Scholars who are drawn to qualitative research methodologies represent a diverse group of disciplines and fields. They also represent themselves as researchers and the theoretical frameworks in which they work quite differently. Indeed, it was this diversity in representation that initially motivated us to propose a New Directions feature on…

"What gets assessed is what gets taught" is a common assertion whose meaning is often underestimated. It is not just what gets assessed, but how it is assessed that has implications for what is learned. When a child who is asked the meaning of his report card grades responds, "If I knew that I'd be the teacher" he is saying something about the…

Despite the popularity of self-published teen zines, few studies have been conducted of the adolescent girls who write and read them. Past research on teens' reading and writing shows that adolescents read and write along stereotypical or gendered lines. This study explores the out-of-school literacy practices of three adolescent girls who write…

Maya K. David reports an interesting view of reading in Malaysia through the eyes of graduate student Mohd Nazri bin Hamid (2003), who conducted an exploratory study about the culture of reading in an academy of Islamic studies. The purposes of Nazri's investigation were (a) to examine undergraduate students' reading habits, (b) to offer a…

Presents reports from Africa, Australia, and Malaysia that reflect this journal's interest in informing its readers of current international literacy research that does not otherwise appear in featured articles. Hopes that these and subsequent reports will lead to broader understandings of global literacy issues and to future international…

Discusses what is to come in research on literacy in secondary schools. Connects interest in secondary school literacy to the content area reading movement and points to cognitive psychology as the primary conceptual basis for recent work. Explains why it is important to consider an even more shifting definition that locates the social and…

Compiles data from 27 studies comprising the Cooperative Research Program in First-Grade Reading Instruction. Reveals ability to recognize letters of the alphabet prior to beginning reading instruction was the best predictor of first-grade reading achievement. Indicates various nonbasal programs tended to be superior as measured by word…