The current research used the Proficient Academic Reader (PAR) framework to explore whether reading strategies, task awareness, and motivation predicted college students' literacy skills over and above foundational skills (e.g., decoding, vocabulary). Specifically, the current research investigated the unique contribution of the PAR constructs to…

The current research used the Proficient Academic Reader (PAR) framework to explore whether reading strategies, task awareness, and motivation predicted college students' literacy skills over and above foundational skills (e.g., decoding, vocabulary). Specifically, the current research investigated the unique contribution of the PAR constructs to…

More knowledge is needed regarding the student factors that impact academic reading and success in college beyond traditional measures of college readiness. This study examined the contributions of student factors specified by the Proficient Academic Reader framework--reading literacy skills, metacognitive reading strategies, and reading…

In their 1985 report, "Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading," Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, and Wilkinson defined reading and proposed five principles that guide its successful enactment: (1) reading is a constructive process, (2) reading must be fluent, (3) reading must be strategic, (4) reading requires…

We examined the impact of cognitive and motivation practices within a social studies literacy intervention (United States History for Engaged Reading [USHER]) on Grade 6 English learners' (ELs) and non-ELs' history reading comprehension, cognitive strategy use, reading self-efficacy, and reading engagement. We used a switching replications…

The introduction of Common Core State Standards has many middle grade school teachers concerned with implementing standards while retaining student reading engagement and motivation strategies. This study analyzes the effectiveness of providing social networking strategies in online book discussion groups on enhancing middle grade student reading…

Literacy achievement is one of the most reliable indicators of educational, social, and economic success. In 2012, the National Year of Reading, boys still make up the majority of students struggling with literacy skills. Boys' literacy is an issue that affects us all. This paper provides an overview of research related to boys and reading, and…

Seventy-six fifth-year students from low-socioeconomic status backgrounds participated in three different instructional conditions in an intervention study. The first combined strategy training in top-level structuring and interrelated motivational support; the second implemented the strategy training only; and the third was a control condition…

Many students struggle with reading as they transition from the elementary to the middle grades and the literature becomes more complex. Many students may also have personal experiences that interfere with them seeing any importance, value, or enjoyment in reading literature, especially books assigned in school. As a result, "struggling readers…

Low levels of literacy engagement by Years 9 and 10 students impact on their achievement in curriculum subjects such as Social Studies in New Zealand secondary schools. The majority of students entering secondary school possess sufficient foundation skills for further scaffolded subject literacy instruction, but some consistently resist or refuse…

Getting students, teachers, and the entire community to read the same books at the same time has its challenges--but many more rewards. In this article, the author describes how West Morris Regional High School District in Chester, New Jersey, formed a "literacy club" for everyone in the school and the local community to encourage…

Over a quarter of 8th-grade students and more than one-third of 4th graders do not read well enough to understand important concepts and acquire new knowledge from grade-level text. For students with learning disabilities, the numbers are more troubling. This article describes features of evidence-based instruction for students who continue to…

This article describes a questionnaire survey of 747 students enrolled in a graduate school of education, who are currently teachers or prospective teachers. The Literacy Habits Questionnaire, developed by Applegate and Applegate, was administered in September 2006. Findings suggest a high prevalence of aliteracy, the ability to read but a…

This report addresses the question of whether culturally specific strategies are an effective means for literacy instruction, and how a culturally specific computer-based architecture, the "Lyric Reader," takes advantage of children's existing knowledge and experience to motivate them to read. Given the reading difficulties experienced…

Drawing on the professional literature of many fields, this book provides an interpretation of the available research on motivation and describes instructional approaches in classroom contexts. The book aims to help teacher educators, researchers, and graduate students understand the research literature in motivation and use in their efforts to…