Background: Reading instruction begins at the primary level with reading comprehension issues manifesting themselves by the 3rd-grade and becoming more pronounced by fourth-grade. While primary teachers often teach narrative comprehension skills, middle school teachers have the responsibility to teach both narrative and expository comprehension…

This study examined the impact of explicit comprehension strategy instruction supported by guided reading and partner reading on at-risk students' strategy knowledge and reading comprehension. Participants were 47 first graders (25 in the treatment group; 22 in the control group) and 44 second graders (19 in the treatment group; 25 in the control…

We examine the effects of a read aloud replication intervention designed to improve the vocabulary, comprehension, and expository and narrative language outcomes of first grade students. Thirty-nine first-grade classrooms from 12 schools were randomly assigned to a treatment (n=19) or comparison condition (n=20). Teachers in the treatment…

We examine the effects of a read aloud replication intervention designed to improve the vocabulary, comprehension, and expository and narrative language outcomes of first grade students. Thirty-nine first-grade classrooms from 12 schools were randomly assigned to a treatment (n = 19) or comparison condition (n = 20). Teachers in the treatment…

Reading comprehension instruction has been recognized as a key factor in developing any reading and literacy program. Therefore, many attempts were devoted to improve explicit comprehension strategy instruction at different school levels and fields including EFL and ESL. Despite these efforts, explicit comprehension instruction is still drought…

From 2005-2009, the state determined that the Williams School had made no progress in raising its poor performance on the state English language arts test. In the fall of 2009, the state awarded literacy partnership grants to provide professional development to low-performing schools, and the Williams School partnered with our institution of…

This study sought to examine sustained, school-based professional development (PD) on explicit reading comprehension strategy instruction (ERCSI) and its influence on teacher knowledge and practice and on student outcomes. Eight teachers participated - four first-grade and two teachers each from second and third grade. At the beginning of the…

The hypothesis of the study was explicit gradual release of responsibility comprehension instruction (GRR) (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983; Fisher & Frey, 2008) with the researcher-created Story Grammar Code (SGC) strategy would significantly increase third graders' comprehension of narrative fiction and nonfiction text. SGC comprehension…

This study seeks to explain what first- and second-grade African American, urban students who participated in an explicit comprehension strategy instruction (ECSI) program learned about comprehension strategies and how this knowledge supports self-regulated strategy use. The study was also designed to compare these students' knowledge with those…

Examined in this study was instruction in two reading intervention programs, Reading Recovery and Reading Mastery, in the context of a statewide early reading initiative's first year of implementation. Through observations of 15 teachers, investigated in this study was the instructional focus of the intervention lessons and the extent to which…

The single-site case study described herein is part of a two-year professional development (PD) initiative aimed at helping teachers from an urban elementary (K-8) school learn how to implement explicit, transactional comprehension strategy instruction across grades using culturally relevant books. This paper describes the urban elementary…

Despite a wealth of international research indicating the importance but also the dearth of explicit reading comprehension instruction in classrooms, current classroom reading pedagogy does not appear to have acknowledged and addressed this shortcoming to any significant degree. This is cause for some considerable concern, as today's students…

In spite of the prevailing assumption that formal reading instruction is no longer needed once adolescents reach high school, students at the secondary level still benefit from explicit reading instruction to continue developing advanced literacy skills enabling them to access complex narrative texts. This article argues for the importance of…

Students with intellectual disability (ID) often have limited access to general education science content. The current study evaluated the effects of a content area literacy intervention designed to improve the comprehension of high school students with moderate intellectual disability on adapted expository science text. The multicomponent…

This study examines whether explicit reading comprehension instruction is relevant for students with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Forty-five students (M[subscript age] = 9 years) were randomly assigned to two conditions: control or intervention. Those assigned to the intervention condition received instruction on vocabulary,…