DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 404 625 CS 012 721

AUTHOR Smith, Carl B., Comp.; Essex, Christopher, Comp.

TITLE What Works? Summary of Research about Teaching
Reading. Hot Topic Guide 26. Revised Edition.
INSTITUTION Indiana Univ., Bloomington. School of Education.
PUB DATE Mar 97
NOTE 103p.; Some of the accompanying materials may not
reproduce legibly.
PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070) Guides Non-Classroom
Use (055)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage.

DESCRIPTORS Annotated Bibliographies; Class Activities;
Elementary Education; Emergent Literacy; Parent
Participation; Phonics; Reading Comprehension;
*Reading Instruction; *Reading Research; Reading
Strategies; Workshops
IDENTIFIERS *Reading Uses

ABSTRACT
One of a series of educational packages designed for
implementation either in a workshop atmosphere or through individual
study, this Hot Topic guide presents a variety of materials to assist
educators in designing and implementing classroom projects and
activities centering on the topic of research about teaching reading.
The Hot Topic guide contains guidelines for workshop use; an overview
of research-based guidelines for teachers and parents about teaching
reading (parent involvement, emergent literacy, phonics,
comprehension strategies,and the teacher's belief that all children
can learn); and 7 articles (from scholarly and professional journals)
and ERIC documents on the topic. A 68-item annotated bibliography of
items in the ERIC database on the topic is attached. (RS)

***********************************************************************
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
***********************************************************************
 HOT TOPIC
GUIDE 26
What Works? Summary of Research about Teaching Reading
REVISED EDITION
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

HELPFUL GUIDELINES FOR WORKSHOP USE

Suggestions for using this Hot Topic Guide as a professional development tool.

OVERVIEW/LECTURE
What Works? Summary of Research about Teaching Reading
by Carl B. Smith, Ph.D.

ARTICLES AND ERIC DOCUMENTS

What Does Research Say about Reading?
Language Arts Principles: Teaching and Learning, K12 Constructivism
Becoming a Nation of Readers: Recommendations and Abstract
Interview: Unlocking the Mysteries, or toward 2001
Literature and Literacy: A Review of Research
Strategic Reading: A Brief Overview
Turning Contemporary Reading Research into Instructional Practice

BIBLIOGRAPHY
A collection of selected references and abstracts obtained directly from the ERIC
database.

Indiana University, Bloomington

School of Education
Compilers: Carl B. Smith and Christopher Essex
Series Editors: Carl Smith, Eleanor Macfarlane, and Christopher Essex

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

(ImiceotuvcationaiResearcnandimpioverom EISSIDNTOREPRODUCEAND
WAdidiSEMINATE
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION BEST COPY AVAH THIS MATERIAL
CENTER (ERIC) HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

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This document has been reproduced as
received from the person or organization
originating it. VV...-4
Minor changes have been made to
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2
In-Service Workshops and Seminars:
Suggestions for Using this Hot Topic Guide as a
Professional Development Tool
Before the Workshop:
Carefully review the materials presented in this Hot Topic Guide.
Think about how these
concepts and projects might be applied to your particular
school or district.
As particular concepts begin to stand out in your mind
as being important, use the
Bibliography section (found at the end of the packet)
to seek out additional resources
dealing specifically with those concepts.
Look over the names of the teachers and researchers
who wrote the packet articles
and/or are listed in the Bibliography. Are any of the
names
them work in your geographical area? Do you have colleagues
familiar to you? Do any of
are engaged in similar research and/or teaching? Perhaps or acquaintances who
you could enlist their help and
expertise as you plan your workshop or seminar.
As you begin to plan your activities, develop a mental "movie"
of what you'd like to see
happening in the classroom as a result of this in- service workshop
vision in mind as a guide to your planning. or seminar. Keep this

During the Workshop:

Provide your participants with a solid grasp of the important
acquired from your reading, but don't load them down with concepts that you have
lots of hard-to-remember names, dates or statistics. You excessive detail, such as
may wish to use the
Overview/Lecture section of this packet as a guide for
the topic. your introductory remarks about
Try modeling the concepts and teaching strategies
related to the topic by "teaching" a
minilesson for your group.
Remember, if your teachers and colleagues ask you challenging
or difficult questions
about the topic, that they are not trying to discredit
you or your ideas. Rather, they are
trying to prepare themselves for situations that might arise
as they implement these
ideas in their own classrooms.
If any of the participants are already using some of these ideas
in their own teaching.
encourage them to share their experiences.
Even though your workshop participants are adults,
many of the classroom management
principles that you use every day with your students still
apply. Workshop participants,
admittedly, have a longer attention span and can sit still
longer than your second-
graders; but not that much longer. Don't have a workshop
that is just a "sit down, shut
up, and listen" session. Vary the kinds of presentations and activities
your workshops. For instance, tryto include at least one hands-on you provide in
participants will begin to get a feel for how they might apply activity so that the
discussing in your workshop. the concepts that you are
Try to include time in the workshop for the participants
to work in small groups. This
time may be a good opportunity for them to formulate plans
for how they might use the
concepts just discussed in their own classrooms.
Encourage teachers to go "a step further" with what
they have learned in the workshop.
Provide additional resources for them to continue their
research into the topics
discussed, such as books, journal articles, Hot Topic Guides,
local experts. Alert them to future workshops/conferences teaching materials, and
on related topics.
11/94

3
 After the Workshop:
Follow up on the work you have done. Have your workshop
attendees fill out an End-
of-Session Evaluation (a sample is included
on the next page). Emphasize that their
responses are anonymous. The participants' answers to these
helpful in planning your next workshop. After questions can be very
a reasonable
months or a semester), contact your workshop attendees amount of time (say a few
have used, or haven't used, the workshop and inquire about how they
concepts in their teaching. Have any
surprising results come up? Are there any unforeseen
problems?
When teachers are trying the new techniques,
suggest that they invite you to observe
their classes. As you discover success stories
among teachers from your workshop,
share them with the other attendees, partiCularly those who seem reluctant to give the
ideas a try.
Find out what other topics your participants
would like to see covered in future
workshops and seminars. There are nearly sixty Hot
Topic Guides, and more are always
being developed. Whatever your focus, there is probably
help. An order form follows the table of a Hot Topic Guide that can
contents in this packet.

Are You Looking for University Course Credit?

Indiana University's Distance Education program
is offering new one-credit-hour Language Arts Education
minicourses on these topics:
Elementary:
/ really enjoyed working at my own pace....
Language Learning and Development It was wonderful to have everything so
Varied Writing Strategies organized...and taken care of in a manner
Parents and the Reading Process where I really felt like I was a student,
Exploring Creative Writing with however 'distant' I was....'
Distance Education student
Elementary Students

Secondary: Three-Credit-Hour Courses

Varied Writing Strategies are also offered (now with optional
Thematic Units and Literature
videos!):
Advanced Study in the Teaching of:
Exploring Creative Writing with
Reading in the Elementary School
Secondary Students
Language Arts in the Elementary School
K-12: Secondary School English/Language Arts
Reading in the Secondary School
Reading across the Curriculum Writing as a Response to Reading
Writing across the Curriculum Developing Parent Involvement Programs
Organization of the Classroom Critical Thinking across the Curriculum
Organization and Administration of a
Course Requirements: School Reading Program
These minicourses are taught by
correspondence. Minicourse reading For More Information:
materials consist of Hot Topic Guides and For course outlines and registration
ERIC/EDINFO Press books. You will be instructions, please contact:
asked to write Goal Statements and Distance Education Office
Reaction Papers for each of the assigned Smith Research Center, Suite 150
reading materials, and a final Synthesis 2805 East 10th Street
paper. Bloomington, IN 47408-2698
1-800-759-4723 or (812) 855-5847
4
p

Planning a Workshop Presentation

Worksheet
Major concepts you want to stress in this presentation:

1)

2)

3)

Are there additional resources mentioned in the Bibliography that would be worth
locating? Which ones? How could you get them most easily?

Are there resource people available in your area whom you might consult about this
topic and/or invite to participate? Who are they?

What would you like to see happen in participants' classrooms as a result of this
workshop? Be as specific as possible.

Plans for followup to this workshop: [peer observations, sharing

experiences, etc.]

5
 Agenda for Workshop
Planning Sheet
Introduction/Overview:
[What would be the most effective way to present the major concepts
that you wish to convey?]

Activities that involve participants and incorporate the main concepts of this workshop:

1)

2)

Applications:
Encourage participants to plan a mini-lesson for their educational setting that
draws on these concepts. [One possibility is to work in small groups, during
the workshop, to make a plan and then share it with other participants.]
Your plan to make this happen:

Evaluation:
[Use the form on the next page, or one you design, to get feedback from
participants about your presentation.]

6
' ,

END-OF-SESSION EVALUFITION

Now that today's meeting is over, we would like to know how you feel and what you think about
the things we did so that we can make them better. Your opinion is important to us. Please
answer all questions honestly. Your answers are confidential.

1. Check ( V ) to show if today's meeting was

Not worthwhile Somewhat worthwhile Very worthwhile
2. Check ( V ) to show if today's meeting was
Not interesting Somewhat interesting Very interesting
3. Check ( ) to show if today's leader was
Not very good Just O.K. Very good
4. Check ( ) to show if the meeting helped you get any useful ideas about how you
can make positive changes in the classroom.
Very little Some Very much
5. Check ( V ) to show if today's meeting was
lbo long Li 'lb° short Just about right
6. Check ( ) whether you would recommend today's meeting to a colleague.
CI Yes No
7. Check ( ) to show how useful you found each of the things we did or discussed today.
Getting information/new ideas.
Not useful Somewhat useful Very useful
Seeing and hearing demonstrations of teaching techniques.
Not useful Somewhat useful Very useful
Getting materials to read.
Not useful Somewhat useful Very useful
 Listening to other teachers tell about their own experiences.
Not useful Somewhat useful Very useful
Working with colleagues in a small group to develop strategies of our own.
Not useful Somewhat useful Very useful
Getting support from others in the group.
Not useful Somewhat useful ij Very useful
8. Please write one thing that you thought was best about today:

9. Please write one thing that could have been improved today:

10. What additional information would you have liked?

11. Do you have any questions you would like to ask?

12. What additional comments would you like to make?

Thank you for completing this form.

 What Works?
by Carl B. Smith, Ph.D.
Indiana University

What works? Every parent and teacher wants to find the ideas and
techniques that help their children succeed in reading and writing. But as is true in
any complex human endeavor it is not always clear what works to bring success.

Some strong voices, for example, emphasize a free-flowing approach to

learning that appeals primarily to children's interests. Other strong voices
emphasize the children's need for structure and logic in their learning environment.
Each of these positions has support--otherwise how would they generate the
following of teachers who lead students in one direction or the other.

One thing seems fairly clear: the role and the beliefs of the teacher are
important to a student's success. If the teacher believes that all her students can
be successful, they usually will. If the teacher has a wide repertoire of knowledge
and skills, she will employ them in helping all children, no matter what her main
instructional method may be. Even so, we ought to be able to guide teachers and
parents as a result of the thousands of studies that have been aimed at
determining what works in learning to read and to write.

Synthesis of Research

Most helpful in answering the question, What Works? are syntheses of

research. As consumers of research, we need to know what the accumulated
evidence says about techniques and strategies that help most children achieve
success. These syntheses appear periodically, sometimes published by the US
Office of Education and sometimes published by other interested parties.

For example in 1985, the US Office of Education published a summary and

a challenge in the book, Becoming a Nation of Readers. That was followed a year
later by Research about teaching and learning (1986). There were separately
funded summaries by Chall (197x) and by Adams (198x) that were major
documents in trying to arrive at researched based guidelines for teachers and
parents.

In this unit you will find other attempts to arrive at a synthesis, at least of
certain aspects of learning to read. Though there is much on which we may never
agree, it seems to me that the research summaries offer us a number of guidelines
about teaching and learning.

Hot Topic Guide 26: Revised Overview 1

9
 We will try here to imitate the tone of the documents from the US
Department of Education and provide guidelines that enable teachers and schools
to take practical steps to help children. At the same time, we realize that we
cannot reduce the teaching of reading to a limited set of steps and procedures.
The learning environment at home and in school contribute their own powerful
influence. The guidelines that we will state here, however, enable a teacher or a
parent to examine what they do: "Am I acting in an appropriate manner?" "Does
it make sense for me to change the way that I interact with children?"

Guidelines for teaching and learning

Guideline #1: Parent Involvement

What parents do at home to help their children learn contributes significantly

to their children's academic success.

Parents do create a curriculum in the home. If that curriculum includes

reading to children, talking to them about books and the world, listening to them,
and encouraging them to explore new ideas, they will be more likely to succeed
than children from other homes. Those efforts improve children's performance no
matter what the level of the family income.

We know that one of the best ways for children to improve their reading
ability is to read a lot. Extensive reading is as likely to be fostered in the home as
it is in the school. By working together, school and home can have a significant
effect on the fluency of children's reading. That means that books have to be
available in both places, and significant time has to be devoted to reading those
books. Unfortunately, the average elementary school child spends only eleven
minutes a day in extended text reading, but he or she spends more than 130
minutes a day watching television.

We conclude that teachers need to work hard at getting parents involved in

the reading, and in the learning, of their children.

Guideline #1: Emerging Literacy at Home and in School

Children should be encouraged to draw stories, to scribble messages, to

discuss their thoughts, and to listen for the ideas of others.

These types of activities help children become more confident and more
competent in the use of their language. Parents and teachers of young children
need to be especially attentive to the child's desire to communicate. Grammatical
accuracy and correct spelling will come with time. First, children need to feel that

Hot Topic Guide 26: Revised Overview 2

0
they have ideas that they can communicate to others. Gradually they will learn
the standard conventions of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Teachers may refer to the child's emerging awareness of print and its real-
world functions as "emergent literacy." The word "literacy" often replaces the
words "reading" and "writing" in today's journals as researchers try to make us
aware of the integrated relationship among listening, speaking, reading, and
writing in the complex environment of printed messages. The use of the word
"literacy" reminds us, then, that our involvement in printed communications leads
us into interactions with others and with ourselves as we construct meaning.

Guideline #3: Phonics

Learning phonics helps children to understand the relationship between

letters and sounds and to break the code that links the words they hear with the
words they see in print.

Phonics should be taught early and taught as a tool to better reading, not as
a series of isolated drills in the pronunciation of sounds. It should never interfere
with the excitement of building meaning; rather, phonics intervention should act as
a means of building meaning. Once the sound-symbol link has been established
and the major sound-symbol patterns are learned, reading instruction can continue
to expand through vocabulary building, comprehension strategies, and thinking
skills.

Guideline #4: Comprehension Strategies

Comprehension strategies should be used to help children view the reading

passage as a complete message which they must formulate in their own minds.

Strategic thinking in reading starts with a deliberate attempt to connect

previous knowledge to the subject or theme of the text. For that reason teachers
encourage children to open their minds to their prior knowledge, and to build
background that prepares them for the topic at hand. This sense of
connectedness is often referred to as "schema building," a process of creating the
links and the frameworks that will make it feasible for children to comprehend
what they read. "Useful approaches to building background knowledge to a
reading lesson focus on the concepts that will be central to understanding the
upcoming story, concepts that children either do not possess or may not think of
without prompting." (Becoming a Nation of Readers, p. 50.)

