Vocabulary development and the role it plays in reading skills acquisition have received much less attention than decoding and comprehension strategies. There is a close relationship between vocabulary and comprehension; hence, individuals with poor vocabulary have difficulty understanding written text. Further, students with poor vocabulary…

A theoretical perspective on acquiring sight vocabulary and developing meaningful vocabulary is presented. Dual Coding Theory assumes that cognition occurs in two independent but connected codes: a verbal code for language and a nonverbal code for mental imagery. The mixed research literature on using pictures in teaching sight vocabulary is…

Children's acquisition of vocabulary is essential for gains in reading comprehension and reading development. Struggling readers often do not make gains in their reading comprehension because they have a limited reading vocabulary. Enhancing the vocabulary development and growth for children who are experiencing reading difficulties enables them…

This article provides an overview of current knowledge about vocabulary teaching and learning--understandings that influence learning across different disciplines. Research on the teaching and learning of vocabulary in particular subject matter areas, including mathematics, social studies, and science, is discussed. Based upon the instructional…

Six evidence-based principles for remedial vocabulary instruction are developed and described. Implementation of the principles was undertaken by twenty tutors, all of who were experienced classroom teachers, in a university clinical reading program that used one-to-one instruction. Successful strategies and the tutor's reactions are described…

Incarcerated students are more likely than their nonincarcerated peers to have reading problems. Teachers in correctional facilities are faced with many challenges when attempting to help these students. Technology assisted instruction offers teachers hope in assisting these students to better achieve.

This study investigates how middle school students and teachers in preservice and master of arts classes analyze writing samples. Three sets of participants analyzed and scored a common set of writings. Findings indicate that several intact classroom groups of eighth-graders, preservice teachers, and veteran teachers in a graduate reading program…

Two studies evaluated the contribution of goal orientation--over and above the constructs of planned behavior theory--in explaining the relationship between attitudes, motivation, and academic achievement for students with and without learning disabilities. Results indicated that a performance-approach orientation exerted significant positive…

Organizing and designing Learning Center activities requires planning so that students are engaged in meaningful learning tasks and the tasks are differentiated for varied learning levels. In this article, suggestions for designing and managing Learning Centers, including a Center for small group instruction, are described. Finally, ideas for…

This article describes the findings of our review process for core reading programs and provides a preliminary rubric emanating from this process for rating core reading programs. To our knowledge, this is the first published review of the current "Reading First" guidelines and includes all five components of scientifically based reading research…

This study examined the effects of the Waterford Early Reading Program on reading achievement gains across the first-grade year. The results of this longitudinal analysis demonstrated meaningfully greater gains on reading achievement for those with access to the Integrated learning system (ILS) (n[superscript 2] =.10). Furthermore, the positive…

Research has shown fluency plays a vital role in learning. Precision Teaching, a method for measuring behavior and facilitating decision-making, has demonstrated it can benefit teachers interested in fostering fluency. Through the use of a systematic practice routine derived from Precision Training, teachers can apply a method that efficiently…

This article provides a case study perspective of one child's literacy learning over the first semester of first grade. This young learner moves from creating stories for picture books to reading, and from stringing letters to using letter names and spelling sight words. Drawing from this data, a cross-analysis of "what was going on at the same…

This article describes six instructional techniques that support emerging or struggling writers. The techniques are first modeled in a vignette of a kindergarten writing conference and then explicitly defined. A writing scale is presented for tracking the development of emerging writers with suggestions for the type and timing of instruction…

This article describes a second-grade teacher's attempt to differentiate spelling instruction according to student achievement levels. The article begins by reviewing developmental spelling theory, particularly the stages that relate to first- and second-grade reader/writers. Following is a detailed description of the classroom spelling program,…