Merging evidence from psychological models of reading comprehension, ethnographic research on language and literacy, and textual linguistics lines of research, the authors take the position that psychological models of reading comprehension often overlook written language comprehension and production as context-embedded, sociocultural processes.…

Leisure reading is a main contributor to print exposure, which is in turn related to individual differences in reading and language skills. The Author Recognition Test (ART) is a brief and objective measure of print exposure that has been used in reading research since the 1990s. Life span studies have reported contradicting results concerning age…

If educators want to improve reading achievement on scale, Shanahan notes, we need to organize school days more effectively, so they support increased literacy learning--not hinder it. He presents suggestions for increasing the amount of literacy instruction elementary students receive, through more flexibility of scheduling and more wisely…

The complexities of words in different subject areas increase as students transition from elementary school to middle school. Although most secondary school readers can read monosyllabic words, many other older readers have difficulty with reading multisyllabic words because of their poor phonological and morphological skills. Explicit…

Many educators assign course readings to purposefully enlarge students' perspectives. In doing so, though, educators may face a range of behaviors--reluctance, resistance, avoidance, disengagement--from students who feel that such readings negatively press upon their prior knowledge, belief systems, or educational goals. This teaching challenge is…

Integrating multiple representations into a coherent mental model is one of the challenges when learning with multimedia. In this experimental study (N = 173), we examined how highlighting corresponding information in text-graph learning material can help higher education students to make the necessary connections and improve learning outcomes in…

This study compared 2 units of analysis for assessing acquisition mastery during sight word instruction for 3 participants. The unit of analysis refers to the specific performances that criteria are applied to, either sets of stimuli or individual operants. In the Set Analysis condition, we applied the acquisition-performance criterion to the…

A dyslexia diagnosis in Denmark can have significant consequences for individuals, as support is not available to others with reading difficulties. Currently, the diagnosis is given solely on the basis of an electronically administered test consisting of two tasks assessing grapheme-phoneme correspondences. To examine whether the Danish diagnostic…

This retrospective study, undertaken in Norway, examines how reading skills level in 851 fifth graders are related to how the children used their language skills in play and everyday activities as toddlers. Data were collected with the Norwegian National Reading Test and through structured observations by staff in Early Childhood Education…

Dyslexia is a reading disability affecting a large number of people worldwide. People with dyslexia have at least normal levels of intelligence, yet they nevertheless have significant difficulties with reading. Dyslexia is known to have genetic causes; however, some researchers believe that there are also environmental factors at play.…

In this study, a meta-analysis of reading and listening comprehension comparisons across age groups was conducted. Based on robust variance estimation (46 studies; N = 4,687), the overall difference between reading and listening comprehension was not reliably different (g = 0.07, p = 0.23). Reading was beneficial over listening when the reading…

In a quasi-experimental study, kindergarten teachers taught children mnemonic stories to orient the confusable letters "b" and "d." In the first week's stories, intervention teachers introduced the left-to-right sequence of features for these letters with "the bat hits the ball" and "a dime rolls up to a…

In a world of immersive behaviors, why not immerse students in words, vocabulary, and language to improve their reading skills. Reading immersion will improve the learners' reading skills and comprehension across the curriculum in all subjects. Many strategies could be pulled from various immersion techniques used in other areas to employ reading…

In a world of immersive behaviors, why not immerse students in words, vocabulary, and language to improve their reading skills? Reading immersion will improve the learners' reading skills and comprehension across the curriculum in all subjects. To employ this reading immersion, several strategies could be pulled from various immersion techniques…

Dyslexia is a neurological condition in the brain that causes individuals to experience difficulties in reading. It exists around the world and affects about 20% of the population in the United States. Yet, many still go through their early education, either undiagnosed or not receiving the proper instructional support to be successful. In the…