Examines the responses of preschoolers to a number of print design features in various genres of alphabet picture books. Discusses the authors' personal stance on the language learning and language teaching that occurs during these encounters with alphabet books. Ponders the published criteria presented by children's literature experts for…

Discusses research on home literacy environments, the values of reading aloud, independent reading, literature and writing, and literature in the language arts curriculum. (RS)

Describes how a teacher used a reading strategy called "Intuitive Reading" to dramatically improve the reading skills of four learning-disabled high school students. (PRA)

Discusses the role and function of storybook reading in early childhood classrooms and reviews studies examining the effects of story reading on literacy development. Concludes that the interaction between child, adult, and text during story reading facilitates literacy development. (MM)

Describes how reading aloud was incorporated as a regular component into a high school remedial program. Discusses how reading aloud helped students develop appreciation for the written language; a sense of cultural literacy; vocabulary; and metacognitive strategies. (SR)

Mothers in 22 mother-child dyads read 5 experimental stories aloud to their children and to an adult during which the durations of 7 function-word vowels were measured. Only function-word vowels in the final position (rather than initial or medial) were significantly longer in child-directed rather than adult-directed speech. (Author/DB)

Provides an overview of the use of reading aloud as one way to enhance the literacy development of children in preschool and kindergarten classrooms. Shares an annotated list of read aloud stories which were compiled in a year-long field study. (MG)

Offers a school policy for reading, arrived at as a product of a whole school inservice program. Discusses word recognition, sound-symbol correspondence, prediction, classroom environment, reading with an adult, parents and reading, assessment of reading, and reading material selection. (RS)

Relates how an eighth grade teacher read an unfamiliar book for the first time along with her students, thus seeing the story through their eyes and modeling for them the kinds of strategies a good reader naturally employs. Notes that students responded positively, doing most of the talking and much of the discussion and class preparation. (SR)

Offers 10 basic guidelines that might help reading teachers who use basal readers to make more effective instructional decisions about what to teach. (MG)

Offers a plan for changing the perception among teenagers that reading for pleasure is an activity of their childhood past. Suggests an elective Reading Workshop that allows students to share favorite books and authors, to read aloud and listen to others read aloud, and to discuss their reading processes and decisions. (PRA)

Describes the Teens for Literacy project, in which teens come up with ideas to improve literacy in their schools. Notes that, in the nearly five years of the program, teens have developed a Big Brother/Big Sister reading program, selected and displayed posters in school corridors, developed videos promoting literacy, read with children, and…

Describes a literacy project (Preschooler's Outreach Program) sponsored by a public library and staffed by students from the children's literature classes at a Texas university. Shows that college students participating in this project have unique insights into literacy acquisition among young children and are able to put into immediate practice…

Describes the Shared Reading Program, a home-school effort of Gallaudet University's Pre-College National Mission Programs. Under the program, mentors teach parents and caregivers how to read to deaf children using American Sign Language. Describes a family with six young children includes 12 tips for reading to a deaf child. (DB)

Examines how the advantages and disadvantages of speech-recognition technology helped shape the design and implementation of Project LISTEN's Reading Tutor. Reading Tutor provides patient, unobtrusive, and natural assistance for reading aloud. (Author/VWL)