Just as learners approach reading by building background, so they continue

through the text by asking themselves questions and by monitoring their own

Hot Topic Guide 26: Revised Overview 3

comprehension. "Skilled reading is strategic. Becoming a skilled reader requires
learning to control one's reading in relation to one's purpose, the nature of the
material, and whether one is comprehending." (Becoming a Nation of Readers, p.
17.) It is quite clear from recent research that young readers and poor readers do
not regularly see relationships between what they know and what they are reading
on their own. They require the guidance of teachers, and the encouragement of
their peers.

Following their reading, a discussion helps learners pull together the ideas
they have experienced. Alternatively, a reader may respond to a selection in
writing, perhaps even just for himself or herself. The evidence of today's studies,
however, convinces us that the public exchange of ideas about a shared reading is
one of the best ways of helping a variety of individuals decide what they now
know and understand. Comprehending the message remains the goal of reading
throughout the learner's engagement with it.

Even though we speak of a strategic approach in the general terms of

building background, monitoring comprehension, and responding to reading
through a group exchange, that does not mean that teachers have nothing to
teach. "Teachers need to teach comprehension strategies directly." (Becoming a
Nation of Readers, p. 81.) This means that teachers need to model thinking
strategies for their students, and give students opportunities to examine them and
to practice them. This directive seems particularly important in light of recent
evidence which indicates very little actual teaching of comprehension is actually
done in American classrooms.

Guideline #5: All Children Can Learn

One characteristic that distinguishes effective classrooms from ineffective

ones is the teacher's commitment to the belief that all children can learn to read.
Effective teachers strive to see that every child masters basic skills and then goes
as far beyond this basic level as possible. (Becoming a Nation of Readers, p. 86.)

This commitment to helping the learner in a direct way means that the
effective teacher of reading establishes goals and objectives in which all students
can participate. Those are the community goals of the school and the class. After
that, there are many opportunities for individual interests and personal learning to
take place. However, how some teachers are able to maintain high levels of
individual interest, while at the same time keeping a variety of students on target,
is still one of the mysteries of teaching. Research has no simple prescription for
how that is accomplished. Some of the central ingredients in a dynamic and
effective classroom can be mixed together only by the artistry of the teacher.

Hot Topic Guide 26: Revised Overview 4

12
Combining research evidence with the artistry of the teacher is what leads
eventually to effectiveness in schools.

Conclusions

What works in learning to read and write involves complex issues, and they
need to be discussed again and again to increase our understanding of them.
Informal discussions and planned staff development time needs to offer teachers
the opportunities for these discussions.

From the material contained in this learning unit, we can draw a number of
conclusions that lead to action steps by teacher and parent:

1. Parents contribute important elements to reading success both early and

alter in the child's school career. Schools need to openly encourage parents
and offer them training programs to demonstrate emergent literacy
practices and skilled reading practices.

2. Teachers and parents need to show children that reading is a joy and that
it also takes work to become skilled, proficient readers and writers. Parents
and teachers need to work together to promote this attitude of joy and to
spend the time it takes to become skilled.

3. Certain knowledges and skills contribute to early success in reading. The

ability to distinguish sounds in words (phonemic awareness) and the ability
to recognize sound-symbol relationships (phonics) seem to contribute
heavily to success in the early stages of reading development. Curriculum
plans, therefore, need to include these elements in the early learning
program. Parents and teachers also need the continuing education required
to apply these knowledges and skills.

4. Teachers combine their knowledge of what works with their

interpretations of the needs of particular students in order to put together a
program that responds to those needs. Schools need to provide
opportunities for teachers to share their successful experiences, thus
expanding their interpretative skills.

Though it is demonstrable that some children will learn to read no matter

what approaches are used with them, the majority of children require the guidance
of a program and a teacher who contribute the science of research data and the
humanness of personal enthusiasm and insight.

Hot Topic Guide 26: Revised Overview 5

13
What,Dges Research Say About Reading? http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areasislW esysisir read .111111
.

Reprinted by permission of NCREL.

What Does Research Say About Reading?

R.A. Knuth and B.F. Jones
NCREL, Oak Brook, 1991

In 1985, David Pearson referred to "the comprehension revolution." In essence he was talking about the
movement from traditional views of reading based on behaviorism to visions of reading and readers based
on cognitive psychology.

What follows in this section are major findings from cognitive psychology regarding:

*New and old definitions of the reading process

*Important findings about reading and learning from cognitive science

*Characteristics of poor and successful readers

*Milestones in reading research

*Characteristics of successful teaching/learning environments

*Roles of schools and communities

These findings were developed by NCREL in collaboration with our Content Partner, the Center for the
Study of Reading, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the participants in Program 1, "Children
as Strategic Readers."

The traditional view of the learner as an "empty" vessel to be filled with knowledge from external
sources is exemplified by this statue at the University of Leuven (Belgium).

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Old and New Definitions of Reading

Traditional Views New Definition of Reading

Research Base behaviorism cognitive sciences

Goals of Reading mastery of isolated facts constructing meaning and

and skills self-regulated learning

Reading as Process mechanically decoding words;. an interaction among the r

memorizing by rote the text, and the context

Learner Role/Metaphor passive; vessel receiving active; strategic reader,

knowledge from external sources strategy user, cognitive a

Reader

Reprinted from the Guide to Curriculum Planning in Reading with permission from the Wisconsin
Department of Public Instruction

Comprehension results from an interaction among the reader, the strategies the reader employs,
the material being read, and the context in which reading takes place.

Important Findings from Cognitive Sciences

Most of the knowledge base on this topic comes from studies of good and poor readers. However, some
of it is derived from research on expert teachers and from training studies.

1. Meaning is not in the words on the page. The reader constructs meaning by making inferences and
interpretations.

2. Reading researchers believe that information is stored in long-term memory in organized "knowledge
structures." The essence of learning is linking new information to prior knowledge about the topic, the
text structure or genre, and strategies for learning.

3. How well a reader constructs meaning depends in part on metacognition, the reader's ability to think
about and control the learning process (i.e., to plan, monitor comprehension, and revise the use of
strategies and comprehension); and attribution, beliefs about the relationship among performance, effort,

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and responsibility.

4. Reading and writing are integrally related. That is, reading and writing have many characteristics in
common. Also, readers increase their comprehension by writing, and reading about the topic improves
writing performance.

5. Collaborative learning is a powerful approach for teaching and learning. The goal of collaborative
learning is to establish a community of learners in which students are able to generate questions and
discuss ideas freely with the teacher and each other. Students often engage in teaching roles to help other
students learn and to take responsibility for learning. This approach involves new roles for teachers.

Characteristics of Poor/Successful Readers

Characteristics of Characteristics of
Poor Readers Successful Readers

Think understanding occurs from Understand that they mus t take respo
"getting the words right", re-reading for constructing meaning using their
knowledge

Use strategies such as rote memorization, Develop a repertoire of reading stra

rehearsal, simple categorization organizational patterns, and genre

Are poor strategy users: Are good strategy users:

* they do not think strategically about * they think strategically, plan, mo
how to read something or solve a problem comprehension, and revise their stra
* they do not have an accurate sense of * they persevere in the face of cont
when they have good comprehension or inadequate information, and stress
readiness for assessment * they have strategies for what to d
when they do not know what to do

Have relatively low self esteem Have self confidence that they are e
learners; see self as agent, able to
their potential

See success and failure as the result of See success as the result of
luck or teacher bias hard work and efficient thinking

Important Trends in Reading Instruction

1. Linking new learnings to the prior knowledge and experiences of students (In contexts where there are
students from diverse backgrounds this means valuing diversity and building on the strengths of students)

2. Movement from traditional skills instruction to cognitive strategy instruction, whole language
approaches, and teaching strategies within the content areas

3. More emphasis on integrating reading, writing, and critical thinking with content instruction, wherever
possible

4. More organization of reading instruction in phases with iterative cycles of strategies: Preparing for
reading-activates prior knowledge by brainstorming or summarizing previous learnings, surveys headings
and graphics, predicts topics and organizational patterns, sets goals/purpose for reading, chooses

EST COPY AVAILABLE

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What Does Research Say About Reading? http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/stw_esys/str:read.htm

appropriate strategies

Reading to learn-selects important information, monitors comprehension, modifies predictions, compares

new ideas with prior knowledge, withholds judgement, questions self about the meaning, connects and
organizes ideas, summarizes text segments

Reflecting on the information-reviews/summarizes the main ideas from the text as a whole,
considers/verifies how these ideas are related, changes prior knowledge according to new !earnings,
assesses achievement or purpose for learning, identifies gaps in learning, generates questions and next
steps

Milestones in Reading Research

1. Evidence that meaning is not in the words, but constructed by the reader

2. Documentation that instruction in the vast majority of classrooms is text driven and that most teachers
do not provide comprehension instruction

3. Documentation that textbooks were very poorly written, making information in them difficult to learn;
subsequent response of the textbook industry to include real literature, longer selections, more
open-ended questions, less fragmented skills, and "more considerate" text

4. Changes in reading research designs from narrowly conceived and well-controlled laboratory
experiments with college students to (1) broadly conceived training studies using experimenters and real
teachers in real classrooms and (2) studies involving teachers as researchers and colleagues in pre-service
and in-service contexts

5. Publication of A Nation. of Readers reaching out to parents, policymakers, and community members as
legitimate audiences for direct dissemination of research information

6. Involvement of state education agencies in textbook selection, promoting "the new definition of
reading," and developing statewide assessment programs that are research based; especially important are
programs in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois which have longer passages, more focus on
comprehension, more than one right answer, strategy use, and assessment of prior knowledge.

7. Increasing dissatisfaction with standardized methods of assessing reading (Consequently, there has
been a movement to develop alternative assessment strategies including miscue analysis, portfolios, and
projects in the classroom.)

Issues of Equity and Excellence

1. Although many students at risk come to school lacking in prior knowledge that is relevant to school
achievement, teachers and schools do make a substantial difference. That is, providing students at risk
with high quality instruction can drastically alter their academic performance.

2. Although pullout programs and tracking may be well intended, reading researchers increasingly argue

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that such programs may actually create or extend inequities by segregating students at risk in poor quality
programs. Indeed, some researchers contend that the learned helplessness that may characterize students
at risk is a functional response to the demands of a dysfunctional situation.

3. An increasing amount of research indicates that student access to functional adult role models is vital
for the development of self-esteem and metacognitive abilities. This can come from adult tutors or
opportunities for students to participate in the world of work through work/study, shadowing, and
apprenticeship programs.

The Social Organization of the School

1. Approaches that teach reading as thinking (strategic reading) need time to develop so that teachers can
adopt new beliefs, experiment with research-based methods, and refine new practices. This suggests that
schools need to provide (a) sustained staff development programs which provide mentoring and
coaching, and (b) environments that support experimentation and risk taking.

2. Reading performance is enhanced when schools have semipermeable boundaries. That is, when:

*Parents and other community members are involved in the life of the school as tutors, local experts, role
models, and aides in schools

* Students and teachers have opportunities for learning out of school

*Community members take part in the redesign process

*******************************************************

Activities for Teachers

The examples of excellence in this program clearly show that in world class schools teaching is a
multidimensional activity. One of the most powerful of these dimensions is that of "teacher as
researcher." Not only do teachers need to use research in their practice, they need to participate in
"action" research in which they are always engaging in investigation and striving for improved learning.
The key to action research is to pose a question or goal, and then design and implement actions and
evaluate progress in a systematic, cyclical fashion as the means are carried out. Below are four major
ways that you can become involved as an action researcher.

1. Use the checklist found at the end of this section to evaluate your school and teaching approaches.

2. Implement the models of excellence presented in this program. Ask yourself:

*What outcomes do the teachers in this program accomplish that I want my students to achieve?

*How can I find out more about the model classrooms?

*Which ideas can I most easily implement in my classroom?

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*What will I need from my school and community?

*How can I evaluate progress?

3. Form a team and initiate a research project. A research project can be designed to generate working
solutions to a problem. The issues for your research group to address are:

*What is the problem or question you wish to solve?

*What will be our approach?

*How will we faithfully implement the approach?

*How will we assess the effectiveness of our approach?

*What is the time frame for working on this project?

*What resources do we have available?

*What outcomes do we expect to achieve?

4. Investigate community needs and integrate solutions within your class activities. Relevant questions
include:

*What needs does the community have in terms of reading and writing?

*What can be done (for example, training) by my class to meet community needs?

*What skills and resources does the community have that could benefit my students?

*What kind of relationships can my class forge with the community?

5. Establish "Community of Learners" support groups consisting of school personnel and community
members. The goals of these groups are to:

*Share teaching and learning experiences both in and out of school

*Discuss research and theory related to learning

*Act as mentors and coaches for one another

*Connect goals of the community with goals of the school

Activities for Schools, Parents, and Community Members

The following are activities that groups such as your PTA, church, and local Chamber of Commerce can

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do together with your schools.

1. Visit your school informally for discussions using the checklist on page 23.

2. Consider the types of contributions community groups could offer:

*Chamber of Commerce groups could sponsor field trips or opportunities for storytelling.

*Businesses could buy collections of literature for schools in need.

*Churches could sponsor reading groups to help motivate adults to read.

*Local fraternal organizations could help tutor students and provide a place for them to read.

3. Consider ways that schools and community members can work together to provide:

*Materials for a rich learning environment (e.g., real literature in print and audio form, computers)

*Opportunities for students and teachers to learn out of school

*Opportunities for students to access adults as role models, tutors, aides, and local experts

*Opportunities for students to provide community services such as surveys, newsletters, plays, and
tutoring

*Opportunities for students to participate in community affairs

*Opportunities for administrators, teachers, or students to visit managers and company executives

4. Promote school and community forums to debate the national goals:

*Involve your local television and radio stations to host school and community forums.

*Have "revolving school/community breakfasts" (community members visit schools for breakfast once or
twice a month, changing the staff and community members each time).

*Gather information on the national goals and their assessment.

*Gather information on alternative models of schooling.

*Gather information on best practices and research in the classroom.

Some of the important questions and issues to discuss in your forums are:

*Review the national goals documents to arrive at a common understanding of each goal.

*What will students be like who learn in schools that achieve the goals?

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*What must schools be like to achieve the goals?

*Revisit the Gallup poll taken on the national goals:

Do we agree with the goals, and how high do we rate each?

What is the reason for the pessimism about their achievement?

How are our schools doing now in terms of achieving each?

Why is it important for us to achieve the goals?

What are the consequences for our community if we don't achieve them?

*What assumptions are we making about the future in terms of Knowledge, Technology and Science,
Humanities, Family, Change, Population, Minority Groups, Ecology, Jobs, Global Society, Social
Responsibility? Discuss in terms of each of the goal areas.

5. Consider ways to use "Children as Strategic Readers" to promote understanding and commitment from
school staff, parents, and community members for strategic reading.

Checklist for Excellence in Reading Instruction

The items below are based on the best practices of the teachers and researchers in Program 1. The
checklist can be used to look at current practices in your school and to jointly set new goals with parents
and community groups.

