This compilation explains the Strategic Reading Project (SRP), a long-term staff development project for schools committed to improving their students' ability to read strategically. Noting that the SRP has been designed for elementary schools, the compilation points out that the project is adaptable to high schools. The Project Team Notebook in…

A study measured the effects that direct instruction in narrative text structure using a story map (called "macrostruction") had on the comprehension of average and above average sixth-grade readers. A 2 x 2 x 2 repeated measures design was used with time, text, and treatment as the independent variables. The number of story grammar idea…

This article discusses how to teach children with mild disabilities to identify the five different types of expository text structures: main idea, list, order, compare/contrast, and classification. It then explains a strategy for each text structure type that can be taught to children to improve comprehension in content area classes. (Contains…

The reader's knowledge about how a message is woven into discourse plays an important role in reading comprehension. This article first reviews reasons for student difficulties in comprehension, sentence groups, and sense units and then presents a basic discourse framework and its applications for analyzing text passages. (Contains two…

Focusing on how teachers can integrate computers into reading/writing instruction, this ERIC digest presents guidelines for helping language arts teachers match their use of computers with what is known about the reading/writing process. The guidelines for computers and reading presented in the digest point out that computer instruction in reading…

Researchers have found that readers they described as "strategic" had a purpose for reading, that they monitored their comprehension as they read, and they reflected on their reading. Although most readers have grasped fundamental reading processes by age 12, they still do not have well-articulated concepts about effective strategies to…

Most instructional efforts in literacy education are aimed at helping learners acquire literacy skills and strategies that will enable them to deal with any text. Readers learn to read by reading, however, so it is important that readers have successful experiences with reading. Success can be fostered by careful selection of reading materials.…

Encouraging teachers to utilize procedures and techniques that help their students become active, willing lifelong readers, this handbook has been compiled to serve as a guide for integrating the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment's (PSSA) definition of reading as a dynamic, interactive process into classroom practice. The handbook…

Research-based instructional priorities for text organization and curriculum design are reviewed, with special attention to the needs of diverse learners. Research indicates that the physical presentation of text and text structure help students learn information in textbooks and reading materials. Students can apply their awareness of…

A study found that both paradigmatic and syntagmatic aspects of text were important for signifying meaning of text in the reading comprehension of 102 Australian students at 3 age levels (10, 12, and 14 years). Underlying comprehension problems was a lack of prior experience of text topics. Reading preparation through developing shared meanings is…

Reflecting the concerns of researchers and practitioners about children's text comprehension, this book defines and provides examples of narrative and expository text and describes research-based strategies for helping children comprehend these two types of text. The book contains the following chapters: (1) "Research on Stories: Implications…

This article is based on the hypothesis that Reading Recovery teachers sometimes mistakenly reduce or withdraw their support once children have developed strategic processing capabilities and gained higher levels of text reading. It discusses structural characteristics of higher level texts and considers several types of processing demands…

Noting that little in language can be understood without taking into consideration the wider picture of communicative purpose, content, context, and audience, this book address practical uses of various approaches to discourse analysis. Several assumptions run through the chapters: knowledge is socially constructed; the manner in which language…

Discusses strategies that teachers can use to support children with and without disabilities in comprehending reading material. Factors contributing to text readability, language learning for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, and strategies for in-class text reading and independent text reading are described. (CR)

Designed to tap the rich collection of instructional techniques in the ERIC database, this compilation of lesson plans focuses on reading strategies for the primary grades. The 40 lesson plans in this book offer practical suggestions for the teacher on how to: (1) get started with beginning reading; (2) facilitate comprehension through vocabulary…