Reading texts can prompt intense emotions, and these emotions profoundly influence learning from texts. I first discuss the findings from the eight studies reported in this special issue. The studies represent pivotal advances in research on reading. Focusing on learning from science texts, they show that different emotions and different types of…

The primary purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to examine educators' perceptions of how comic books and graphic novels can promote literacy skills and motivation in readers. The problem was that teachers were concerned about students' lack of ability to focus on traditional novels and lack of interest in classroom reading material.…

The current study's purpose was to validate a revised Story World Absorption Scale (SWAS; Kuijpers et al., 2014) as a measure of habitual adolescent reading engagement. This approach to measuring reading engagement reflects the multidimensionality and theoretical alignment that is currently missing from the reading engagement literature.…

Motivating today's adolescents to read is a challenge. This article discusses the kinds of literacy instructional practices that leverage what we know about adolescent motivation. It also reviews several evidence-based literacy interventions designed to engage and motivate adolescent readers that can potentially lead to improvements in student…

Motivating today's adolescents to read is a challenge. Martha Abele Mac Iver, Marcia H. Davis, and Douglas J. Mac Iver discuss the kinds of literacy instructional practices that address what we know about adolescent motivation. They also review several evidence-based literacy interventions designed to engage and motivate adolescent readers that…

Although early childhood theorists agree on the importance of spending time in nature and the outdoors, it unfortunately appears that today's young children do not always have sufficient opportunities to experience and strengthen this connection. Lack of time spent in nature, combined with the health issues associated with large quantities of time…

This article investigates the role of reading proficiency and reading motivation in the academic achievement of a cohort of college students enrolled in a Middle Eastern university that follows the American model of liberal arts education. Forty-eight (n = 48) students from diverse academic majors completed the adults reading motivation scale,…

Reading is linked to numerous positive outcomes, including academic achievement, reduced stress, and enhanced life expectancy. However, a significant portion of Chilean adolescents engage in limited reading. Notably, male students tend to exhibit lower levels of reading motivation compared to their female counterparts, with declining reading…

The conventional wisdom among educators and literacy gurus is that reading comprehension depends on the acquisition of isolatable, teachable, and generalizable skills. Consequently, many elementary and middle school English classrooms follow the "reading workshop" model, an approach to literacy instruction, with several variations that…

This paper investigates the impact of assignment to the Accelerating Literacy for Adolescents (ALFA) Lab, an additional semester-long class taken during an elective period, on ninth grade student reading achievement, motivation, and frequency. We conducted a regression discontinuity (RD) study where 1,378 students from diverse high schools in four…

Purpose: The aim of this study was to shed some light on the extent to which digital literacy, epistemological belief and reading motivation and engagement predict pre-service teachers' capabilities in teaching 21st century skills. Design/methodology/approach: 21st Century Skills Teaching Scale, Internet based Epistemological Beliefs Scale,…

The current research used the Proficient Academic Reader (PAR) framework to explore whether reading strategies, task awareness, and motivation predicted college students' literacy skills over and above foundational skills (e.g., decoding, vocabulary). Specifically, the current research investigated the unique contribution of the PAR constructs to…

This dissertation investigates the efficacy of LitFit, an innovative reading workshop program, in enhancing the reading skills and habits of male high school students in a rural setting. The study addresses the critical issue of lower reading proficiency among male students, a demographic that has historically received limited attention in English…

Teachers of beginning readers have choices in the books they select. A careful look at the features of books provides an informed basis for choosing books that engage young readers. In this article we share insights from a comparative content analysis of leveled readers and Geisel award books that can motivate children to read and prepare them for…

Background: Previous studies on reading engagement have generally used variable-centred approaches to examine whole-sample averages. Few have assumed a person-centred approach, especially latent profile analysis (LPA), to examine students' reading engagement profiles. Although one study employed LPA to identify the reading engagement profiles of…