Vision of Learning

*Meaningful learning experiences for students and school staff

*High enjoyment of reading, writing, and learning

*Restructuring to promote learning in the classroom

*High expectations for learning for all students

*A community of readers in the classroom and in the school

*Teachers and administrators committed to achieving the national goals

Curriculum and Instruction

*Curriculum that calls for a diversity of real literature and genre, a repertoire of learning strategies and
organizational patterns for text passages

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*Collaborative teaching and learning involving student-generated questioning and sustained dialogue
among students and between students and teachers

*Teachers building new information on student strengths and past experiences

*Authentic tasks in the classroom such as writing letters, keeping journals, generating plays, author
conferences, genre studies, research groups, sharing expertise, and so on

*Opportunities for students to engage in learning out of school with community members

*Real audiences (peers, community members, other students)

*Homework that is challenging enough to be interesting but not so difficult as to cause failure

*Appreciation and respect for multiple cultures and perspectives

*Rich learning environment with places for children to read and think on their own

* Instruction that enables readers to think strategically

Assessment and Grouping

*Performance-based assessment such as portfolios that include drafts and projects

*Multiple opportunities to be involved in heterogeneous groupings, especially for students at risk

*Public displays of student work and rewards

Staff Development

*Opportunities for teachers to attend conferences and meetings for reading instruction

*Teachers as researchers, working on research projects

*Teacher or school partnerships/projects with colleges and universities

*Opportunities for teacher to observe and coach other teachers

*Opportunities for teachers to try new practices in a risk-free environment

Involvement of the Community

*Community members' and parents' participation in reading instruction as experts, aides, guides, tutors

*Active involvement of community members on task forces for curriculum, staff development,
assessment and other areas vital to learning
What Does Research Say About Reading? http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/stw_esys/sts_read.htm

*Opportunities for teachers and other school staff to visit informally with community members to discuss
the life of the school, resources, and greater involvement of the community

Policies for Students at Risk

*Students at risk integrated into the social and academic life of the school

*Policies/practices to display respect for multiple cultures and role models

*Assessment practices that are culturally unbiased

. ********************************************************

Important Reading Resources

Reading. Recovery Program is a supplementary reading and writing program for first-graders who are at
risk of reading failure. Reading Recovery was originally designed and developed in Ohio and is now
employed in several other states. The short-term goal is to accelerate children's progress in learning to
read. The long-term goal is to have children continue to progress through their regular classroom
instruction and independent reading, commensurate with their average peers, after the intervention is
discontinued. Success is contingent upon the intensive, individual instruction provided by a specially
trained teacher for 30 minutes daily. Illinois Reading Recovery Project, Center for the Study of Reading,
51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, IL 61820 (217/333-7213)

Teaching Reading: Strategies from Successful Classrooms is a set of six videotapes and
accompanying viewer's guides developed.by the Center for the Study of Reading. Each tape presents
in-depth analyses of successful classrooms. The programs focus on exemplary teachers and students in
order to provide viewers with real access to knowledge about effective reading practices. The aim of the
program is to provide simulated field experiences for use in college-level education courses for preservice
teachers and inservice workshops for practicing teachers. The classrooms featured are:

*Emerging Literacy, Ann Hemmeler (Kindergarten), Neal Elementary, San Antonio, TX

*The Reading/Writing Connection, Dawn Harris Martine (second), Mahalia Jackson Elementary, Harlem,
NY

*Teaching Word Identification, Marjorie Downer (second/third), Benchmark Elementary, Media, PA

*Literacy in Content Area Instruction, Laura Pardo (third), Allen Street Elementary, Lansing, MI

*Fostering a Literate Culture, Kathy Johnson (third), East Park Elementary, Danville, IL

*Teaching Reading Comprehension: Experience and Text, Joyce Ahuna-Ka'ai'ai (third), Kamehameha
Elementary, Honolulu, HI

Center for the Study of Reading, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, EL 61820 (217/333-2552)

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Rural Wisconsin Reading Project (RWRP) was a three-year project developed by NCREL, the
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board that
provided technology-supported staff development on strategic reading and teaching for 17 rural districts
in central and west-central Wisconsin. The project's approach to develop strategic reading instruction was
to treat human and organizational change as a long-term, evolutionary process rather than as a process of
implementing an innovation. Two programs have arisen out of RWRP: (1) The Rural Schools Reading
Project which applies what was learned from RWRP to address the access, time, and cost challenges of
sustained, effective staff development for a network of rural schools (this project is on the list of
programs that work from the National Diffusion Network of the U.S. Department of Education), and (2)
The Strategic Reading project which is a single school application of the RWRP principles. NCREL,
1900 Spring Road, Oak Brook, IL 60521 (708/571-4700)

Reciprocal Teaching is an instructional strategy for teaching strategic reading developed by Annemarie
Sullivan Palincsar that takes place in the form of a dialogue between teachers and students. In this
dialogue the teacher and students take turns assuming the role of teacher in leading the dialogue about a
passage of text. Four strategies are used by the group members in the dialogue: summarizing, question
generating, clarifying, and predicting. At the start the adult teacher is principally responsible for initiating
and sustaining the dialogue through modelling and thinking out loud. As students acquire more practice
with the dialogue, the teacher consciously imparts responsibility for the dialogue to the students, while
becoming a coach to provide evaluative information and to prompt for more and higher levels of
participation. Annemarie Palincsar, 1360 FEB, University of Michigan, 610 East University, Ann Arbor.
MI 48109.
*******************************************************

GLOSSARY
Coaching Providing support in studying new skills, polishing old ones, and encouraging change.

Collaborative Groups A temporary grouping structure used primarily for developing attitude outcomes.
Students of varying abilities work together to solve a problem or to complete a project.

Comprehension Monitoring Good comprehenders self-evaluate how well they understand while they
read. If comprehension is not proceeding well, they have strategies for going back and improving their
comprehension.

Constructing Meaning from Text A process in which the reader integrates what is read with his or her
prior knowledge.

Cooperative Learning Students working together in small heterogeneous groups to achieve a common
goal.

Heterogeneous Groups Groups composed of students who vary in several ways (for example, different
reading levels).

Homogeneous Groups Groups composed of students who are alike in one or more ways.

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Interactive Phase Sometimes called "guided practice" in this phase, the teacher attempts gradually to
move students to a point where they can independently use strategies. It is a major part of a lesson.

Metacognition The process of thinking about and regulating one's own learning. Examples of
metacognitive activities include assessing what one already knows about a given topic before reading,
assessing the nature of the learning task, planning specific reading/thinking strategies, determining what
needs to be learned, assessing what is comprehended or not comprehended during reading, thinking about
what is important and unimportant, evaluating the effectiveness of the reading/thinking strategy, revising
what is known, and revising the strategy.

Modeling Showing a student how to do a task with the expectation that the student will then emulate the
model. In reading, modeling often involves talking about how one thinks through a task.

Predicting Anticipating the outcome of a situation.

Prior Knowledge The sum total of what the individual knows at any given point. Prior knowledge
includes knowledge of content as well as knowledge of specific strategies and metacognitive knowledge.

Scaffolding Instruction Providing teacher support to students by modeling the thought processes in a
learning episode and gradually shifting the responsibility for formulating questions and thinking aloud to
the students.

Strategic Learner A learner who analyzes the reading task, establishes a purpose for reading, and then
selects strategies for this purpose.

Strategies Any mental operations that the individual uses, either consciously or unconsciously, to help
him- or herself learn. Strategies are goal oriented; that is, the individual initiates them to learn something,
to solve a problem, to comprehend something. Strategies include, but are not limited to, what have
traditionally been referred to as study skills such as underlining, note taking, and summarizing as well as
predicting, reviewing prior knowledge, and generating questions.

Text Any segment of organized information. Text could be a few sentence or an entire section of a
chapter. Typically, text refers to a few paragraphs.
******.***************************************************

References
Allington, R.L. (1991). How policy and regulation influence instruction for at-risk learners:. Why poor
readers rarely comprehend well and probably never will. In L. Idol, & B.F. Jones (Eds.), Educational
Values and Cognitive Instruction: Implications for Reform (pp. 273-296). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Anderson, R.C., Osborn, J., & Tierney, R.J. (Eds.). (1984). Learning to read in American schools: Basal
readers and content texts. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Anderson, R.C., Spiro, R.J., & Montague, W.E. (Eds.). (1977). Schooling and the acquisition of
knowledge. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

25
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Anderson, R.C., Hiebert, E.H., Scott, J.A., & Wilkinson, I.A.G. (1985). Becoming a nation of readers:
The report of the Commission on Reading. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois.

Banathy, B.H. (1990). Systems design of education: A journey to create the future. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

Borkowski, J.G., Can, M., Rellinger, E., & Pressley, M. (1990). Self-regulated cognition:
Interdependence of metacognition, attributions, and self-esteem. In B.F. Jones (Ed.), Dimensions of
thinking: Review of research (pp.53-92). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Brown, A.L., Palincsar, A.S., & Purcell, L. (1986). Poor readers: Teach, don't label. In U. Neisser (Ed.),
The academic performance.of minority children: New perspectives (pp. 105-143). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Collins, A., Brown, J.S., & Newman, S. (1989). Cognitive apprenticeship: Teaching students the craft of
reading, writing, and mathematics. In L.B. Resnick (Ed.), Knowing, learning, and instruction: Essays in
honor of Robert Glaser. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Durkin, D. (1984). Do basal manuals teach reading comprehension? In R.C. Anderson, J. Osborn, & J.
Tierney (Eds.), Learning to read in American schools: Basal readers and content texts (pp. 39-38).
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Durkin, D. (1978-79). What classroom observations reveal about reading comprehension instruction.
Reading Research Quarterly,15, 481-533.

Herber, H.L. (1985). Developing reading and thinking skills in content areas. In J.W. Segal, S.F.
Chipman, & R. Glaser (Eds.), Thinking and learning skills: Vol. I. Relating instruction to research (pp.
297-316). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Jones, B.F., Palincsar, A.S., Ogle, D.S., & Can-, E.G. (1987). Strategic teaching and learning: Cognitive
instruction in the content areas. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.

Jones, B.F. & Pierce, J. (in press). Students at risk vs the Board of Education. In A. Costa & J. Bell
(Eds.), Mind Matters: Vol. I. Educating for the 21st century. Palatine, IL: Skylight Publishing.

Palincsar, A. (1987, April). Collaborating for collaborative learning of text comprehension. Paper
presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC.

Paris, S.G., & Winograd, P. (1990). How metacognition can promote academic learning and instruction.
In B.F. Jones, & L. Idol (Eds.), Dimensions of thinking and cognitive instruction (pp. 15-52). Hillsdale,
NJ: Erlbaum.

Pearson, P.D. (1985). Changing the face of reading comprehension instruction.

<+>The Reading Teacher, 39, 724-737.

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Pressley, M., Borkowski, J.G., & Schneider, W. (1987). Good strategy users coordinate metacognition,
strategy use and knowledge. In R. Basta & G. Whitehurst (Eds.), Annals of Child Development, 4,
89-129.

Resnick, L.B. (1987). Learning in school and out. Educational Researcher, 16(9), 13-20.

Strickland, D.S. (1987). Using computers in the teaching of reading. New York: Teachers College Press.

Tierney, R.J., & Cunningham, J.W. (1984). Research on teaching reading comprehension. In P.D.
Pearson (Ed.), Handbook of reading research (pp. 609-656). New York: Longman.

Weinstein, C.E., Goetz, E., & Alexander, P. (1988). Learning and study strategies: Issues in assessment,
instruction, and evaluation. New York: Academic Press.

Wiggins, G. (1989).'A true test: Toward more authentic and equitable assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 70,
703-714.

27

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 1 A

Principle 1: Learning is the process of making personal sense of the Teaching and
world. (R. Sinatra, D.Ogle) Learning
K-12
Discussion: Four principles derived from the constructivist philosophy
explain how learners make sense of the world: (1) knowledge is made Constructivism
up of past constructions as learners interact with the environment;
(2) construction of meaning occurs through assimilation and
accommodation; (3) learning is an organic process of inventing instead
of accumulating information; and (4) meaningful learning occurs through
(4.t
0 reflection and resolution of cognitive conflict (Fosnot 1989). AZ=1
Learning begins when we have questions, experience ambiguity, and 611-84340
have a need to know. The desire to make sense of the world is inherent in 611-93148
0 humans from birth. Infants take in sensory data and try to give it meaning. 511-04192
They test their hypotheses and from the feedback they receive either 611-91112
0 confirm or modify their growing understanding. Because children do not
E have the same field of knowledge or experiences adults have, their
meanings are different. Studies of early language acquisition make clear
that children do not memorize and copy adult language but construct their
own. For example, no matter how carefully parents model the sentence,
"0 "Mommy's going to school," children begin with the one-word
co
"Mommygo" phrase to communicate. This innate drive to order and AZ=I
0 construct a meaningful system for language has been studied in children
around the world. These studies have proven that children do not simply 2-94145
612-92020
a mimic adult language models, they construct their own and then modify
612-92120
U) them as they discover variances from adult speech (R. Brown 1973,
0 C. Chomsky 1969).
0 Reading and writing are the basic processes of literacy by which Comprehension
ca learners actively construct meaning to establish relevant connections in
0
0 text. Reading involves a transaction between the reader and a text during
MC°
which the reader creates purposeful meanings (McNeil 1987, Irwin 1991).
0 Comprehension may be regarded as the process of integrating a reader's
0 prior experience with a writer's cues to construct meaning useful to the
CI)
reader in that specific context (Irwin 1991).
Reading ability develops through extensive reading for a variety of Ability
individual purposes (R. Anderson et al. 1985 ). Children who read for
meaning monitor their achievement and gain control over the process over
time. At all levels, children build interpretations of what they read. It is
important to encourage and support students' own personal responses and
interpretations of their reading so they can increase the sophistication of
their literary responses (Applebee, Lanzer, and Mullis 1986).
When learners write, they integrate ideas with their prior experiences to Writing/Thinking
construct and communicate messages for readers. Writing is an active
process of creating meaning, a way of elaborating ideas so that they can be
better retained and comprehended, and a way of learning and clarifying
thought (McNeil 1987). Because reading and writing are so deeply
connected, learners need appropriate writing tasks to increase their

ASCD 1994 3.33

28
 Language Arts Principles

experiences with different types of thinking (Applebee, Lanzer, and Mullis

1986). Not only should writing occur in every course of the curriculum
(Lloyd-Jones 1991), but it must be the centerpiece of language development
because it is through clear writing that clear thinking emerges (Boyer 1991).
Where written language is important, children attempt to make sense of
it through experimentation and feedback. Many studies of spelling
development have identified clear patterns of increasing control over the
conventions (Henderson and Beers, 1980). When children write regularly
for their own purposes they develop an understanding of writing and the
ability to write (Graves 1983, Calkins 1983).
Students also need engagement in nonverbal thought processes so that
experiences, images, and memories provide an underlying meaning base for
learning. If this base is impoverished, readers, listeners, and writers may
fail to understand and clarify fully and richly (Broudy 1987). Boyer (1985)
believes aesthetic literacy is as basic as linguistic literacy and believes that
through such experiences as arts education, learners extend language and
enlarge the store of images from which they construct meaning.
Summary: Learning is based on curiosity and the desire to discover
meaning or to resolve ambiguity. The quest for meaning involves using and
creating symbols that permit learners to make sense of the world. Learners
use the symbol processes inherent in listening, speaking, reading, and
writing and the nonverbal thought modes inherent in imagery and graphic
and artistic representations to understand and produce meaning.

