Explores how social constructions of gender, race, and class were evident in three adolescent boys' literacy practices. Suggests each boy enacted his literacies in different ways, suited to his own subjectivities, rather than using traditional male hegemonies. Concludes that considering individuals' enactments of gender, race, and class may be…

Argues, based on ethnographic data, that students use their literacy practices to form their identities within, and sometimes in opposition to, the figured worlds of school, work and family. Concludes that many students look to school to provide formal literacy experiences, but find their reading and writing passions at odds with the demands of…

This paper explores reading for pleasure, its importance, and its impact on literacy attainment and other outcomes and reviews much of the research on the importance of reading for pleasure. A debate has been rife in the UK over the past few years as to how best to teach children to read, which culminated in an "Independent Review of the…

A study investigated the literacy needs of adolescents staying in short-term crisis intervention centers--shelters for teens who have run away or are otherwise homeless. During a 6-month period, interviews were conducted in a non-threatening, informal environment; the adolescents responded to open-ended questions about their histories of reading…

Project Literacy United States (PLUS) is a national service project initiated in December 1985 with the key goals of mobilizing and organizing community resources to deal with illiteracy on a local level and to raise awareness of the widespread illiteracy problem. Using concepts from the Navy's intensive reading immersion program, Memphis-Project…

Describes how a simulated bedtime story experience in which an adult shares a book with a child can be used in classrooms to teach beginning readers. Points out the importance of using authentic children's literature in the approach. (EL)

Examines the literary practices four children chose to engage in outside of their inner-city school located in Sheffield, England. Suggests that children use literacy in richly diverse ways for purposes they see as meaningful. Concludes that while literacy presented by these children reflected community literacy practices, children also acted with…

This article outlines how educators can provide appropriate resources for encouraging the love of reading, support strategies that motivate reading, promote the joy of reading across the curriculum, provide a balanced curriculum representing both lifetime literacy and skills instruction, and foster lifelong literacy in students who struggle with…

This discussion of factors influencing youth literacy in Ukraine highlights information on availability and content of reading material in the Soviet Union and Ukraine. The population of Ukraine is 100% literate. Regional children's libraries and separate libraries for youth are located in the cities and larger towns, are funded by the Ministry of…

A study examined a program for improving attitudes toward reading. Subjects were 19 kindergarten, 39 first-grade, 17 second-grade, and 29 sixth-grade students in a middle class southwestern suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Reading attitude problems were documented through parent/student surveys and observations. Students' reading was prioritized in…

Americans tend to regard persons without the ability to read as being less than fully functioning members of society. There are at least four ways in which educators can deal with what appears to be a prejudice in favor of literacy while also ensuring widespread literacy: by educating parents and the general public that other means to…

Impressive evidence shows individual bilingual Hispanic children from low-income backgrounds becoming biliterate in Spanish and English by first grade. Reading is presented to preschoolers as a game; they are first taught to read in Spanish and then in English. Parental participation is crucial. Impact differs according to starting age. (Author/CM)

Refutes the sequential, building-block theory of cultural literacy which advocates mastery of a prescribed body of cultural knowledge. Argues that teachers must help students find joyful encounters with words which will knock their socks off and inspire them both to search for understanding and to reach for another book. (SR)

Examines relationships among parents' age, education, literacy activities and shared reading with children, and children's language skills and early interest in books through a longitudinal study of 108 preschool children. Discusses the role of endogenous and exogenous variables in explaining children's language skills and early book reading…

Examines the ways in which parents and teachers interacted with children while listening to them read. Finds that parents concentrated on decoding the text, while teachers read to the children or discussed the text with them (conversing). Reveals that conversing occurred frequently among teachers but not parents; behaviors demonstrate parental…