This study addresses the question of whether the use of problematic strategies is a threat to the effectiveness of a specific form of extensive reading. Extensive reading has been considered an effective way to receive comprehensible input in second language learning, and its benefits on the development of second language reading skills have been…

What does reading look like? Can learning to read be reduced to the acquisition of a set of isolable skills, or proficiency in reading be equated with the independence of the solitary, silent reader of prose fiction? These conceptions of reading and reading development, which figure strongly in educational policy, may appear to be simple common…

Practice is important in learning, maintaining, or improving any skills. Studies by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that students perform better when they do independent reading. In order to be a good reader, a person must practice reading, but reading practice declines markedly after fifth grade. Educators and parents…

Today's adolescents must meet increasing demands for high levels of literacy. However, low self-efficacy and motivation for reading often prohibit adolescents from developing and sustaining positive reading habits. Consequently, educators must provide opportunities for students to experience reading as a rewarding and useful endeavor. Research…

Argues that, in addition to teaching reading skills, teachers need to schedule time for children to practice reading. Presents specific guidelines for implementing a Sustained Quiet Uninterrupted and Independent Reading Time (SQUIRT) program which include how to find time, set a purpose, and set procedures. (NH)

A study examined the reading performance of 16 individuals (ages 6-16) with Asperger syndrome. The Classroom Reading Inventory found students exhibited reading levels commensurate with their grade levels on Instructional, Frustration, and Listening Capacity. Silent Reading and Independent Reading levels, however, were below grade level. (Contains…

Investigates the role of phonological recoding in third graders' reading of Greek. Revealed a disturbing effect of articulatory suppression on subjects' reading latencies and text retention. Suggested that subjects' (1) reading of text was partly based on prelexical phonological representation and (2) text retention depended partly on a…

Describes a language arts teacher's work at a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed children, showing how the teacher established student reading habits before developing their writing. (A novel written by one of the students is included as an example of the work done in the program.) (RL)

This presentation describes how to use reading to improve second language acquisition. Part 1, "Building Awareness of Reading Habits and Attitudes," has students report their habits and attitudes about reading in English and their native language and recognize the importance of reading for improving English skills. Part 2, "Choosing a Book," has…

Reports on the reading habits of native-English speaking and nonnative-English speaking undergraduate college students who completed a reading habits questionnaire. Results revealed that nonnative students read more widely for longer periods of time and had higher perceptions of themselves as readers in their native language than did…

The advantages of shared silent reading in the home and in the school for the promotion of literacy are numerous. At home the child may read silently in the presence of a parent who is engaged in a household task, or who is reading silently. In schools, shared silent reading may be used at all grade levels with groups of students in structured or…

This article briefly discusses ways in which the study of foreign language contributes to the development of reading skills in the speaker's native language. Comments are directed to the following areas: (1) auditory discrimination, (2) visual discrimination, (3) association and insight, (4) the reading process, (5) expansion of vocabulary, (6)…