References
Anderson, R.C., E. Heibert, J. Scott, and I. Wilerson. (1985). Becoming a Nation of Readers: The
Report of the Commission on Reading. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association.
Applebee, A., J.A. Lanzer, and I.V. Mullis. (1986). The Writing Report Card. Princeton, NJ.: The
National Assessment of Educational Progress at Educational Testing Service.
Boyer, E.L. (1985). "Art as Language: Its Place in the Schools." In Beyond Creating: The Place for
Art in America's Schools, edited by the Getty Center for Education in the Arts. Los Angeles,
Calif.: The J. Paul Getty Trust.
Boyer, E.L. (1991). "Introduction: Giving Dignity to the Teaching Profession." In What Teachers Need
to Know, edited by D.D. Dill and Associate. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass.
Broudy, H.D. (1987). 'The Role of Imagery in Learning." Occasional Paper 1, The Getty Center for
Education in the Arts. Los Angeles, Calif.: The J. Paul Getty Trust.
Brown, R. (1973). A First Language: The Early Stages. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Calkins, L.M. (1983). Lessons from a Child: On the Teaching and Learning of Writing. Exeter,
N.H.,: Heniemann.
Chomsky, C. (1969). The Acquisition of Syntax in Children from 5 to 10. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT
Press.
Fosnot, C.T. (1989). Enquiring Teachers, Enquiring Learners: A Constructivist Approach to
Teaching. New York: Teachers College Press.
Graves, D. (1983). Writing: Teachers and Children at Work Exeter, N.H. Heinemann.
Henderson, E.H., and J. Beers, eds. (1980). Developmental and Cognitive Aspects of Learning to
Spell. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association.
Irwin, J.I. (1991). Teaching Reading Comprehension Processes 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.:
Prentice Hall.
Lloyd-Jones, R. (1991). "What Teachers Need to Know About English." In What Teachers Need to
Know, edited by D.D. Dill and Associate. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass.
McNeil, J.D. (1987). Reading Comprehension: New Directions for Classroom Practice, 2nd ed.
Glenview, Scott, Foresman, and Co.

3.34 29 ©ASCD 1994

 Language Arts Principles

Principle 2: What students learn is heavily dependent on the Teaching and

understandings they bring to the learning task. (R. Sinatra) Learning
Discussion: Learners' comprehending and composing processes are
K-12
influenced by the entire contexts of their past, present, and aspirational Prior Knowledge
lives. The social context of learning has two dimensionsone is a
situational context involving the immediate learning setting and the text
itself; the other is a cultural and environmental context. The situational ACCD
context includes the teacher, the reading setting, and the expectations
arising from the text and task. The cultural and environmental context 611-87030
reflects the familial, social, political, and environmental factors that
influence how learners learn (Bloome 1985; Irwin 1991; Mosenthal 1984; f<
and Smith, Carey, and Harste 1982). Reading is a social process in that it is
one of the means people use to accomplish everyday goals and to make
sense of their lives (Mason and Au 1990). McNeil (1987) suggests that
teachers need to be aware of three kinds of schemata: one is "domain" 614-143
oriented, related to the specific background information needed to process a
given text; another is "general world knowledge," which is related to the
understanding of common social relationships and specific life situations;
and the third is "knowledge of rhetorical structures," the conventions
AZ=
revealing the organizing and signaling patterns of text. 612-92124
Many authors in the field of literacy also suggest that the background a Background Influence
reader or writer bring to an immediate text task will influence the outcome
of that task. Background influence shapes the thinking and aspirational
goals of young children in particular. Reading and writing are not singular
acts but are social events that occur in settings where relationships between
participants evolve (Heller 1991).
Reading to young children and involving them with print is an Reading Aloud
important way of showing children the social purpose for using language.
These activities also help build schema for story and text structure. In fact,
reading aloud to children as a social activity could be the most important
readiness experience for reading (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, and Wilkinson
1984; Durkin 1966; Tea le 1984). Taylor (1983) examined the social
contexts that six families brought to early reading and writing experiences
for their children. She found that literacy was not only transmitted to the
AZ=
children by the parents, but the parents, in turn, were shaped by individual 612-92122
characteristics of the children. The processes involved in early reading and
writing experiences were found to be highly dynamic and flexible.
Furthermore, Elley (1989) pointed out that young children can learn new Vocabulary
vocabulary words from just one read-aloud session. Children from low
socioeconomic backgrounds are generally read to less often (Heath 1982)
with young children from such homes hearing story book readings about
once a month if at all (Morrow 1988). When Pontecorvo and Zucchermaglio
(1990) placed low and high socioeconomic Italian preschool children in
social contexts in which they constructed language and argued with their
teachers, their cognitive and reading and writing abilities improved.

ASCD 1994 3.35

30
 II

Social Context The social context for writing is also influenced by what parents do in
the home setting. Children are often not only encouraged to write but the
forms and functions of writing are modeled (Heller 1991). Literacy events
such as making lists and writing home messages emerge from daily
encounters with print and often involve the four literacy processes of
listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The use of print for play and
practical purposes has been described as "natural, pleasurable, and highly
practical" (Piazza and Tomlinson 1985). Such interaction and social literacy
events are necessary ingredients of successful reading and writing growth
for children (Teale 1982).
Social and situational contexts, therefore, have been regarded as the
most influential for successful learning. Au and Mason (1983) found that
comprehension difficulties for children of Polynesian-Hawaiian ancestry
were not due to the text but due to the situational and cultural contexts.
While reading researchers tend to define reading comprehension in terms of
task, text, and subject contexts, the single most important context for
classroom reading comprehension may be the interaction between students
and teachers (Mosenthal 1984).

Summary: The personal knowledge students bring to a learning task is

developed from the social and cultural contexts in which they live. Social
and cultural contexts shape attitudes toward learning, ways of organizing
and perceiving the world, and ways of using language.

References
Anderson, R.C., E.H. Hiebert, J.A. Scott, and I.A.G. Wilkinson. (1984). Becoming a Nation of
Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of
Education.
Au, K.H., and J.M. Mason. (1983). "Cultural Congruence in Classroom Participation Structures:
Achieving a Balance of Rights." Discourse Processes 6, 2: 145-167.
Bloome, D. (1985). "Reading as a Social Process." Language Arts 62, 2: 134-142.
Durkin, D. (1966). Children Who Read Early: Two Longitudinal Studies. New York: Teachers
College Press.
Elley, W.B. (1989). "Vocabulary Acquisition from Listening to Stories.Reading Research Quarterly
24: 174-187.
Heath, S.B. (1982). "What No Bedtime Story Means: Narrative Skills at Home and School. Language
in Society 11, 1:49 -76.
Heller, M.F. (1991). Reading-Writing Connections: From Theory to Practice. New York: Longman.
Irwin, J.I. (1991). Teaching Reading Comprehension Processes. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice Hall.
Mason, J.M., and K.H. Au. (1990). Reading instruction for Today, 2nd edition. Harper Collins.
McNeil, J.D. (1987). Reading Comprehension: New Direction for Classroom Practice 2nd ed.
Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman, and Co.
Morrow, L.M. (1988). "Young Children's Responses to One-to-One Story Readings in School Settings."
Reading Research Quarterly, 23, 1: 89-107.
Mosenthal, P. (1984). "Reading Comprehension Research from a Classroom Perspective." In Promoting
Reading Comprehension, edited by J. Flood. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association.
Piazza, C.L., and C.M. Tomlinson. (1985). "A Concert of Writers." Language Arts 62, 2: 150-158.
Pontecorvo, C., and C. Zucchermaglio. (1990). "A Passage to Literacy: Learning in a Social Context. In
How Children Construct Literacy: Piagetian Perspectives, edited by Y.M. Goodman. Newark,
Del.: International Reading Association.

3.36 ASCD 1994

 Language Arts Principles

Smith, S.L., R. Carey, and J.C. Harste. (1982). "The Contexts of Reading." In Secondary School
Reading: What Research Reveals for Classroom Practice, edited by A. Berger and H.A.
Robinson. Urbana, 111.: National Conference on Research in English and ERIC Clearinghouse on
Reading and Communication Skills.
Taylor, D. (1983). Family Literacy: Young Children Learning to Read and Write. Portsmouth, N.H.:
Heinemann.
Teale, W.H. (1982). "Toward a Theory of How Children Learn to Read and Write Naturally." Language
Arts 59, 6: 555-570.
Teale, W.H. (1984). "Reading to Young Children: Its Significance for Literacy Development." In
Awakening to Literacy, edited by H. Goelman, A. Oberg, and F. Smith. Portsmouth, N.H.:
Heinemann.

0 ASCD 1994 32 3.37

Principle 3: Learners must be provided opportunities and must be Teaching and
encouraged to take risks in using language. (S. Tchudi) Learning
K-12
Discussion: The skillful use of language is largely an unconscious process.
Like swimming or walking or riding a bicycle, it draws on implicit Risk Taking
knowledge of which the user is at best only dimly aware (Polanyi 1962).
The myriad rules of language, from understanding single words to
mastering complex rituals of social-linguistic interaction, are acquired by a
Hegelian process of synthesis and antithesis leading to an upward spiral of
language growth and mastery.
Language learners must be risk takers willing to attempt new language
tasks in order to gain confidence in themselves as language users
(Strickland 1991, Nelms 1991). Risk taking does not involve radical or
quantum leaps into the unknown. Most language users, including second
language learners, intuitively sense what is within their capabilities and
willingly probe new language experiences that seem just slightly beyond
their present competence (Krashen 1982, Piper 1993).
Feedback is a crucial part of the process in risk taking, but the most
useful kind of corrective advice is that which occurs naturally as young
people and adults test out their language in new settings and tasks (Barron
1990). The process is analogous to the scientific method, as language
learners intuitively hypothesize about solutions to language problems,
experiment with possibilities, and collect data from listeners and readers
about their success. There remains some debate about how much conscious Experimentation
knowledge of these processes is desirable and about the value of
metacognition (Donaldson 1978). Because of the inhibiting effects of
over-correction or over-monitoring, many youngsters need to be "freed up"
to experiment broadly and freely with language (Creber 1990). They need
to be in a classroom community that encourages experimentation and
reflection (Kirby and Kuykendall 1991). They also need to be encouraged
to integrate their language skills with problem solving in math, science, and
social studies (Kohl 1982), and they should be encouraged to explore
creative expression (Bishop 1990) and to engage in projects that involve
diverse kinds of thinking and creativity (Gardner 1982, Hampden-Turner
1981). "Risk-taking," then, is not mindless gambling or guessing; it grows
from a planned pedagogy of experimentation, feedback, and support.

Summary: It is through experimentation and feedback of results that

learners begin to see patterns. It is through trial, feedback, and subsequent
recognition of patterns that language learning occurs.

ASCD 1994
33 3.39
 References
Barron, M. (1990). "Whole Language: Learning the Natural Way." Holistic Education Review 3, 4:
3-11.
Bishop, W. (1990). Released into Language. Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English.
Creber. (1990). Sense and Sensitivity. Exeter, U.K.: University Curriculum Center.
Donaldson, M. (1978). Children's Minds. New York: Norton.
Gardner, H. (1982). Art, Mind, and Brain. New York: Basic Books.
Goodman, Y. and S. Wilde (1992). Literacy Events in a Community of Young Writers. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Hampden-Turner, C. (1981). Maps of the Mind. New York: Collier-Macmillan.
Kirby, D., and C. Kuykendall. (1991). Mind Matters: Teaching for Thinking. Exeter, N.H.:
Heinemann/Boynton -Cook.
Kohl, H. (1982). Basic Skills. Boston: Little, Brown.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practices in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford, U.K.:
Pergamon.
Nelms, B.F. (1991). "Editorial: The Whole Language." English Journal 80, 2: 98-99.
Piper, T. (1993). And Then There Were Thvo: Children and Second Language Learning. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Polanyi, M. (1962). Personal Knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Strickland, K. (1991). "Toward a New Philosophy of Language Teaching." English Leadership
Quarterly 13, 1: 2-4.

3.40 34 ASCD 1994

Principle 4: Learners construct meaning when engaged in context-rich Teaching and
units. (R. Sinatra, D. Ogle) Learning
K--112
Discussion: Context-rich units are derived from literature, content area
topical units, thematic units that fuse readings and learnings from a number Importance of
of curriculum sources, language experiences, and computer software Context
programs that feature word processing or desk top publishing. In these
units, students genuinely use the processes of viewing, listening, speaking,
reading, writing, and imaging to discuss, analyze, and reflect about the
ideas and content of the unit. These units provide the holistic context from
which students learn content, skills, and new vocabulary (See figure, page
3.95).
With immersion in a context-rich unit, a skills-through-application Skills
perspective rather than a skills-first, skills-out-of-context perspective is
pursued (Walmsley and Walp 1990). Skills are used naturally, as strategies
to help students comprehend, elaborate, and reflect upon literacy or content
ideas. When students use such natural strategies as summarizing, creating
semantic maps, using story structures, writing narratives and factual
accounts, and keeping response journals to construct meaning, they are
using specific skills labeled as main ideas, explicit details, sequencing,
sentence types, and so on. Research suggests that the notion of separate
skills and skills lists are artifacts of the comprehension process (Rosenshine
1980). Such a subskills orientation views reading comprehension as a static,
passive process in which one answer found in the reading selection is
correct (Irwin 1991).
Skills instruction in context-rich units can be both intentionally planned
AZ:1D
and unplanned. The latter occurs in "teachable moments." Direct skills
instruction that occurs during teachable moments is intrinsically meaningful 614-229
to students because the teacher responds to real student concerns about
issues, misconceptions, and meanings. While planned instruction occurs
when materials and procedures are selected to attain a specific goal, such
planned instruction can be done in natural contexts with actual text units
(Baumann 1991).

Summary: Specific language skills are best learned when they are
integrated into the elaboration or understanding of content-based units so
that students perceive that specific skill instruction would increase their
ability to communicate.

References
Baumann, J.F. (1991). "Editorial Comments: Of Rats and Pigeons: Skills and WholeLanguage."
Reading Psychology: An International Quarterly, 12, 1: iii-xii.
Irwin, J.F. (1991). Teaching Reading Comprehension Processes, 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice Hall.
Rosenshine, B. (1980). "Skill Hierarchies in Reading Comprehension." In Theoretical Issues in
Reading Comprehension, edited by R.J. Spiro, B.C. Bruce, and W. F. Brewer. Hillsdale, N.J.:
Lawrence Erlbaum.

