The increase in screen-based publishing over the past 30 years has sparked an evolution of reading. Reading's natural scope has ignited interest across paradigms. The resulting scholarship offers rich opportunity, but also presents a concerning challenge -- approaches differ across disciplines, producing results that can be difficult to interpret…

Well-established theoretical models and a body of empirical research elucidate the critical role of content knowledge in comprehending texts. However, the potential of supporting knowledge in service of enhancing linguistic and reading comprehension has been a relatively neglected topic in the science of reading. In this article, we explicate why…

This meta-analysis synthesizes the last two decades of experimental and quasi-experimental research on reading instruction across academic contexts (e.g., social studies, science, mathematics, English language arts) for English learners (ELs) in grades 4 through 8, to determine (a) the overall effectiveness of reading instruction for upper…

Secondary-level content area teachers face unique challenges in helping their students successfully read, understand, and learn content from complex texts in their discipline. In this article, a set of research-based practices designed to provide effective and feasible instruction to improve students' reading and comprehension of text and content…

The concept of readability has had a variable history, moving from a position where it was considered as a very important topic for those responsible for producing texts and matching those texts to the abilities and needs of learners, to its current declining visibility in the education literature. Some important work has been coming from the USA…

Background/Context: One of several challenges to fusing reading and science instruction through the use of reflective practice arises from recent claims that it is questionable whether anyone can "make" preservice teachers into reflective practitioners. This challenge has implications for researchers and teacher educators in general, especially if…

The authors discuss a survey of reading practices that they administered to students at their home institution, the University of Arkansas, as well as logs that students at the school kept of their daily reading acts. An important finding was that, contrary to possible belief, students at this university are reading quite a bit, although they are…

Published in partnership with WestEd, this significantly updated second edition of the bestselling book contains strategies for helping students in middle school through community college gain the reading independence to master subject area textbooks and other material. Features of this book include: (1) Based on the Reading Apprenticeship…

Clump, Bauer, and Bradley (2004) and Burchfield and Sappington (2000) previously found extremely low levels of reading in undergraduate psychology courses. The current study investigated whether these low levels of reading are also found with graduate students, or if this value is altered by only investigating individuals who show continued…

A STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE FROM THE VERBAL RESPONSES OF READERS THE TYPES OF CONTEXTUAL AIDS THAT SERVE AS CLUES TO THE MEANINGS THAT MIGHT BE ATTACHED TO SIMULATED WORDS AND TO CLASSIFY THESE CONTEXTUAL AIDS ON THE BASIS OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE VERBAL CONTEXT THAT WAS UTILIZED BY THE READER. AN INTROSPECTIVE TECHNIQUE WAS USED IN…

The Flesch readability scores for six kinds of newspaper content in 21 daily newspapers showed that newspaper content was generally difficult to read, that international news stories were most difficult to read, and that sports/women's news stories were least difficult to read. (RL)

In this concise, thought-provoking book, prominent researchers analyze existing knowledge on adolescent literacy, examine the implications for classroom instruction, and offer specific goals for future research. The volume reviews cutting-edge approaches to understanding the unique features of teaching and learning in secondary schools. Particular…

Presents a useful instrument which determines what administrators and teachers expect of reading specialists. (RB)

Shows that fifth and sixth grade social studies and science students using the Guided Reading Procedure devised by Anthony Manzo scored significantly higher on short-term and long-term retention tests than did students using other reading approaches. (FL)

Compares secondary school students' underlining of main points in a biology text to their teachers' underlinings of main points. Finds large variations in the number of main points underlined by the students and even by the teachers, and large variations in the agreement between students and their teachers. Suggests that educational variables are…