The 10 readings collected in this volume emphasize the value of oral interpretation as an approach to teaching literature in the secondary school. Wallace A. Bacon indicates how the act of interpretation as it is experienced in the reader's mind can recreate the act of literature. Frances L. McCurdy, Margaret M. Neville, and Allen Bales discuss…

Outlines a development process that turns a reader into a mentor, someone who can recommend books to others with a high percentage of satisfied readers. Examines the influence of peers, teachers, and other adults for their ability to increase the amount and quality of what children read. (SRT)

Suggests that educators can help new readers develop the habit of reading by exposing them to easy-to-read, high-interest books, giving them time to practice reading, reading books aloud in class, and having students share their reactions to books with each other. (MM)

Develop second-language students' reading skills and their English fluency with a balanced approach that combines research with best practices. By assessing students' language and reading during read-alouds, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, and literature circles, teachers will be able to plan for the most effective…

Discusses a study of the out-of-class learning strategies of proficient German speakers of English and attempts to identify and quantify the out-of-class learning activities employed by these learners during their study of English. Findings indicate that the most-cited activities are reading and listening. (10 references) (Author/CK)

Reading for pleasure and enlightenment is a critical, and endangered, element in a well-informed citizenry. As a basis for intellectual growth, reading is threatened by media misuse and lack of encouragement of recreational reading. Solutions include emphasis on integrated skills, improved time allocation, and cooperation among parents, teachers,…

Societal trends and related pressures on children have generated a greater need for school support of independent reading, which can help students develop lifetime literacy and prevent school failure and dropping out. Providing opportunities for free reading during the school day is a qualitative way of filling a literacy gap for children.…

Intended for parents who want to help in the development of their child's reading skills, this pamphlet contains a number of suggestions. The first section, on helping the preschool child, includes a list of important reading skills and tells what a parent can do to help the child. The second section deals with ways to build on what the child…

Two papers on teaching methods are presented. The first concerns an experiment that tested the relative effectiveness of three teaching methods: an uninterrupted lecture, a tape-recording, and reading a prescribed text. The three-way research design used the three teaching methods, three groups of six student teachers of physical medicine between…

Twenty-five articles describing techniques for teaching English are organized under four headings: language, literature, composition, and miscellany. Included in the language section are discussions of an oral language program for 3- to 5-year-old disadvantaged children, of language development through creative dramatics, of a junior high school…

This survey of reading material for elementary students covers over 320 books from 38 publishers, more than three-fourths published since 1957. The books reviewed were offered by their publishers as "books with stories or interesting information, with simple sentence structure, reasonably limited vocabulary, and a measure of repetition--for those…

Individualized reading is important to students in both elementary and secondary grades because it provides opportunities for them to find pleasure in reading, to internalize reading skills, to develop the reading habit, and to mature in book choices. Such programs are not intended to teach reading skills, but, if initiated at the elementary…

The content of books chosen independently by fourth, fifth, and sixth, graders was compared with the content of four selected basal reading texts at the same three grade levels. The selections of the children and from the texts were classified into twenty-one categories, and then the percentages of the children's choices within these categories…

Outlines five variations of the Directed Reading Thinking Activity that can help students become independent readers of narrative text. (NKA)

Suggests that reading programs should be structured to include group work and interaction so that children gain a sense of "I-Thou" community through reading instruction. (JC)