ASCD 1994 35 3.41

 Language Arts Principles

Walmsley, S., and T. Walp. (January 1990). "Integrating Literature and Composing into the Language
Arts Curriculum: Philosophy and Proctice." Elementary School Journal 90, 3: 251-274.
Weaver, C. (1994). Reading Process and Practice. 2nd ed. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

36
3.42 © ASCD 1994
 Language Arts Principles

Principle 5: Learners seek to establish order by discovering patterns, Teaching and

strategic principles, sequences, and rules. (S. Tchudi) Learning
K-12
Discussion: Nowhere in language learning is a learner's attempt to learn
order and patterns more obvious than with very young children learning to Patterns/Schema
talk. The patterns they learn and use are those that get attention. When
parents "ooh" and "aah" over the first "da da" the child utters, the child
learns that this is a pattern that gets attention and, thus, every time the child
sees something he wants, the object becomes "da da."
This search for, and use of, language patterns continues throughout
one's life. As infants begin to talk, they often learn that past tense is
indicated by the addition of "ed" to a word. This pattern is then generalized
and the child invents words in a very logical manner including "runned,"
"eated," and "bringed." Older students continue to learn and apply patterns
in all phases of language development. They attempt to pattern their writing
after favorite authors as they develop their own writing patterns.
Thus, it is clear that the learning of language is, to a considerable
extent, the learning of patterns. However, it is not just at the level of words
and letters that the learning of patterns is important. Language patterns are
also learned for sentence structures, phrases, stories, and books. The AZCD
learning of figures of speech, idioms, and colloquialisms also involves 612-92125
patternsor exceptions from expected patternsthat learners discover and
use. It is the understanding and recognition of patterns that allows us to
read, listen, speak, and write so that we can quickly understand and be
understood by others who have learned similar patterns.
Learning language patterns extends to writing genre and the structure of
texts. For example, children who have been read to and who listen to stories
learn the structure of narratives at a very young age. The pattern of a story
with a setting, problem, and resolution is one that many children learn from
bedtime stories. Later, children learn about the patterns of organization for
specific types of texts such as reference books; and as sophistication grows
they learn the styles (patterns) of favorite authors. The sophistication of
very young children in recognizing the styles of authors such as Dr.. Seuss
and Eric Carle is not surprising to 1st grade teachers.
The learning of language patterns is vital if students are to become
competent language users. Teachers should develop instructional guidelines
that encourage students to experiment with language, to reflect on the
patterns they discover, and to test newly learned language patterns. This
means that an effective language classroom should provide lots of
experiences for students to explore a wide variety of language forms so that
they have the opportunity to discover language variety and pattern. As they
discover similarities and differences, students must be provided with many
occasions to try out these patterns in risk-free activities so they are willing
to invent such things as the spelling of words according to the patterns they
have learned, the structure of sentences they write, and the organization of
paragraphs and stories.

© ASCD 1994 3.43

37
 The feedback that teachers provide students as they help them learn
patterns that are more generally accepted should.be supportive of the
student's initial attempts. Those students who. experiment more freely with
language will develop into more competent language users.

Summary:' Much of learning has to do with the recognition of patterns and

order,which can be accomplished implicitly by leading students to discover
patterns for themselves. Research supports the commonsense view that
when learners discover for themselves the order in what they are learning,
the patterns are usually learned to a deeper degree of understanding. Thus,
we should encourage learners to take risks in attempting to discover
patterns and to test newly learned patterns.

Resources
Applebee, A. (1978). The Child's Concept of Story. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bissex, G.L. (1980). NYS AT WORK: A Child Learns to Write and Read Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press.
Clay, M.M. (1972). Reading: The Patterning of Complex Behaviour. Auckland: Heinemann.
Dyson, A.H. (1985). "Individual Differences in Emerging Writing." In Advances in Writing Research:
Volume 1. Children's Early literacy Development, edited by M. Fair. Norwood, NJ.: Ablex.
Langer, J. (1984). "The Effects of Available Information on Responses to School Writing Tasks.
Research in the Teaching of English 18, 1: 27-44.
Piaget, J. (1969). The Mechanisms of Perception. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Sulzby, E. (1985). "Kindergartners as Writers and Readers." In Advances in Writing Research: Volume
1, edited by M. Fart Norwood, NJ.: Ablex.

38

3.44 ©ASCD 1994

 Language Arts Principles

Principle 6: Language proficiency occurs through frequent and diverse Teaching and
practice in purposeful, functional settings. (L. Sande!) Learning
Discussion: Implicit in the practice principle is a provision for multiple
K-12
ways through which the learner applies learnings in interpreting and Authentic
communicating meaning through impressive (listening and reading) and Practice
expressive (speaking and writing) language. The learner constructs meaning
to communicate through speaking and writing, aware of the purpose of the
message and the receptive characteristics and needs of the audience. The
learner constructs meaning as a receiver to derive the sender's meaning in
listening and reading. The processes of reading and writing unfold in
similar ways and tend to be used together. For example, a person receives a
lettervia postal service or electronic mailreads it, then answers it in Authentic Assessment
writing, perhaps rereading portions of the letter while constructing the (808) 533-6000
response. When reading and writing are taught together, the benefits are
greater than when they are taught separately (Tierney and Shannahan,
1991). Because purpose, prior knowledge, and experience are integral to a
reading or listening experience, learners need diverse opportunities to use AI=
language in many contexts. 1-94049
Through the actualization of language, the learner uses language in 611-93018
such various activities as using computers, reading content area texts,
preparing or following directions, interpreting dialogue in print, and using
symbolic language in reading or creating graphics. Reading informational
text is different from reading literature such as fiction or poetry. Teachers AZCD
honor the difference between informational text (factual, serving a specific 2-94151
purpose) and literature (aesthetic, intriguing plot, emotion-evoking 612-93067
description) when students read a selection of fiction or poetry without
searching for facts (De Groff and Golda 1992). Non-verbal language (body
movement; nature signs of weather, seasons, and plants) as a means of
communicating meaning is worthy of attention in building a conceptual
framework for symbolic language in print (math, science).
To stimulate productive thinking, speaking, and writing as well as
reflective listening, Goodman et al. (1989) suggest an "open inquiry"
method. Because students go through stages in understanding a happening
or event, teaching strategies should encourage the expansion of a learner's
language and thinking. This construction of phases of student experience,
identified as perceiving, ideating, and presenting, and appropriate teaching
strategies of confronting, dialoguing, and rehearsing are, in essence, the
framework for creating multiple ways of providing practice in learning.
Oral language activities in communication and learning should involve Interpretation
the student in interpreting the information in some way, not merely
remembering and recalling it (Fisher 1990). Students' discussion in
classroom is important to their learning. Research shows that students'
verbal exchanges about content improve learning and increase their level of
thinking (Marzano 1991). Scrutiny of children's talk reveals their natural
ability to think about difficult ideas through metaphoric and analogic
language: long narratives that use a story to explicate a difficult idea, or

©ASCD 1994 39 3.45

 Language Arts Principles

drawings as artistsbeyond the restrictions of spoken language (Gallas

1994). Children understand best what they have had an opportunity to talk
about or, additionally, to write about, sing about, draw, or dramatize (Thais
1986). Telling their own stories can be helpful to young children. Stories
which are dramatized and performed, dictated and read, or written using
invented spelling, become the center of the early childhood curriculum.
Oral Language Among suggested oral activities are: group discussions, individual oral
Activities presentations, panel and round table discussions, interviews, debates,
storytelling or retelling, dramatizations, talking display (display with
audiotape), and comparisons and contrasts. Oral language activities are
effectively planned for individual or collaborative work with student pairs
or groups. We are creating a new legacy, one of voice, empowerment, and
interaction. Through our talk, we get together, get along, and get to the
business oflearning (Cintorino 1993). Real language used for real
purposes in oral language communication and learning supports the theory
of a natural "basic" of learning as a process that focuses on communication
(Sheppard 1985). Using interactive strategies helps children construct
meaning, understand, reflect, increase quality and complexity of their
responses and ultimately reread independently. Activities include retelling
stories, discussing stories critically, role-playing, responding orally and in
writing, or through expressive arts (drawing, drama) (Morrow et. al 1990,
Routman 1991).
Writing Activities Writing activities, in contrast to the fleeting nature of oral expression,
provide opportunities to revise ideas, to add to them, to reread, and to
restructure the material to make it one's own. Suggested writing activities
include writing fact or fiction stories relating personal perspective to a
content subject; writing poetry by adapting information or concepts;
producing journals, logs, diaries, descriptions, books, booklets, and reports;
and writing for radio, television, or newspapers.
Basic creative and critical thinking skills can identify a knowledge base
(science, social studies). A semantic map gathers, shares, and relates
ideasmoves to questions to answerall the while encouraging
"note-taking" through observation, sketching, word-play, writing
poetryor it serves to communicate information using writing to record, to
relate, or to review. Journals can offer sketches or poetry, or "portfolios"
can hold original art work or selected prints.
journals Journals in the classroom have many purposes, formats, and learning
objectives for both the student as writer-reader and the teacher as
reader-writer. Through the use of journals, students "learn how to write, and
write to learn in ways that constitute thinking in the most productive sense
of the word" (Macrorie, cited by Fulwiler 1987). Because students are
encouraged to write personally and frankly about subjects they care about,
teachers face the problem of invading student privacy in any dialogue-type
journal. Helpful guidelines for teachers have been prepared to assist
teachers while supporting and encouraging the use of a variety of journals
(Fulwiler 1987).

40
3.46 © ASCD 1994
 Language Arts Principles

Suggested listening activities include: responding to oral directions; Listening Activities

responding to musical recordings; taking lecture notes; reacting to radio
programs; and listening to variations of sound in tone and duration.
When teachers begin to keep track of the meanings children bring to Drama
school, we find that what they want to know as a class differs from what the
adults in schools want them to know. Children's drawings, conversations,
writings, and play tell of their interests and suggest that teachers construct a
classroom environment and a curriculum that offer structures to build
literacy in all disciplines, reflecting the knowledge that is grounded in a
wide range of expressive opportunities (Gallas 1994).
The arts offer an expanded notion of classroom discourse that is not
solely grounded in linear, objective language and thinking but rather a full
range of expression (Gallas 1994). Children's knowledge, revealed through
their art can be identified and subsequently expanded. The arts then, in this
context, become central in the curriculum process (Gallas 1994).
Drama can be an effective instructional experience as young children Drama
create worlds to master reality and to solve real-life problems. To encourage
dramatic play, teachers of young children should provide the place,
equipment, and atmosphere for free expression. For many children, when
dictated words do not sufficiently tell their stories or express their ideas or
represent action to be expressed, transforming their own texts into dramas
allows opportunities to find words for unarticulated ideas (Spodek and
Saracho, 1993 Dyson 1993). "Adult writers may turn to media that seem to
fit most comfortably the initial contents of our ideas before struggling to
craft those ideas within the linear confines of print: we may draw, map,
make gestures in the air, or even sprawl conversational language across a
page. Written language emerges most strongly when firmly embedded
within the supportive symbolic sea of playful gestures, pictures and talk"
(Dyson 1993, p.39). Winn (1977) describes imaginative play as "the
opportunity to become an active user rather than a passive recipient of
experience." Drama as a learning medium and teaching technique
(McCaslin 1990) is recommended as a strong motivator for reading and
vocabulary building, for character interpretation through creating -dialogue,
for understanding social studies areas by selecting an episode for
enactment, and for purposeful writing activities through script-writing.
With different styles of writing, creative drama, and a classroom
encompassed with books, children become more enthusiastic about reading
and writing when given more time to reflect on a variety of experience.

Summary: Language is learned through experiences in the "real world" of

communication. Reading, writing, listening, and speaking exercises should
not be practice or drill divorced from purpose. Valuing of response in the
classroom is evident when teachers (a) provide opportunities for response;
(b) provide response models, and (c) receive children's responses (in all
their diversity) (Martinez and Roser 1991). Only when students have
something to gain from a communications setting are their role-generating,

O ASCD 1994 41 3.47

 Language Arts Principles

skill-learning mechanisms fully active. In speech and writing, practice

should then include rhetorical aim, audience, and feedback. In reading and
listening, practice should have purpose and be beneficial. Since literacy
tasks differ, there is need to balance the use of narrative and expository text,
integrate subject matter areas, and use a variety of instructional grouping
strategies. (See also: Authentic Instruction).

References
Cintorino. M.A. (1993). "Getting Together, Getting Along, Getting to the Business of Teaching and
Learning." English Journal 82, 1: 23-32.
De Groff, L. and L. Golda. (1992). "Responding to Literature: Activities for Exploring Books." In B.E.
Cullinan (ed.) Invitations to Read: More Children Literature in the Reading Program.
Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Dyson, A.H. (1993). "From Prop to Mediator. The Changing Role of Written Language in Children's
Symbolic Repertoires." In Language and Literacy in Early Childhood Education. New York:
Teachers College Press.
Fisher, CJ., and C.A. Terry. (1990). Children's Language and the Language Arts (3rd ed.) Needham
Heights, Mass.: Allyn & Bacon.
Fulwiler, T. (1987). The. Journal Book. Portsmouth, N.H.: Boynton/Cook, Heinemann Educational
Books.
Gallas, K. (1994). The Languages of Learning: How Children Talk, Write, Dance, Draw, and Sing
Their Understanding of the World. New York: Teachers College Press.
Goodman, K., E.B. Smith, E. Merideth, and Y.M. Goodman. (1989). Language and Thinking in School
(3rd ed.). New York: Richard C. Owen Publishers, Inc.
McCaslin, N. (1990). Creative Drama in the Classroom (5th ed). New York: Longman.
Martinez, M.G. and N.L. Rosen (1991). "Children's Responses to Literature." In J. Flood, J.M. Jensen,
D. Lapp, J. Squire (eds.), Handbook of Research in the English Language Arts: 643-663. New
York: MacMillan.
Marzano, RJ. (1991). "The Language Arts and Thinking." In J. Flood, J.M. Jensen, D. Lapp, J. Squire
(eds.), Handbook of Research in the English Language Arts: 559-586. New York: MacMillan.
Morrow, 0.M., O'Connor, E.M. and J. Smith. (1990). "Effects of a Story Reading Program on the
Literacy Development of At-Risk Kindergarten Children." Journal of Reading Behavior; 20, 2:
104-141.
Sheppard, R. (1985). Enhancing Learning Through Oral and Written Expression: Strategies for
Subject Area Teachers. Columbus, Ohio: The National Middle School Association.
Routman, R. (1993). "The Uses and Abuses of Invented Spelling." instructor; 102, 9: 36-39.
Spodek, B. and O.N. Saracho. (1993). Language and Literacy in Early Childhood Education. New
York: Teachers College Press.
Stice, C.F. and N.P. Bertrand. (1990). Whole Language and the Emergent Literacy of At-Risk
Children: A Tivo-Year Comparative Study. Tennessee State University.
Thais, C. (1986). Language Across the Curriculum in the Elementary Grades. Urbana, Ill.: National
Council of Teachers of English.
Tierney, RJ. and T. Channahan. (1991). "Research on the Reading-Writing Relationship: Interactions,
Transactions and Outcomes." In R. Barr, M.I. ICamil, P. Mosenthal, and P.D. Pearson (eds.)
Handbook of Reading Research 2: 246-280. New York: Longman.
Winn, M. (1977). The Plug-in Drug. New York: Viking.

