Cognitive flexibility theory posits that some tasks or cognitive activities resist oversimplification, a lens through which the present study is cast. High school writing tasks that promote complex thinking may also promote increased uptake of academic vocabulary. The study described in this article demonstrates how essential questions and other…

Teacher educators examined three aspects of expertise in reading instruction in 15 preservice, classroom, and intervention teachers at three distinctively different points in their professional development. In one sitting, participants responded to two video clips showing the same first-grade child reading familiar text in a Reading Recovery…

This study analyzed and compared the characteristics of expert and less expert teachers' noticing ability during observation of literacy instruction, and builds a conceptual framework for expert noticing during such teaching. Expert participants (n = 7) were defined as university faculty in reading with intensive and long-term experience in…

This study explored the relationship between literacy coaching and student reading achievement in grades K-1 in a school district that received a Reading First grant. The study analyzed how literacy coaches spent their time and explored the relationship between the amount and content of coaching and student reading achievement at the teacher level…

This study examined literacy motivation among middle-school students in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) classes by using a 20-question survey and semi-structured interview. The survey results identified similarities among students of different genders, but differences between the beginning ESOL group and the more advanced groups,…

In an attempt to more clearly understand the erosion of motivation in some readers, a number of researchers (Mohr, 2006; Smith & Wilhelm, 2002) and organizations (The Education Alliance, 2007) have called for the investigation of gender differences in all readers, including young children. Consequently, this study focused on younger, average…

We surveyed students enrolled in Introductory Psychology courses about their text marking preferences and analyzed the marking in their textbooks. Low-skill readers report more reliance on highlighting strategies and actually mark their texts more than better readers. In addition, low-skilled readers prefer to buy used, previously marked texts…

The purpose of this theoretical essay is to encourage critical reflection of the relationship of specific reading events to traditional conceptualizations of reader stance. While conventional models of reader stance are useful for considering many aspects of reading, there are reading events that engender stances that appear to lie outside of the…

This study examined first graders' accuracy and reading rate in highly decodable and qualitatively leveled texts. The study inspected accuracy and rate by different levels of practice (practiced vs. unpracticed) and at different times of the year (October, January, and May). Seventy-four first graders read both leveled and decodable texts with and…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of rich and basic instruction to incidental exposure of target words with first-grade students within the context of repeated shared storybook reading. Participants were 224 first-grade students, randomly assigned to a condition by classroom, from three elementary schools that serve large…

The increase in language minority students in U.S. schools has drawn attention to instructional models designed to assist these students. It is critical that literacy educators understand the potential of these models for literacy achievement. This study was designed to examine reading achievement of elementary English language learners in…

This study examined how the use of book clubs in a literacy methods class informed preservice, elementary teachers' visions of self as literacy teachers. Teachers began the study with the vision of teaching students the reading and writing skills they were weakest in. Teachers though transformed their visions to include culturally responsive…

The inclusion of nonfiction texts in the elementary classroom interests teachers and researchers alike. However, there is an inconsistent use of terms applied to this body of research, including informational texts, informational books, and expository texts, among others. In this article, an organizing framework for nonfiction is presented to…

This article addresses the knowledge and attitudes of preservice teachers about refugee English Language Learners before and after engaging in a pen pal writing project. The results reflect positive changes in the preservice teachers' understanding of their attitudes toward refugee English Language Learners and in their understanding of the…

This article investigates the relationship between teachers' personal reading habits and their instructional practices. Teachers responded to a questionnaire that revealed their attitudes toward reading, the amount of time they spent reading per day and the kind of literacy practices that they used in their classrooms. Results indicate: (1) while…