Drawing on stories from classrooms, examples of student writing, and illustrations, this book explains in practical terms the theoretical underpinnings of how elementary school students learn to write from their reading. Beginning with the concepts that underlie how writing teachers teach students to write by studying other writers, it goes on to…

This report describes a program encouraging students to choose reading as a recreational activity. The targeted population consisted of first, second, third, and fourth grade students in a growing middle class community, near a large Midwestern city. The problem of students choosing recreational activities other than reading was documented through…

Using the pedagogical principles of Theodore Gross as a basis, suggests a purpose and content for general education. Stresses the importance of developing critical thinking skills, the role of intellectual discrimination in moral decision making, and the efficacy of oral-aural pedagogy, especially with urban open-admissions students. (DMM)

Thirty-seven college students with learning disabilities were given a reading comprehension task under the following conditions: (1) using an optical character recognition/speech synthesis system; (2) having the text read aloud by a human reader; or (3) reading silently without assistance. Findings indicated that the greater the disability, the…

Analysis of survey responses of 57 teachers of the deaf (preschool-grade 4) concerning their practices of reading aloud to children found that teachers spent more time reading aloud for pleasure than for content and that they used such techniques as discussing characters, setting, and vocabulary to mediate the text for students before, during, and…

Describes how a college professor incorporates "commonplace books" into his courses, with reading and writing the focal practices in curriculum studies classrooms. He defines commonplace books as collecting places for various writings related to the courses. The books represent fragments of a variety of experiences in a variety of…

This article presents an overview of phonological awareness, print awareness, and oral language development and discusses the critical role they play in emergent literacy. Recent research is reviewed and strategies are provided for promoting emergent literacy through each of these areas in the preschool classroom. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Provides a theory- and research-based argument for the value of play in literacy instruction in the primary grades and offers examples of the ways teachers can create more playful phonics, read aloud, and expository writing experiences. Urges teachers to become well-versed in the values of play and be willing to educate administrators and parents…

Students in general (n=973) and special education (n=245) in elementary and middle schools were administered an accommodated (test was read-aloud) and a standard mathematics achievement test. Teachers were no more successful than chance at predicting which students would benefit from the accommodation. A developed student profile did not match…

Studies the effects of listening to and discussing different qualities of children's literature on fifth grade students' writing. Finds that stories written by children who heard and discussed higher quality literature were rated significantly differently on traits related to literary quality and genre development than those written by children…

A study compared the effect of reading aloud to grade two French immersion students with that of participation in the normal language arts curriculum during a three-month period. Reading aloud was found to be a simple but effective adjunct to formal teaching methods for accelerating second language acquisition. (29 references) (Author/MSE)

Examines how Hispanic bilingual kindergartners and first graders create and express personal meanings by illustrating parts of stories read aloud in class, dictating responses, and writing original narratives. Notes that literacy activities should be tied authentically to questions and interests expressed by children in the classroom. (MM)

Examines the effects of training Spanish-speaking parents in read-aloud techniques on the Spanish vocabulary development of their children aged five and six. Although not statistically significant, the results seem to favor the group that received training for five weeks versus a control group. The training increased parental involvement and had…

Studied the interactions, goals, and purposes of four mothers as they shared two narrative and two expository texts with their preschoolers. Results suggest that there is no one path to becoming literate, nor one single "correct" model of development. Literacy learning is an activity that involves the collaboration of parents and…

Reading books aloud to students can motivate them to read themselves, but teachers and librarians need to learn new skills to read aloud effectively. Selecting an appropriate book, reading with expression, creating an atmosphere, and using the right questioning techniques to start a discussion all have an impact on successful reading aloud. (LAE)