This article examines the usefulness of engaging culturally relevant texts with five levels of analysis to foster critical thinking and academic writing. Teachers who are not critical of seemingly a theoretical, ahistorical reading methods often overlook the ways that cultural biases in instructional methods ignore the cultural and critical needs…

Narrative skills that are important for preschoolers include retelling stories, telling personal stories, and answering questions about stories. Narrative abilities form the foundation of reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an individually delivered language intervention on the narrative skills of…

The struggles of students in the United States to comprehend non-fiction science text are well documented. Middle school students, in particular, have minimal instruction in comprehending nonfiction and flounder on assessments. This article describes the development process of the Readorium software, an interactive web-based program being…

Evidence suggests that children living in areas designated as socially disadvantaged may be at risk for literacy difficulties. The Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Hoover &Gough, 1986) is a theoretical model that sets out to describe the processes that children need to develop to become proficient readers, that is word…

Purpose: To investigate a model of language development for nonverbal preschool-age children learning to communicate with augmentative or alternative communication. Method: Ninety-three preschool children with intellectual disabilities were assessed at Time 1, and 82 of these children were assessed 1 year later, at Time 2. The outcome variable was…

There is no definitive research on how many students display sexualized behavior in schools. Sexually inappropriate behavior includes using sexual language, gestures, or noises, engaging in pretend play that simulates sex, making sexual invitations to others, inappropriately touching another person, or masturbating in the classroom. These…

This study used eye-tracking methodology in the school setting to examine fourth graders' online processing of text and graphics while reading an illustrated science text. We were interested in identifying patterns of visual behavior, which was examined considering individual differences in reading comprehension, prior knowledge, and spatial…

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of morphological instruction on language and literacy outcomes by synthesizing 92 standardized mean differences (d) from 30 independent studies. Findings show a moderate overall effect of morphological instruction ([d-bar] = 0.32), suggesting that children receiving morphological instruction…

Authentic language learning materials become prevalent in foreign and second language (L2) classrooms. Since these materials are not altered to suit the proficiency level or needs of L2 learners, they are likely to cause difficulties in comprehension. The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of advance organizers in conjunction with…

An action research project was undertaken focused on integrating recorded readings and Retrospective Miscue Analysis (RMA) into center-based instructional time in a third-grade classroom. Initial DIBELS test results were used to select 6 struggling readers, all of whom showed improved fluency in response to our instructional interventions. The…

This study examined the effects of Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) on informational text comprehension and metacognitive awareness of fifth grade students. This study tested the theories of metacognition and social cognition with a focus on self-regulation and self-efficacy. Participating students included a heterogeneous mix of regular…

As an initial step toward understanding which features of academic language make science-based expository text difficult for students with different English language proficiency (ELP) designations, this study investigated fifth-grade students' thoughts on text difficulty, their knowledge of the features of academic language, and the…

The purpose of the study was to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of the Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) supplemental reading program to determine if there was an increase in sixth grade students' reading comprehension, oral fluency, and attitude toward reading, specifically when reading nonfiction text. One-hundred sixty-four…

This project was an alternative capstone dissertation conducted by a team of three doctoral students. The project focused on systematic and long-term underachievement of the English Language (EL) population of a single school, Sunshine Elementary, using the gap analysis model (Clark and Estes, 2008). More specifically, the purpose of the analysis…

Reading Improvement Through Art (RITA) program is an interdisciplinary approach to literacy that blends visual art with reading comprehension, evaluated in nine New York City urban high schools. 240 problem readers participating in the pilot program were pre- and post-tested in the Fall 1975 and Spring 1976 semesters. The testing showed the 9th…