The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of a critical thinking rubric as an assessment of reading achievement for students enrolled in a reading intervention course. A reading prompt and scoring rubric, based on Richard Paul and Linda Elder's critical thinking framework, were created to assess critical reading in an intervention…

This qualitative study focused on at-risk college freshmen's ability to read and write expository text using game-like, online expository writing activities. These activities required participants to write descriptions of a target object so that peers could guess what the object was, after which they were given the results of those guesses as…

Many college students struggle with the literacy skills needed to be successful in higher education (Bettinger & Long, 2009; Snyder, Tan, & Hoffman, 2004). The difficulties emerge within students' capabilities in reading and writing. Students must be taught the skills needed to be successful to complete the tasks assigned in college classes and in…

This article describes how Fayetteville State University's Reading Across the Curriculum (RAC) model developed for use with underprepared students can effectively improve the literacy and academic language skills of those students. The primary goals and objectives of the RAC program are to train faculty members from various disciplines to create…

Teaching college students how to read online effectively is an important area of concern. Libraries have become digitized with online articles and e-books; e-textbooks are available and used; and instructors routinely assign online articles of some length. It is critical that instructors who teach reading at the college level understand the theory…

Little research has discussed how writing center tutors can help postsecondary students develop skill in reading. Via individual interviews, this investigator collected data from eleven writing center tutors at a large urban public university. Analysis of this data suggests that while nearly all of the tutors lacked specific knowledge of how…

The field of college developmental reading does not have a unified, agreed-upon approach to creating effective and efficient readers at the college level, as Reynolds and Werner (2003) have pointed out. For example, Keefe and Meyer (1991) assert the appropriateness of a holistic, whole-language approach for adult readers, while Bohr (2003)…

In college-level courses, the vast majority of students read expository textbooks with a primary purpose in mind: to memorize and, hopefully, understand enough information to receive a particular grade on a course exam. Intuitively, this kind of reading is different than the kind of reading that these same students do when reading a novel while…

Two studies examined the short- and long-term effects of teaching strategic reading to first-year college students in a stand-alone course. In study one, developmental readers (N=36) learned PLAN, a strategic reading heuristic. Significant pretest-posttest growth was found using cognitive, metacognitive, and affective measures, though no gain was…

Discusses whether reading in a second language is different than reading in one's first language. Examines recent case studies of adult English as a Second Language readers who are literate in their native language that illustrate the varying degrees to which readers access their primary language knowledge when reading in a second language. Finds…

Notes that as student enrollment in colleges and universities has increased, there has simultaneously been a proliferation of developmental skills programs. Presents some empirical evidence of the effectiveness of three reading skills courses. Suggests that underprepared readers' success in college is directly related to taking and passing a…

Notes that PowerPoint is an especially useful program for teaching text structure to college reading students. Discusses how this may be accomplished, as well as directions for creating a presentation from the preexisting templates and backgrounds provided in the program. Directs how to print overheads and handouts of the presentation. (SG)

Claims a deficit in self-regulation can be overcome through instruction. Provides (1) a review of the literature of the self-regulation field; and (2) a review of research which reveals that lower achieving students lack key regulatory processes which affect achievement. (NH)

Reports an evaluation of factual study questions as a component of an introductory psychology course taught to developmental students with a computer-assisted, mastery learning teaching method based on Keller's (1968) Personalized System of Instruction (PSI). Recommends that instructors of introductory courses, especially those that serve…

Finds the presentation assignment to be an effective method of providing students with the opportunity to apply the literacy skills they are learning in ways that are personally meaningful. Describes the presentation assignment framework and provides an example of an assignment that required students to analyze and interpret works of literature…