This study examined the role of reading disability (RD) risk and environmental protective factors in reading fluency in grade 4. The sample consisted of 538 Finnish-speaking students. Kindergarten measures included the students' risk for RD based on poor achievement in phonological awareness and letter knowledge as well as information on the…

As teachers are increasingly being asked and expected to teach across cultural differences and work toward social justice in their classrooms, teacher educators must seriously consider how university course work impacts students in their own classrooms. This article present a four-year qualitative case study investigating the meaning-making of two…

The goals of this study were to (a) develop an empirically based model regarding the development of fluent and automatic reading in the early elementary school years and (b) determine whether fluent text-reading skills provided benefits for reading comprehension beyond those accounted for by fluent word decoding. First-, second-, and third-grade…

Examines the relations among phonological awareness, short-term memory, orthographic ability, contextual information, and reading skill in a study of 60 functionally illiterate adults enrolled in Adult Basic Education programs and a group of elementary-school children. Concludes that adults seem to be relying less on phonological decoding, which…

Considers how writing personal and professional narratives together has taught the author the complicated ways in which he uses his early childhood skills in caring for his parents--the importance of routines, transitions, relationship building--and they in turn have prompted him to rethink the early years of life, including the learning of…

Discusses the notion of stance as presented by some of the major transactional theorists. Considers how stance operates in the reading of narrative fiction and poetry. Argues nonfiction is an important part of literature for children and offers possibilities for teaching. (SG)

Uses structural equation modeling to investigate the development of and interrelations between the language proficiencies and reading abilities of children learning to read a first or second language. Compares the reading-comprehension, word-decoding, and oral-language skills of Dutch and minority third and fourth grade students. Shows oral…

Presents the view that the minority differential in United States literacy is parallel to the literacy problems of many countries where the home language of children differs markedly from the first language of reading instruction. Notes that this is the situation that prevails in many developing countries, in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Finds…

Examines the language and literacy practices in two Mexican schools (two beginning primary classrooms and two grade 4 classrooms) over a period of approximately six months. Indicates that students were provided with considerable freedom in terms of their spoken language which contrasted greatly with the emphasis on form in the production of…

Explores more deeply the role of oral reading in instructional practice, primarily in the elementary grades and with students who struggle in reading. Attempts to conceptualize more fully the positive role oral reading may play in classroom instruction, notes ways in which some persisting forms of oral reading practice in classrooms are counter to…

Draws on a study of the literate lives of two African Americans living in urban poverty. Suggests that the nonalignment between home and school discourse communities is not the only, or even perhaps primary, problem for the subjects. Suggests that explanations must account for the complexity of literate subjectivities through the process by which…

Discusses the effects of new educational policies enacted by Proposition 227 (California) and Proposition 203 (Arizona) on English Language Learners (ELLs) and their teachers. Presents a conversation among the authors on convergence of reforms, high stakes assessment, scripted reading programs, language planning and policy, effective learning…

Examines conversations between teachers and students and between peers to describe the nature of the instructional scaffolding that occurred as students constructed meaning of literary and nonfiction texts. Describes ways in which scaffolding was woven in and out of the fabric of the conversations. Finds that episodes of scaffolded instruction…

Takes a critical look at the issue of scaffolding in children's writing, beginning with a consideration of the ways in which children's productions of text have been supported in previous research on writing development. Suggests that while scaffolding can assist children it may also, at times, hinder children in demonstrating their full range of…

Identifies the qualities of teaching expertise that distinguished highly effective instruction at different grade levels. Distinguishes preschool to grade 5 literacy teachers from one another by 44 indices of teaching expertise. Describes applications of these data for research, policy, and practice. (RS)