This paper investigates the application of some of the most frequently used writing error correction techniques to see the extent to which this application takes learners' cognitive and affective characteristics into account. After showing how unlearned application of these styles could be discouraging and/or damaging to students, the paper…

This article describes the implementation of an extensive reading (ER) program with 43 first language (L1) and second language (L2) adult literacy students. Among them, 16% were nonnative speakers of English. The main principles considered in the design of the program were (a) purpose of reading, (b) reading tactics, (c) material used, and (d) …

Historically, and continuing to the present, children in the primary grades receive the lion's share of attention and resources in learning to read. This makes sense: Young, early readers have a head start in achieving well not only in literacy skills, but in school in general. However, as inner-city, middle-grade teachers will readily attest,…

A popular response among high school teachers and leaders facing students reading far below grade level, the authors claim, is to adopt back-to-basics packaged programs that focus on discrete skills with little attention to critical reading and writing. The authors express concern that reliance on such programs keeps older struggling readers from…

Each month throughout the school year, two second grade teachers at Lessenger Elementary highlight a different children's author. The interdisciplinary lessons that evolved the month they selected Margaret and H.A. Rey's Curious George books were the most successful. In this article, the author relates how art, story writing, reading aloud, and…

Out-of-school programs provide a context for enriching academic experiences. This study describes a 12-week after-school reading program, Project Expanding Horizons, which is based on the Schoolwide Enrichment Model-Reading (SEM-R) framework. SEM-R has three phases: exposure, supported independent reading, and choice. The exposure phase is…

This study examined explanatory talk that occurred in families of preschool children during book readings between mother and child, and during mealtimes with the whole family. The study is part of a larger study, the Home School Study of Language and Literacy Development. Three-year-old children eligible for Head Start programs in the greater…

Teachers at an elementary school in a working class neighborhood outside Houston, Texas, invited children and their parents to attend 10 Parent-Child Literacy Workshops held on Saturday mornings in spring 1994. Spanish and English speaking parents, together with their children, began each Saturday session by listening to their child read in the…

This book is a collection of classroom activities, exercises, and suggestions for reading instruction, contributed by teachers who have used them in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classes. It is organized in three major sections: extensive reading (reading a great deal of comprehensible material); intensive reading (focusing on specific skills…

Offering practical, classroom-based strategies teachers can use to promote literacy development, this book presents many examples of children engaging in discussion activities about narrative and informational text that emphasize collaborating, constructing meaning, and using these different types of texts to arrive at new understandings. Chapters…

This packet of materials consists of reproducible flyers to promote parents' reading aloud to children. Included are five benefits of reading aloud for children and parents; tips for reading to babies and children and for exposing them to books; suggestions for selecting books for infants; toddlers and preschoolers; a descriptive list of selected…

A study examined children's memory of stories under three varying conditions and focused on how different interaction styles and children's innate abilities affect literacy development. The three conditions tested closely mirrored the three story-reading styles evidenced by teachers of young children were: (1) a control condition where there was…

This Master's research project involved implementation of a program to increase learning readiness skills of children entering kindergarten. The target population was pre-kindergarten students in a changing urban community in northern Illinois. The problem of lack of readiness skills for learning was documented through teacher tests and…

A study investigating how disadvantaged parents interact with their children in literacy tasks probed the following questions: (1) what styles of interaction do young, welfare-recipient mothers display when reading a story book with their preschool-aged child? and (2) how do the styles relate to factors such as the child's age and mother's…

It is important for parents to teach their children to associate learning with sweetness, enjoyment, and pleasure. Suggestions to help parents make reading to their children a special time are: (1) make reading a "snuggle time"; (2) visit the library once a week; (3) develop a regular reading time with children; (4) select appropriate…