Describes ways in which a small group of preschool children in an urban Head Start Program responded to typical information books during read-aloud sessions. Notes results of a group pretend reading of books children had just heard. Concludes even young children are attuned to characteristics of texts. (PM)

Examines how 10 kindergarten through fourth-grade teachers shared poems and stories with their students. Notes that readings of poems were characterized by expressive reading style, multiple readings in one sitting, and children's active participation. Concludes poetry has the potential to draw children's attention to the resources of literate…

Examines first-generation students' perceptions of their academic literacy skills and their performance and persistence in college. Indicates that first generation students' self-perceptions represent critical factors in the college experience, underscoring the importance of helping students forge identities as members of academic communities. (SG)

Investigates the possible link between a classroom teacher's implementation of alternative literacy assessment and her classroom instruction. Illuminates the role that alternative literacy assessments can play in the classroom in terms of reflecting literacy task performance, presenting information on students' strengths and weaknesses, and…

Examines the discourse in an English as a second or other language (ESoL) classroom in a best-case scenario that contrasted dramatically with more typical school settings. Samples student critical turns (SCTs) across a six-week literature-rich science unit. Shows that the teacher played a crucial role in extended dialogue among students. (SG)

Presents annotations of 37 selected recent research in the teaching of English and related fields. Addresses bilingual/foreign language education, discourse processes, literacy, professional development, reading, teaching and learning of literature, teaching and learning of writing, and technology and literacy. Notes that most of the studies…

Considers the doubts the author has had about the design of an award winning study, focusing especially on a researcher's obligation to help the teachers with whom the researcher is working, even at the risk of jeopardizing a study's design. Traces the way that her engagement with that question has led to her current professional commitments. (SC)

Describes some of the tensions and challenges that nine student teachers faced as they attempted to apply theoretical tools or principles for teaching middle and secondary school English to the realities of practice. Suggests the importance of understanding the kind of relationships that student teachers develop within each setting and how social…

Explores the effects of a high-stakes, direct writing test on three teachers and their students. Suggests that an emphasis on test preparation diminished the likelihood of the teachers' engaging in reflective practice that is sensitive to the needs of individual students, and that the high-stakes assessment process discounted the validity of…

Describes the intermediate forms of children's informational and story composition across the elementary grades. Finds that even the youngest children differentiated between the genres with over half of all kindergartners and first graders producing texts classified at some level of organizational complexity above labels and statement, and by…

Examines the role of imagination in literacy learning using data collected over a 5-year period in the author's primary classrooms. Notes that the study progressed to a conceptual structure that proposes an inside-out theory of literacy learning. Argues that to be successful and meaningful to all, literacy teaching must begin and end with a focus…

Conducts case studies of proficient undergraduate writers from working-class backgrounds in the context of a course preparing sophomore and junior students to be tutors for first-year basic writers. Finds that students explained their experiences suggesting a greater degree of agency, an awareness of themselves as writers in a "contact zone," and…

Examines both what it means to teach writing and what it means to write in a first-year university course in the history of science. Investigates what students learned about writing when the focus was on subject matter and secondarily on writing and rhetoric. Raises the question of whether disciplinary courses in writing provide an authentic…

Presents 34-item annotated bibliography of journal articles addressing issues such as: bilingual/foreign language/second language education; classroom discourse; literacy; reading; and writing. Notes that most of the studies appeared during the six-month period from June to December, 2000 but some studies that appeared earlier are occasionally…

Explores a range of ways that threat can exist and be transcended in a critical inquiry classroom by examining vignettes taken from one intensive inquiry project conducted in an urban high school English classroom. Concludes that educators need to acknowledge the ways stakeholders may feel threatened and to provide means for interrogating those…