3.48
42 © ASCD 1994
 Language Arts Principles

Principle 7: Language acquisition is developmental. It takes place over Teaching and

a lifetime as young people and adults gain in maturity, experience, and Learning
cognitive skills. (S. Tchudi)
K-12
Discussion: The foundations of a developmental view can be found in the Developmental
work of John Dewey, who argued that school curriculums must build on Theory
children's experiences, and Jean Piaget, who first outlined broad patterns of
children's mental and linguistic development. Such understanding causes us
to redefine our sense of continuity or growth, resisting the temptation to
specify a single language curriculum (Dixon 1976). Although we can
recognize broad patterns of growth and can describe the sort of linguistic AZ=
mastery we expect from schooling (Elbow 1990), most sound English
612-91061
language arts programs now focus on extending students' use of language, 2-94090
rather than fitting them to a priori patterns (Lloyd-Jones and Lunsford 612-92120
1989). In general, researchers now recognize that language growth involves
decenteringthe ability to communicate with audiences of increasing
distances from one's own immediate interestsand abstractingthe ability
to make increasingly complex generalizations about one's experiences AVM
(Moffett 1983).
611-86032
Reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills reflect these 611-93177
psycholinguistic principles. Over time and with practice, young people read 611-81246
more sophisticated books and make more complex responses to them
(Purves, Rogers, and Soter 1990). Written documents grow in range,
diversity, and "adultness" over time (Tchudi and Mitchell 1989). Fostering
such growth requires careful teacher management, sometimes letting AZ=
students make completely free choices for themselves, sometimes guiding 614-221
them in directions deemed appropriate (Somerfield, Torbe, and Ward 1985).
The teacher's role is that of facilitator of a student-centered program rather
than administrator of a prescribed curriculum (Monson and Pahl 1991). Yet
the curriculum need not be developed "from scratch" every year, for
common developmental elements and patterns can be detected: certain
books consistently appeal to young readers at certain ages; particular
speaking and writing activities most strongly activate language growth at
particular ages. The phenomenon of "kid watching" provides the teacher
with guidance (Goodman 1986). Rather than relying on standardized tests
or curricular imperatives, teachers can collect samples and document
patterns of achievement (Weaver 1990). Such teacher research can even
lead to the establishment of curricular benchmarks, in effect, demonstrating
developmental patterns through the use of school- and classroom-based
data rather than external measures and standards.

Summary: Broad developmental language patterns can be detected, but

within them, each child will an follow individual pattern or history as she
constructs skills that allow her to function successfully in appropriate
language communities. We do not want to suggest age-related
developmental norms; rather, research reveals a progression of language
performances that are related to previous experience and developmental

3.49
0 ASCD 1994
43
 Language Arts Principles

interests. As learners use language they adjust and expand vocabulary,

syntax, reading, and forms of expression as personal needs and interests
allow.

References
Dixon, J. (1976). Growth Through English. Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English and
London, UK: National Association for the Teaching of English.
Elbow, P. (1990). What is English? New York: Modem Language Association.
Goodman, K. (1986). What's Whole in Whole Language? Toronto and New York: Scholastic.
Lloyd-Jones, R., and A. Lunsford, eds. (1989). The English Coalition Conference: Democracy
Through Language. Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English.
Moffett, J. (1983). Teaching the Universe of Discourse. Exeter, N.H.: Heinemann/Boynton -Cook.
Monson, R.J., and M.M. Pahl. (1991). "Charting a New Course with Whole Language." Educational
Leadership 48, 6: 51-54.
Purves, A., T. Rogers, and A. Soter. (1990). How Porcupines Make Love ii: Noteson a Response
Centered Curriculum. White Plains, N.Y.: Longman.
Somerfield, M., M. Torbe, and C. Ward. (1986). A Framework for Reading. Exeter, N.H.: Heinemann.
Tchudi, S., (1991). The English Teacher's Handbook 2nd ed. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton Cook.
Weaver, C. (1990). Understanding Whole Language. Exeter, N.H.: Heinemann.

44
3.50 © ASCD 1994
 Language Arts Principles

Principle 8: The most effective way to increase learning, particularly Teaching and
language learning, is to integrate concepts and disciplines. (D. Ogle) Learning
K-12
Discussion: Children are constantly trying to make sense of their
environments and to communicate. For them to do this successfully they Curriculum
need to be in rich contexts where language is in abundance and where they Integration
can experiment and receive helpful feedback. Interdisciplinarity
Studies of how children acquire language have confirmed the active,
constructive nature of language learning. Children do not mimic adult
language patterns as they begin to talk but rather try to make sense of the
oral patterns they hear by constructing their own systems of language AZ=
(Klima and Bellugi-Klima 1966). Recent research on how children learn to
612-91065
write and spell reveal similar constructive processesrather than memorize 612-91090
the standard spellings they see in their environment, children engage in 612-93157
active experimentation with orthography as they "invent" spellings. With 612-93158
increasing practice and learning, children's spellings move from primitive 612-93160
to early phonemic to letter naming and finally to transitional and then 612-93162
standard spelling (Temple, Nathan, and Burris 1982; Henderson and Beers
1980). Studies of grammar teaching and learning with older students reveal
similar patterns; direct instruction in rules and isolated aspects of language
is not nearly as likely to lead to students' understanding and correct usage
as are regular meaningful writing experiences (Hillocks 1986).
Research studies have confirmed not only the importance of language Interdisciplinary
exploration but also the way in which the language modes interact as Curriculum
children learn. Early literacy develops as children explore both writing and (717) 948-6404
reading. Eckhoff (1984) showed that the patterns children encounter in
what they read shape their writing. Many studies have shown that children
who listen to parents read to them become interested in written language
and discover the patterns independently (Ferreiro and Teberosky 1982,
Sulzby 1985, Tea le 1982). Children who read widely are most likely to
AZ=
develop good vocabularies (Wilson et al. 1986). Shanahan (1984) also 611-89156
found that in the early grades reading and writing skills were highly 511-04192
correlated. Studies of more mature writers have demonstrated that they 611-93018
need to constantly reread what they have written to make sense of it; this 611-91117
611-92151
has been termed "becoming one's own reader" (Tierney and Pearson 1983).
Older children profit as writers when they read widelyand expert writers
are useful guides for novices (Stewig 1980). O);
Research in language development, both oral and written, makes a
strong case for integrated instruction. Children need to be immersed in AM=
meaningful experiences so that they want to use language to communicate 614-248
and they must be given regular opportunities to experiment with a variety
of forms of language expression. They need to be allowed to take risks and
explore; and they need to be given guidance and feedback. Situations that
stimulate children to want to engage in communication are generally those
that are rich in meaning and purpose. Therefore, teachers need to be
encouraged to create larger, meaningful experiences and units of instruction

ASCD 1994 3.51

45
 . . a

in classrooms. Through such focus on meaning and negotiation of ideas,

students' need to use language effectively becomes real and the
opportunities for learning emerge naturally.

AZCD Language strategies are similar across the four components of

languagelistening, speaking, reading, and writing. For example, an
2-94150 effective reader focuses on a purpose for reading while an effective writer
612-91158 or speaker focuses on an audience and purpose for writing or speaking. In a
612-92126 like manner, an effective writer revises his writing while an effective reader
612-92125 constantly constructs meaning and revises meaning as he reads. Other
language strategies can also be shown to be similar across the four language
components (Tierney and Pearson 1983). Because the language strategies
are similar, it makes sense to help learners understand these similarities.
Learning the strategies in one domain enhances the learning of strategies in
another domain.
Finally, most teachers are pressed for time to teach all that they are
required to cover in their curriculum. It makes sense to maximize
opportunities for learning by integrating language arts instruction and
incorporating as much content into unified units of study as possible.
Students must read, write, and talk about something. Too often the
"something" is missing and language arts and reading instruction suffer
from lack of clear meaning and purpose for students. When teachers have
students write about stories they are reading that reflect a key theme of
interest to students, those students are more likely to be engaged than when
instruction consists of skill lessons and drills. When students can discuss
two or three pieces of writing dealing with the same theme, their thinking
and reasoning as well as their interest are deepened. Engaging students in
drama, debate, and then writing as outgrowths of reading create learning
opportunities. Many exciting suggestions for integrated instruction are now
emerging in the professional literature. Assessments of these programs
indicate that they have a great deal of power to produce quality learning
(Cambourne 1988, Lytle and Botel 1988, Noyce and Christie 1989).

Summary: The integration of the language arts is highly recommended for

several reasonsfrom conceptual to pragmatic. First, the nature of
language learning makes clear the interrelationships among listening,
speaking, reading, and writing both in how they are acquired and in the
conditions that promote optimal growth in communication competence.
Second, the various strategies that language users employ in constructing
meaning are similar and can be most effectively developed together.
Finally, for pragmatic reasons, time and energy can be saved when the
natural connections among the language arts are maximized.

46
3.52 © ASCD 1994
 Language Arts Principles

References
Camboume, B. (1988). The Whole Story: Natural Learning and the Acquisition of Literacy in the
Classroom. New York: Ashton Scholastic.
Eckhoff, B. (1984). "How Reading Affects Children's Writing." In Composing and Comprehending,
edited by J.M. Jensen. Urbana, Ill.: ERIC/RCS.
Ferreiro, E., and A. Teberosky. (1982). Literacy Before Schooling. Exeter, N.H.: Heinemann.
Henderson, E.H., and J. Beers. (1980) Developmental and Cognitive Aspects of Learning to Spell.
Newark, Del.: International Reading Association.
Hillocks, G., Jr. (1986). Research on Written Composition: New Directions for Teaching. Urbana,
Ill.: NCTFJNCRE
Klima, E.S., and U. Bellugi-Klima. (1966). "Syntactic Regularities in the Speech of Children." In
Psycholinguistics Papers, edited by J. Lyons and R. J. Wales. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press.
Lytle, S., and M. Botel. (1989). PCRP II: Reading, Writing and Talking Across the Curriculum.
Harrisburg, Pa.: Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Noyce, R. M., and J. Christie. (1989). Integrating Reading and Writing Instruction in Grades K-8.
Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Shanahan, T. (1984). "The Nature of the Reading/Writing Relation: An Exploratory Multivariate
Analysis." Journal of Educational Psychology 76, 466-477.
Stewig, J. (1980). Read to Write: Using Children's Literature as a Springboard to Writing. New
York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Sulzby, E. (1985). "Kindergartners as Writers and Readers." In Advances in Writing Research: Volume
1, edited by M. Fan. Norwood, NJ.: Ablex.
Teale, W. H. (1982) "Toward A Theory of How Children Learn to Read and Write Naturally." Language
Arts 59, 6: 555-570.
Temple, C., R.G. Nathan, and N.A. Burris. (1982). The Beginnings of Writing. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Tierney, R.J., and P.D. Pearson. (1983). "Toward a Composing Model of Reading." Language Arts 60,
5: 568-580.
Wilson, P., R. Anderson, and L. Fielding. (1986). Children's Book Reading Habits: A New Criterion
for Literacy. Cambridge, Mass.: Bolt, Beranek, Newman.

47
©ASCD 1994 3.53
 Language Arts Principles

Principle 9: Learning is essentially an individual process that begins Teaching and

with personal purposes or questions. (R. Farr) Learning
K-12
Discussion: If learning is an individually focused process students must be
given opportunities to pose their own questions and to identify their own Authentic
topics for reading and writing. Initially, teachers may help students to Instruction
develop purposes for reading and writing, but if students' activities are not
eventually based on individual purposes, they will not develop into
effective readers and writers.
Teachers must plan reading and writing instruction grounded on the Ag:CD
understanding that effective reading is based on what one wants to know,
and effective writing is developed from knowing what one wants to say. For Authentic Assessment
both reading and writing, the purpose dictates how the learner proceeds. (808) 533-6000
When individuals do not develop their own purposes, reading and writing
may become nothing more than classroom activities that must be
performed, often with little thought. When students can articulate their own
interests and needs, they are more likely to be motivated to delve deeply
into their reading and writing and consequently learn moreand more fully.
This means that teachers must allow students to take ownership over
the selection of reading and writing topics. The freedom to explore ideas
that are generated from personal interests will foster greater language
development than teacher-dictated reading and writing activities can hope
to.

Summary: Learning takes place when an individual attempts to resolve a

problem or answer a question. Thus, learning is not a group process, it is an
individual process. This means that the development of individual learner
purposes and questions should be the basis of instruction. When learners
search for answers to questions they have posed, the result is deeper
understanding.

Other Resources
Duffy, G.G., L.R. Roehler, and J. Mason. (1984). Comprehension Instruction: Perspectives and
Suggestions. New York: Longman.
Flood, J., and D. Lapp. (1991). "Reading Comprehension Instruction." In Handbook of Research on
Teaching the English Language Arts, edited by J. Flood, J. Jensen, D. Lapp, and J. Squire.
New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Nelson-Herber, J. (1985). "Anticipation and Prediction in Reading Comprehension". In Reading,
Thinking, and Concept Development, edited by T.L. Harris and E. Cooper. New York:
College Entrance Examination Board.
Siegler, R.S., ed. (1978). Children 's Thinking: What Develops? Hillsdale, NJ.: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Tuma, D.T., and F. Reif, eds. (1980). Problem Solving and Education: Issues in Teaching and
Research. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum

0 ASCD 1994
4. 3.55
 Language Arts Principles

Principle 10: From the time a child is born, learning is dependent on Teaching and
feedback. (R. Farr) Learning
K-12
Discussion: Children are constantly shaping their language development
based on the feedback they receive from others. Parents reinforce some Diagnostic
language patterns and attempt to extinguish others. Assessment
Feedback for and about students can be gathered in a variety of ways
including, but not limited to, norm-referenced tests, performance
assessments, student-work samples collected in portfolios, interviews,
self-report analyses, and classroom observations. In addition to providing
feedback to students, educators also need feedback about students' progress 4.41S=
and development if they are to plan effective and timely instruction. It is 611-87012
vital that the feedback about students' language learning that educators 611-93018
receive is congruent with the feedback provided to the students. If the 611-89010
information provided to teachers and administrators is different from that
provided to learners, it is unlikely that effective instruction will take place.
Therefore, feedback to students, teachers, and administrators must be
based on both formal and informal assessment that is valid, reliable, AZ=
efficient, and authentic. Such assessment must be based on the following 614-106
criteria: 614-225
Assessment should provide students, teachers, and administrators
with congruent information about students' language development,
even though the information may be summarized in different ways
for each group.
Assessment should be based on multiple samples of language 612-92026
behaviors, gathered over a period of time, and performed under a 612-92086
variety of conditions. Single sample assessments are not valid for
planning language instruction.
Assessment should include opportunities for students to self-reflect,
should encourage student/teacher conferences, and should be based,
at least in part, on student selection of what is to be assessed.

Summary: Feedback is essential to learning. Feedback is the information

learners receive about their activities. Effective instruction is based on
helping learners understand what it is they are to do, how well they have
performed, and what they need to do to improve. Feedback provides the
basis for learners to test hypotheses, to receive positive or negative
reinforcement, and to understand their individual progress. While this may
seem like a somewhat mechanistic view of learning, it is essential if
learners are to become reflective about their own reading and writing.

ASCD 1994 3.57

49
 Language Arts Principles

Other Resources
Farr, R., and M. Beck. "Formal Methods of Evaluation." (1991). In Handbook of Research on
Teaching the English Language Arts, edited by J. Flood, J. Jensen, D. Lapp, and J. Squire. New
York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Gagne, R.M. (1974). Essentials of Learning for Instruction. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Goodman, Y.M. (1991). "Informal Methods of Evaluation." In Handbook of Research on Teaching the
English Language Arts, edited by J. Flood, J. Jensen, D. Lapp, and J. Squire. New York:
Macmillan Publishing Company.
O'Flahavan, J.F., D.K. Hartman, and P.D. Pearson. (1988). "Teacher Questioning and Feedback
Practices: A Twenty Year Retrospective." In Dialogues in Literacy Research, edited by J.E.
Readence and R. S. Baldwin. Chicago, Ill.: National Reading Conference, Inc.

50

3.58 ASCD 1994

Becoming a Nation
of Readers
Recommendations
From "Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading," prepared by Richard C.
Anderson, Elfrieda H. Hiebert, Judith A. Scott, Ian A. G. Wilkinson with contributions from members of the
Commission on Reading. Published 1985 by the National Institute of Education, U.S. Department of Education.

