Drawn from the proceedings of the 1985 Western College Reading and Learning Association, as well as articles submitted for juried selection, the papers in this journal issue focus on reading, learning assistance, developmental education, and tutorial services at the college level. Titles and authors of the papers include (1) "Reaching New Heights:…

Intended to help teachers both improve students' text comprehension and better understand the teaching-learning process involved, this book focuses on comprehension and concept development as the central core of an effective educational program. The book's five sections deal with teaching explicit comprehension skills, precomprehension and…

Reports results of a survey that examined the role of school library media specialists in Alabama public schools in promoting reading growth, assisting classroom teachers, and teaching reading skills. Comparisons of ideal and actual responsibilities are made, and academic preparation of media specialists in the area of reading is discussed. (LRW)

Introduces ways to assess students' reading ability and improve reading of social studies textbooks. Combines reading scores from Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and individual sessions to understand students' reading ability levels. Uses cooperative reading groups, reading labs, and whole-class oral reading to improve skills. Suggests pre- and…

The papers in this book focus on the strategies, practices, theory, or research related to emergent literacy, elementary and secondary reading, literature, philosophy, affective issues, school improvement, teacher training, and assessment that are related in important ways to issues in past, present and future reading education. Papers in the book…

This report discusses a practicum designed to offer support strategies to 55 at-risk students in the eighth grade, 53 of whom indicated they were unable to read their present textbooks even with teachers' help and guidance. The major goals of the intervention were to assist the at-risk students in achieving a score of 70 percent in all content…

This theme issue includes four articles that focus on teaching and learning strategies to benefit all students, including limited-English-proficient, minority, economically disadvantaged, and at-risk students. "Would You Read Me a Story?: In Search of Reading Strategies That Work for the Early Childhood Classroom" (Hilaria Bauer)…

This article discusses Japanese students' difficulties in reading English, overviews some of the problems of college English textbooks, presents the results of research on the subject, and discusses characteristics of measures of readability. Teaching methods that have proven effective with Japanese students and activities for engaging students in…

A study investigated the effect of instruction about conventional expository text structure on fifth-graders' ability to learn from similarly structured social studies material. Subjects, 82 fifth graders from four heterogeneous classrooms in two schools in a small midwestern city, were assigned to either a structure training group which received…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The eight titles deal with the following topics: (1) the effect of medium of instruction on the listening comprehension and retention of community college speech students, (2) the relationship between reading ability and on-the-job…

The 18 papers in this anthology have been grouped into four sections, arranged partially by topic. These papers have been selected to represent the ideas and views put forward at the 2004 RELC International Seminar on "Innovative Approaches to Reading & Writing Instruction" held April 19-21, 2004. Of the 18 papers contained in…

Designed for general education teachers, this book contains more than 40 specific learning activities and sample lessons for immediate practical applications in the inclusive classroom. The book is organized into three major sections. The first section, "Mainstreaming and Inclusion Strategies for Classroom Teachers," addresses issues…

This report summarizes the initial findings from the 2004-2005 evaluation study of the program titled Building Academic Vocabulary (BAV). The theory and research supporting the development of this program are articulated in "Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement" (Marzano, 2004). Briefly, the basic assumption underlying the BAV…

Children whose homes are filled with books, whose parents read to them, and who have begun to understand the reading process have higher levels of reading skills and knowledge when they enter kindergarten than children who do not have such rich literacy experiences before entering school. This article describes a family literacy project developed…

Library use instruction designed specifically for limited-English-proficient (LEP) students is discussed briefly and library skill activities used with this population at Union County College (New Jersey) are described. It is noted that many students from other countries have had little or no exposure to libraries because of either limited…