Israel, where these studies were conducted), have different abilities, react…

Classroom based research investigating the actual context of reading requires examination of the texts chosen, the purposes for which they are to be read, the strategies to be used in actually reading them, and, finally, the outcomes expected from reading them. Among the studies that have pioneered research of this kind are (1) those directed by…

The papers presented in this annual reading conference report focus on various aspects of the topic, "The Reading Environment." The opening address advocates establishing reading programs that correspond to the developmental stages of individual children--programs that consider the needs of the whole child. The other papers delivered at the…

The articles in this collection approach the theme "Reading in the Year of the Child" in a variety of ways. The topics covered in the 23 articles include the following: the school as a center for human development; mainstreaming across nations; mainstreaming and the learning disabled child; a Jungian perspective on reading behavior; the arts and…

In the United Kingdom at present, there is a rift between leading authorities who stress the use of oral language in helping children learn to read and those who focus directly on the teaching of reading and writing. This paper identifies five phases in educational development from 1870 to the present; for each phase, indication is given of the…

This study investigated the relationship of phonological awareness to learning to read. Australian first-grade children were tested for verbal intelligence, phonemic segmentation ability, and reading achievement. Path analysis revealed phonological awareness affected reading comprehension indirectly through phonological recoding. The development…

Describes technique developed by the Barking Reading Project to judge relevance of visual sequential memory to reading. A study which used this technique to assess the effects of labelling strategy on sequential memory tasks is compared with alternative assessments, and results are discussed in terms of task analysis and structuralist approaches.…

This book for beginning readers tells the story of a South African priest and his wife who are ashamed when their daughter tells them she is going to have a baby. They refuse to have anything to do with her when she is pregnant. However, when the baby comes, everything changes and they come to accept and love the baby. Large black and white…