The more elements of good parenting, good teaching, and good schooling that children
experience, the greater the likelihood that they will achieve their potential as readers. The
following recommendations encapsulate the information presented in this report about the
conditions likely to produce citizens who read with high levels of skill and do so frequently
with evident satisfaction.

Parents should read to preschool children and informally teach them about reading and
writing. Reading to children, discussing stories and experiences with them, and with a light
touch - helping them learn letters and words are practices that are consistently associated with
eventual success in reading.

Parents should support school-aged children's continued growth as readers. Parents of

children who become successful readers monitor their children's progress in school, become
involved in school programs, support homework, buy their children books or take them to
libraries, encourage reading as a free time activity, and place reasonable limits on such
activities as TV viewing.

Preschool and kindergarten reading readiness programs should focus on reading, writing,
and oral language. Knowledge of letters and their sounds, words, stories, and question
asking and answering are related to learning to read, but there is little evidence that such
activities as coloring, cutting with a scissors, or discriminating shapes (except the shapes of
letters) promote reading development.

Teachers should maintain classrooms that are both stimulating and disciplined. Effective
teachers of reading create a literate classroom environment. They allocate an adequate amount
of time to reading and writing, sustain children's attention, maintain a brisk pace, and keep
rates of success high.

Teachers of beginning reading should present well-designed phonics instruction. Though

most children today are taught phonics, often this instruction is poorly conceived. Phonics is
more likely to be useful when children hear the sounds associated with most letters both in
isolation and in words, and when they are taught to blend together the sounds of letters to

a Nation of Readers: Recommendations 1

identify words. in addition, encouraging children to think of other words they know with
similar spellings, when they encounter words they cannot readily identify, may help them
develop the adult strategy of decoding unknown words by analogy with ones that are known.
Phonics instruction should be kept simple and it should be completed by the end of the second
grade for most children.

Reading primers should be interesting, comprehensible, and give children opportunities

to apply phonics. There should be a close interplay between phonics instruction and reading
words in meaningful selections. But most primers contain too few words that can be identified
using the phonics that has already been taught. After the very earliest selections, primers
should tell complete, interesting stories.

Teachers should devote more time to comprehension instruction. Teacher-led instruction

in reading strategies and other aspects of comprehension promotes reading achievement, but
there is very little direct comprehension instruction in most American classrooms.

Children should spend less time completing work. books and skill sheets. Workbook and
skill sheet activities consume a large proportion of the time allocated to reading instruction in
most American classrooms, despite the fact that there is little evidence that these activities are
related to reading achievement. Workbook and skill sheet activities should be pared to the
minimum that actually provide worthwhile practice in aspects of reading.

Children should spend more time in independent reading. Independent reading, whether in
school or out of school, is associated with gains in reading achievement. By the time they are
in the third or fourth grade, children should read independently a minimum of two hours per
week. Children's reading should include classic and modern works of fiction and nonfiction
that represent the core of our cultural heritage.

Children should spend more time writing. Opportunities to write more than a sentence or
two are infrequent in most American elementary school classrooms. As well as being valuable
in its own right, writing promotes ability in reading.

Textbooks should contain adequate explanations of important concepts. Textbooks in

science, social studies, and other areas should be clearly written, well-organized, and contain
important information and concepts. Too many of the textbooks used in American classrooms
do not meet these standards.

Schools should cultivate an ethos that supports reading. Schools that are effective in
teaching reading are characterized by vigorous leadership, high expectations, an emphasis on
academic learning, order and discipline, uninterrupted time for learning, and staffs that work
together.

Schools should maintain well-stocked and managed libraries. Access to interesting and
informative books is one of the keys to a successful reading program. As important as an

52
Becoming a Nation of Readers: Recommendations 2
adequate collection of books is a librarian who encourages wide reading and helps match books
to children.

Schools should introduce more comprehensive assessments of reading and writing.

Standardized tests should be supplemented with assessments of reading fluency, ability to
summarize and critically evaluate lengthy selections, amount of independent reading, and
amount and quality of writing.

Schools should attract and hold more able teachers. The number of able people who
choose teaching as a profession has declined in recent years. Reversing this trend requires
higher admissions standards for teacher education programs, stronger standards for teacher
certification, improved working conditions, and higher teachers' salaries.

Teacher education programs should be lengthened and improved in quality. Prospective

elementary teachers do not acquire an adeqUate base in either the liberal arts and sciences or in
pedagogy. They get only a fleeting introduction to the knowledge required for teaching
reading. Teacher education programs should be extended to five years and the quality and
rigor of the instruction should be increased.

Schools should provide for the continuing professional development of teachers. Schools
should have programs to ease the transition of novice teachers into the profession and
programs to keep veteran teachers abreast of advancing knowledge.

America will become a nation of readers when verified practices of the best teachers in
the best schools can be introduced throughout the country.

53 Becoming a Nation of Readers: Recommendations 3

ED253865 http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edu/abstracts/ed253865.htm I

Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on

Reading
Richard C. Anderson and others

National Institute of Education (ED), Washington, DC, 1985

Fulfilling a need for careful and thorough synthesis of an extensive body of findings on reading, this
report presents leading experts' interpretations of both current knowledge of reading and the state of the
art and practice of teaching reading. The introduction contains two claims:

(1) the knowledge is now available to make worthwhile improvements in reading throughout
the United States

(2) if the practices seen in the classrooms of the best teachers in the best schools could be
introduced everywhere, improvement in reading would be dramatic.

The first chapter of the report stresses reading as the process of constructing meaning from written texts,
a complex skill requiring the coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information. The second
chapter, on emerging literacy, argues that reading must be seen as part of a child's general language
development and not as a discrete skill isolated from listening, speaking, and writing. The third chapter,
on extending literacy, stresses that as proficiency develops, reading should not be thought of as a separate
subject, but as integral to learning in all content areas.

The fourth chapter concerns the teacher and the classroom and notes that an indisputable conclusion of
research is that the quality of teaching makes a considerable difference in children's learning. The next
two chapters note that standardized reading tests do not measure everything, and that teaching is a
complex profession. The last chapter contains seventeen recommendations for conditions likely to
produce citizens who would read with high levels of skill and do so frequently with evident satisfaction.

In the afterword, Jeanne Chall comments on the history of the report, and three appendixes contain 260
references and notes plus lists of project consultants and the members of the National Academy of
Education.

ERIC Accession Number: ED253865

Ordering Information: 155 pages; Price for microfiche: MF01. Price for paper copy: PC07. Click
on link(s) to see dollar amounts for the codes.
To order call 1-800-443-3742 and specify ERIC Accession Number when ordering.
Paper copy also available from: University of Illinois, Becoming a Nation of Readers, P.O. Box
2774, Station A, Champaign, IL 61820-8774 ($4.50 ea., including postage; overseas orders, add
$1.00).
Some libraries and institutions have full microfiche collections. Click on link to locate the ERIC

1 of 4
ED25:18p5 http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edtilabstracts/ed253865.htm

Information Service Providers near you.

55
2 of 2
Unlocking the Mysteries, or toward 2001
Interview with Scott G. Paris

Reprinted by permission of the Wisconsin State Reading Journal.

Dr. Scott Paris leads the way in the major research developments over the past four years on
strategic reading. His research findings have appeared in Contemporary Educational Psychology,
Child Development and Journal of Educational Psychology. His research findings suggest that
strategies play a significant role in reading comprehension. The Wisconsin State Reading
Association is fortunate to have Dr. Scott Paris add insights to the Fall Journal's theme: The
Strategic Reader.

The editor conducted the interview.

What is the most recent research suggestion to teachers of beginning readers?

Recent research has made two important contributions to the instruction of reading and writing
for beginning readers. First, we know that the old notions of readiness are probably incorrect.
Children are ready to read, or at lest engage in literacy, as soon as they can talk. Research studies
have shown that joint book reading between parents and children provides a foundation for
listening and print awareness.

The rich social interaction between parent and child provides an understanding about text as well
as satisfying social experiences revolving around oral language, print, and enjoyable stories.
When parents share literacy with their children, it provides an unshakable foundation for
children's early appreciation of the interest and value of text. By four or five years of age, most
preschoolers are able to identify letters, sounds, words and to produce a combination of writing,
scribbles and drawing that communicates a message.

These early accomplishments indicate cognitive and social awareness about literacy activities and
the nature and convention of print. It helps children to provide these experiences before formal
schooling and to begin reading and writing activities according to the child's interest and
abilities.

The second primary finding from research on beginning reading has shown that early reading
instruction does not have to focus on decoding and phonics alone. Language experience and
whole language approaches that focus on the social and communicative aspects of reading and
writing have had dramatic effects on young children's educational progress.

Research by Don Graves and Jane Hanson, for example, has shown that early writing experiences
increase children's understanding of authorship and promote children's early literacy skills by
combining reading and writing in meaningful activities. Comprehension and production of
meaningful and personally significant text is as much a key to beginning reading as unlocking the
mysteries of letter-sound combinations.

.6
How then, do the research suggestions for teachers in the intermediate grades differ and
yet complement the suggestions for teachers of beginning readers?

Research on reading and writing of older children also emphasizes the value of comprehension
activities for children's development and appreciation of literacy. Instead of workbook exercises
that provide skill and drill practice there is a growing emphasis on promoting children's
understanding of the value of strategic reading. This involved awareness about strategies that
facilitate understanding as well as practice in using these skills n meaningful text.

Durkin's research that illustrated the paucity of comprehension instruction provided in teachers'
lessons or basal materials revealed a glaring weakness in reading instruction for the intermediate
grades. Silent sustained reading and workbook exercises are simply not sufficient activities to
teach all children about the richness of printed language and the strategies that can be used for
composing and comprehending text.

Although the strategies are more sophisticated and are applied to more complex reading
materials, the basic emphasis from beginning to intermediate reading focuses on (a)
understanding the constructive and strategic aspects of reading, (b) engaging in meaningful and
personally relevant tasks of reading and writing, and © working cooperatively with teachers and
peers to construct and comprehend text so that the thinking strategies modeled by others can be
incorporated into self-regulated and independent learning.

Do the suggestions of researchers have an essential place in the upper grades?

Research in the upper grades has focused on more complicated skills such as understanding the
structure of text, composing essays and narratives, and using effective study skills. These aspects
of reading and writing are developmental extensions of the skills and strategies that research has
emphasized at earlier ages. In particular current research is investigating how comprehension of
content area reading can be promoted by making secondary students more analytic and reflective
readers.

The developmental sequence of understanding and strategy use that I have mentioned in these
three questions reflects advances in research on cognitive development that has shown how
children become better able to control their own thinking and reasoning from four to sixteen
years of age. The acquisition of skilled reading and writing during this time period mirrors these
cognitive developmental accomplishments. Indeed, research on topics such as math, science, and
problem solving has shown that some of the same fundamental aspects of planful, thoughtful,
self-regulated learning are important in all of these domains.

If you had the opportunity to teach young children each day for a year, what ideas about
teaching would you engage your students with daily?

If I thought a classroom of students on a regular basis, I would try to instill in them some
fundamental ideas about learning everyday. First, I would tell my students that I am proud of who
they are and what they know, but that I expect them to learn much more everyday. I believe that

57
it is important for students to realize that teachers respect them, yet hold high expectations for
their development.

Second, I would share with my students the reasons for learning particular information and the
goals that I am trying to accomplish. I believe that it is important that teachers and students
develop a cooperative attitude so that they are aware of the same objectives and try to reach them
together.

Third, each day I would tell my students as much as I could about thinking, learning, and
development so they understand the process of education and schooling that occupies so much of
their lives. Children are curious to know how the mind works and how people develop.
Explaining these phenomena to children is not easy, but it helps make the activities of the
classroom more understandable.

Do you feel there is more to building positive motivation and attitudes among readers than
just developing rapport?

Yes. I believe that motivating students involves more than developing rapport with them.
Friendship is not nearly as important as mutual respect for encouraging and motivating students
to learn. Two concepts--enablement and empowerment--capture what I feel is important about
motivation.

As children learn new skills and strategies for solving the problems we give them in the
classroom, they become enabled to achieve and to excel. They can learn independently and gain
rewards for their accomplishments as they acquire these skills. The skills that enable their
achievement provide a sense of empowerment, because students feel a growing sense of
competence and confidence in themselves. Researchers have referred to this as self-efficacy, and
it is an important component of self-esteem.

I believe that students develop the motivation to persist in the face of frustration when they feel
that they are capable of overcoming difficulties. They develop positive attitudes and high
expectations if people around them communicate an honest and positive set of expectations for
their performance. Students who feel enabled and empowered do not feel threatened or anxious
in the classroom. They take risks and seek challenges so they can learn even more.

On the topic of research and its practical application, do you feel there's more useful
information today about what constitutes effective teaching than ever before?

There is undoubtedly more information on effective teaching today than there ever has been.
Research during the past ten years has been particularly productive in the area of teaching and
learning. There is even a growing field called "instructional psychology" that combines research
in cognitive, developmental, and educational psychology into principles of effective instruction.

I think we are beginning to understand personal dilemmas and frustrations of teachers as well as
the strength and power of effective instruction. Research has analyzed ways in which students

58
and teachers interact in the classroom to determine effective styles of teaching and the particular
qualities of the students and teachers that contribute to effective interaction. Researchers at the
institute for Research on Teaching at Michigan State University, for example, have made great
strides in describing the dynamics of classroom teaching. This body of research is being
translated into preservice and inservice programs of education for teachers that is valuable
immediately.

Would this be true about effective learning, also?

Yes. I would agree that we have better research today on learning than ever before. Historically,
research on learning followed paradigms from experimental psychology. We stopped using
animal research as our model of learning a long time ago, but we are still moving away from
research on esoteric or non-meaningful tasks.

During the past ten years, researchers have investigated academic learning in classroom settings,
and I believe we have made grate strides in our knowledge about children's learning as a
consequence.

The rise of information proceeding theories have given us new technology and information about
thinking, and the cadre of researchers interested in academic learning has improved dramatically
in numbers and quality. My guess is that some of the great advances in applied psychology
during the next 20 years will be made in our understanding of effective teaching, learning,
instructional technology, and student motivation.

If we believe that reading and writing are fundamental abilities young people should
possess, have we as educators done all we can to bring reading and writing together into
successful classroom lessons?

No. I think educators have been unsuccessful in designing curricula that teach students the
similarities between reading and writing. Some language arts programs and while-language
instruction for beginning readers have combined oral language, listening, reading, and writing in
creative ways: but these seem to fall apart in subsequent grades. Reading and writing become
divorced as the curriculum becomes compartmentalized. By the time students reach secondary
school, they receive little specific instruction on reading and writing but instead use these as tools
of application for learning in other subjects. Students who do not read or write very well by that
time have little hope of gaining the skills that thy have not developed.

There are two ways to solve this problem. First, reading and writing can be combined in every
subject area so that whether students are learning mathematics, biology, or social studies, they
also receive instruction about effective strategies for reading and writing about the content areas.

The second possibility is to teach in a separate curriculum thinking strategies, problem-solving

skills, or critical thinking skills, as they have been called, that also focus on reading and writing.
The issue is not really which approach is better, because many students receive neither. The issue
is how to provide the instruction in a comprehensible and economical manner to students so that

59
 they have ample opportunities to develop reading and writing skills throughout grades K-12.

