Constrained skills theory is a reconceptualization of reading development that suggests a continuum of skills, with some, such as letter knowledge and decoding abilities, more tightly constrained than others, such as phonological awareness and oral reading fluency. The most constrained skills consist of a limited number of items and thus can be…

Many studies show that school leadership is a key factor in supporting change within schools, but few have specifically considered the impact leadership has on gains in students' reading outcomes. This article focuses on factors that typify leadership in schools where such gains have been identified and explores the nature and quality of…

The American public school curriculum has narrowed as a result of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Music is being eliminated in public schools so more time and resources can be spent on "tested" subjects like reading and math. However, research has shown that both the intrinsic and extrinsic values of music may improve reading…

Many factors affect attitudes toward reading, including parent and other caretaker support, sibling attitudes, school and library programs, curriculum and instruction, and, of course, teachers. While working with preservice teachers pursuing licensure in pre-kindergarten through adolescent education, it became evident that the students had many…

E-readers like the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook are beginning to make their way into school libraries and classrooms. It's about time. E-readers have tremendous potential to entice reluctant readers to read more. A study that the authors recently conducted among low-reading-ability middle school students demonstrated that potential.…

This action research developed as a response to the researcher's experience with struggling and alliterate readers across all content areas in secondary schools. The researcher witnessed the negative impact of a depressed economy and depressed reading proficiency pervasive among students based on classroom experience and standardized testing. The…

Reading is an extremely active, complex, mental and personal process that concerns both the reader and the text. It is now generally believed that a range of reader with text factors affect the reading process to a considerable extent. So, teachers of EFL need to be aware of the important role of teaching materials. Thus, this study investigated…

Reading ability is fundamental to teaching and learning (AFT 2004). This study assessed the reading ability of 25 in-service science educators at the University of Limpopo for three science texts: Grades 7, 8 and 9, using a cloze test and exploring materials that educators read. The scores were categorised as being independent, instructional and…

The purpose of this paper is to describe and demonstrate how social networks such as "Facebook" and "Goodreads", and information and communication technologies (ICTs) tools like laptops and iPods can support and enhance literature circles. The innovation described is implemented by the library and aims to promote reading for…

The main task of practice teaching of English Reading is to train students' independent reading ability and good reading habits. Extra-curricular reading of English literature and English newspapers and magazines plays an active role in improving English reading ability. The principle of selecting reading materials, the scope of selection and the…

The inability of many English second-language (ESL) learners to read at desirable levels is universal, but reasons for this and solutions have not yet been addressed. Within the South African teaching context especially there is a paucity of evidence-based research findings available on the literacy challenges faced by ESL learners and the…

This qualitative case study explored the use of sheltered instruction observation protocol (SIOP) instructional practices to promote the language development and learning of elementary English language learners (ELLs) in an immersion setting in 1st and 2nd grades. The SIOP model was developed for middle school ELLs, and there is scant information…

"Policy Perspectives" presents visiting authors' own views and/or research on issues relevant to schools and communities nationwide. The idea that reading skill is largely a set of general-purpose maneuvers that can be applied to any and all texts is one of the main barriers to our children's overall low achievement in reading, argues…

Teacher knowledge and instructional expertise have been found in correlational and pre- and post-test studies to be related to student reading achievement. This article summarizes data presented in this special issue and additional research to address four questions: (a) What do expert reading teachers know? (b) Why do teachers need to acquire…

The present study investigated the reading attitude of struggling elementary students at risk for reading failure. Twenty-nine first-grade and 32 second-grade struggling readers were given the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (McKenna & Kear, 1990). First-grade struggling readers favored more academic reading activities while second-grade…