Some recent reports on public education in America conclude that the institution of public
education in America is in need of a major overhaul. How would you address the needs of
public education in America?

During the past several years, we have seen numerous reports decrying and indicting the state of
education in America. Every level of education from preschool programs to post-secondary
colleges and universities has been reviewed and criticized. Obviously, there is a great deal of
discontent with American education.

But I believe that one of the strengths of American education is cont constant evaluation by the
public and researchers and an enduring dissatisfaction with the quality of instruction and
materials available. As opposed to education in many countries around the world, American
education is constantly scrutinized to revise and improve curricula and instructional approaches. I
believe that such self-examination and revision inevitably leads to improvement and avoids
stagnation. Yet, there are always areas in which progress is slower than we would like to see and
trade-offs are made among recommendations.

I think it is a mistake to jump on the bandwagon of educational criticism. This has become a
political fashion that has created divisive debate. Only in some instances have we used the
national reviews to initiate effective reforms in the curriculum or teacher education. I think
researchers and professional education organizations can combine their energies to focus on
substantive issues that can be addressed concretely. For example, I think we can increase the
effectiveness of the following issues in public education in America:

We can provide students with better educational materials that are based on sound
research rather than marketing techniques.

We can improve professional development of preservice and inservice education.

(The Holmes Group has provided many good suggestions.)

We can restructure how teachers spend their time so that they engage students
more often in meaningful instruction rather than administrative management and
student counseling.

We can design more effective programs of educational assessment so that the tests
are useful for students, parents, and educators.

I realize that these problems are not small and will not be readily solved. Yet, they each focus on
the dynamics of classroom interactions between teachers and students. I find these problems to
be more easily addressed than far-reaching social issues such as teacher salaries, length of the
school year, and teacher qualifications.

The term metacognition is a buzz word today among educators aware of some of the

60
research being done at our major research institutions. How significant is the concept of
metacognition to the classroom teachers who will be teaching in the year 2000?

Metacognition became a popular term about ten years ago and routinely elicits raised eyebrows
or groans when introduced to parents and teachers. The terminology may sound awkward, but
this focus on understanding our own mental processes is an extremely important topic that will
have far-reaching implications for teaching and learning.

During the past ten years, the benefit of metacognition has been to direct researchers to address
different types of questions involving learning and cognitive development. Researchers have
asked, "How do children become planful, thoughtful, and strategic? How do they learn more
about their own cognitive systems? How do children learn from others the kind of standards to
internalize when they monitor their own behavior? And, how does self-awareness or reflection
get translated into action?"

The basic issue is to understand how children appreciate the way their minds work and how they
use this knowledge to enhance their own academic learning. Research studies have identified a
wide variety of cognitive and instructional principles that depend on metacognition. These will
be incorporated into theories of learning and development in the future and will become part of
the knowledge that teachers acquire.

The more we understand about metacognition, the more we understand the ways students learn.
So, I think it is a very important term for both researchers and educators. The terminology may
change during the next 20 years, but the focus on how people understand and monitor their own
mental processes will be an important issue for years to come.

Dr. Paris was a keynote speaker at the WR\SRA Fall Conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Hot Topic Guide 26: Unlocking the Mysteries 6

61
 Literature and Literacy:
A Review of Research
Wayne Sawyer

In very recent years there has been a great development of interest in the
contribution of literature to reading development. In this paper I would like
to review the major theoretical statements on this connection and the empir-
ical evidence which has been put forward to support the notion of literature's
having an important role in learning to read.
In The Cool Web, Aidan War low (1976) argued that "children will over-
come all sorts of linguistic obstacles . . . if the alternative world of the story
is one that is desirable and comprehensive" (p. 102). Warlow, then, saw the
importance of literature to literacy in what Genette (1980) or Chatman (1978)
would call "Story." The interest of "what happens next" contained in the im-
aginary world of literature provides the drive to read and hence encourages
literacyboth its acquisition and development. On the other hand, Gordon
Wells (1982) has since argued that "hearing stories aloud familiarises [chil-
dren] with the language of books and with the characteristic narrative struc-
tures that they will meet in story books at school" (p. 11). Thus Wells is
describing the learning of "literary literacy," as it were, the acquisition of the
structures of literature itself as a branch of reading. He effectively suggests
that this is gained to an important extent through the learning of what Chat-
man (1978) would call "discourse" or Genette (1980) "narrative."
These are two distinct, but interwoven strands in the research of the con-
nection between literature and literacythe notions of learning to read
through literature and learning to read literature. They are interwoven be-
cause increasingly researchers have been unable to study how and why chil-
dren learn to read through literature without at the same time addressing the
question of how they acquire a competence in dealing with literary structures.

Theoretical Positions
Overwhelmingly, the question of literature's connection to literacy has been
addressed as a question of the role of narrative in reading development, i.e.,
prose literature has been viewed and accepted as a vehicle of narrative. This
seems such an obvious thing to accept and to state, but its implications are to
62 see prose literature as a kind of subbranch of a larger genre (and thus to
BEST COPY AVAILABLE stress its continuity in many respects with oral traditions). Thus the "key-

63
 Literature and Literacy: A Review of Research 35
4 Language Arts
and their connections are "story" researchers into the reading process do not dowhat even the psycholinguists
words" in a study of literature and literacy
in the sense espoused by Genette or lack is deep consideration of the quality of the text itself, an answer to the
and "narrative," though not necessarily
Chatman. work in this tradition is The question, "What difference does the kind of story and form of discourse
Probably the most famous, and pioneering, make?" Can basal readers ever possibly teach the same reading lessons as
central theme to be the child's experi- "real" literature, or what the child considers "significant text"?
Cool Web (1977), which declares its
being gained by stories read. The
ence of reading, access to this experience famous definition of narrative as "a pri-
Cool Web highlights Barbara Hardy's Empirical Studies
from art to life" (p. 12). In arguing that we go
mary act of mind transferred she stresses the continuum of narrative
to novels to find out about narrative, Increasingly, such theoretical positions are either being generated from, or
theme in the collection. An-
from artistic fictions to the everyday, a recurrent finding support in, case studies of children learning to read.
is Luria and Chukovsky's notion that Butler's (1979) Cushla was "taught" to read by "the provision of language
other key statement in The Cool Web of the way secondary worlds operate
through stories the child becomes aware and story" (p. 105). In Meek's terms, Cushla could be said to have become a
stories become a vehicle for learning reader by learning "first how a story works," compelled by the drive to an-
according to rules. In other words,
experience, as well as about lan- swer the question "What happens next?"
about the way in which language structures reading lessons.
guage structures themselvesboth very important Scollon and Scollon's (1981) study of their daughter Rachel, though not
the connection between narrative
Possibly the most influential theorist of centrally a study of learning to read, does provide some important relevant
Meek, whose theory is partly implications. Their study of Rachel's orientation to literacy shows her own
and reading development has been Margaret to read. Her theorizing has
generated from empirical observation of learning to read narrative and learn- writing revealing understandings of conventions peculiar to narrative fiction
concerned itself both with the aspects of learning that were derived from hearing stories read: distance between author and
shown the connections between stories text, between author and character, aspects of point of view. Their early read-
ing to read through narrative. She has thus for the notion
heard and stories told in early childhood (1976), arguing ing of stories to her thus provided a general orientation to literary conventions.
structures. She has advocated the teaching of This theme is echoed in the later well-known work of Heath (1982), who
of children's absorbing story let them learn
stories because "it is most natural to stories" again was not centrally concerned with reading development, but who also
reading through reading
drive to cognitive functionby reading suggests ideas about children learning the nature of literary texts from bed-
by means of the imaginative connecting literacy to
(1980, p. 33). The strength of Meek's whole argument literature as an act of trans- time stories.
literature rests precisely
hereif we view reading The Bristol Language Research Programme has included a study of how
experience of the world, of lan-
acting meaning which brings into play our a far differences in early language development account for differences in chil-
and of literature, then reading itself is an organizing of language, sense. dren's success in early schooling. On the three language measuresknowl-
guage rather than Harding's (1937)
spectator role activity in Britton's (1970) form as it were, "function- edge about literacy, oral language, and reading comprehensiononly early
We create meaning through interpreting, imposing experience of listening to stories was significantly associated with later lan-
like
ing cognitively." guage ability and it was associated with all three measures. Wells (1982),
that successful early readers are Heath and the Scollons, speculates on the particular relationship between
In Learning to Read, Meek (1982) argues of the
successful because they discover that stories are like play, not the least language and experience found in stories, arguing that in "listening to stories
rules. Stories are at "the heart of
connections being that both operate with narrative read aloud . . . the child is . . . beginning to gain experience of the sustained
teach the rules of
learning to read" (p. 37) because they themselves meaning-building organization of written language" (p. 5). Thus Wells is de-
increasingly to favor the use of narrative dis- scribing learning to read not only literature but learning to read generally
organization. Meek has come structuralism as one kind of framework for evi-
course theory with its roots in through exposure to Story, as a genre of written language.
mean. Structuralism should It is the drive of Chatman's "Story," Meek's "What happens next?" that
dence on how children learn to make prose
provide such a framework precisely
because it argues that "a theory of liter- enables this to happen. But as I argued in my opening paragraph, Wells has
Children learn to read,
ature is a theory of reading" (Culler 1983, p. 140). find to be significant also effectively described the learning of literary narrative structures (as a
Meek's argument runs, by interaction with "what
they subbranch of written language) through exposure to Story. His is an impor-
D
contribution of structuralist theory could be in consider- tant research study that suggests the interconnection of learning to read lit-
texts" (p. 141). The Importantly, I believe, this is what the
ing what constitutes "significant text." erature and learning to read through literatute.
36 Language Arts 37
Literature and Literacy: A Review of Research
Meek's (1983) own case studies of adolescent readers continually empha-
One next step, of course, would be to use this knowledge in our evaluation
size that a most important reading lesson is the discovery of the relationship
of children's literature. The research shows that the learning of reading com-
between one's own "storying" and the story of the book. What teachers of petencies depends on the kinds of texts to which children are exposed. Meek
these adolescents found to be most valuable was to draw connections between
(1982) has urged in a seminal article that "literature for children may be seen
the student's knowledge of narrative shown in telling stories and their read-
ing. What became significant was not .a book's "readability" in the traditional as the significant model, the cultural paradigm of subsequent literature in the
word-length sense, but its narrative structures in a wider sense: points of experience of the reader. Children's literature is undeniably the first literary
view, secondary worlds, gaps in the text. Meek's team of teachers came to see
experience, where the reader's expectations of what literature is are laid
the whole basis of literacy in "learning literature," in learning the convention down. Books in childhood initiate children into literature; they inaugurate
of written structures. In "learning reading" from basal readersand failing certain kinds of literary competences. . . . They offer a view of what it is to
their students had not learned "how to 'tune' the voice on the page, how to be literate" (p. 19). An approach to children's literature through a study of
narrative structure could at least identify what reading lessons, what lessons
follow the fortunes of the hero, how to tolerate the unexpected, to link epi-
sodes" (p. 214).
about literature and what "competencies" are being taught by the book.
It would seem also that the question of "What happens next?" and its rel-
All of these findings and arguments have recently been echoed by Doch-
erty (1984), May (1984), and Graham (1984), among others.
evance to the drive to read needs to be studied more closely as an issue. In
Recently, another source of evidence has become available in the form of some respects the question "What happens next?" could be seen as the lit-
erary-narrative equivalent of the "getting our predictions answered" of the
studies of young children's own oral stories. Fox (1983, 1985) and Dombey
(1983) have shown their case study children to be using quite complex rules psycholinguists. A narrative-theory approach to children's reading material
could perhaps answer such questions as whether certain structures work more
of narrative production, many echoing structures from stories heard. Both
Fox and Dombey conclude that at school their children will see little connec- on a pattern of generating questions than other structures do.
The final underlying point, of course, is that we cannot any longer separate
tion between reading-scheme stories and their knowledge of more complex
"learning to read" and "reading to learn," as if one necessarily had to pre-
narrative conventions gained from "real" stories. The implications are that
teachers need not choose simple texts nor simplify language for early readers cede the other. In English classrooms in the past this separation manifested
if the story itself is one that the child wants to hear or read. Again, "learning itself as reading lessons (with "exercises") and literature lessons (with literary
criticism); and probably the literature lessons came late in one's schooling ca-
to read must be inextricably tied to what is read" (Fox 1985, p. 380).
Williams and Jack (n.d.) have worked with children regarded as learning reer anyway because one couldn't "do" them until one could "read." We are
disabled on a program of extensive experience in story reading and writing, learning now that important lessons about reading are being taught by the
consciously operating on Hardy's assumption that narrative is a primary way material read so that basal reading schemes are being increasingly questioned
by which people learn to mean. Of most immediate relevance has been the not just for their often misplaced emphasis on phonics but for the paucity of
their narrative structures and story interest. Janet and John's (or Dick and
children's changed views of themselves as readers, and their learning to op-
Jane's or Spot's) adventures are not likely to encourage an interest in reading,
erate more sophisticated conventions of reading. Williams and Jack argue
strongly that a necessary condition of these changes has been the complexity only to allow practice in the most basic mechanical processeswhich could
of the narratives being read. also be done with genuine stories at the same time as these are teaching chil-
dren about written language structures. We can no longer afford to underes-
timate the importance of the role of narrative in reading. Narrative is a
Issues fundamental mode of meaning making through language for humans, and
probably the main mode for children. We cannot present them with reading
All of the research quoted stresses to varying degrees the interactive conti-
nuity between sense-of-narrative-form and the ability to read narrative. One material that is too simplistic in its narrative organization when we know the
complexity of narrative understanding of which children can be capable.
ought to stress that this interaction is complex. There is no suggestion that it
"Reading" ought not to be a school activity while "reading stories" re-
is other than a kind of circularity that includes children's own story making
as well as stories-heard and stories-read interacting in such a way that each mains a home one"reading" cannot be "real work" while reading stories is
element works to produce another. The real importance of the research is in "just fun." Another lesson to learn is to bring into our classrooms those very
66 reminding us that children may bring to their reading a more complex sense activities that the best practices in literature teaching have encouraged (but
of narrative structures than basal reading schemes allow. now as part of simply "reading") and "new model comprehension" activities 67
rich as text senuencine. doze procedure, text prediction, etc. (e.g., Moy and
38 Language Arts
Literature and Literacy: A Review of Research 39
Raleigh 1984). All of these activities are at base a way of teaching children
about their reading processes. "Prolegomena for a Study of Children's Literature." In M. Benton (Ed.),
The war between "top down" and "bottom up" theories of readingbe- Approaches to Research in Children's Literature. Southampton: University of
tween advocates of a psycholinguistic or subskills approach respectively Southampton, 1980.
continues to be waged at the leiel of mechanical process. The important re- Learning to Read. London: The Bodley Head, 1982.
cent research into narrative which I have outlined above promises to open a "What Counts as Evidence in Theories of Children's Literature?" Theory
into Practice. 21:4(1983).
new level of debate and pedagogy in readinga debate about the material M. Meek et al. (Eds.), The Cool Web: The Pattern of Children's Reading. London:
being read as well as the processes being used. Such research is already on The Bodley Head, 1977.
the way to confirming solidly the connections between literature and literacy. M. Meek et al. Achieving Literacy: Longitudinal Case Studies of Adolescents Learning
to Read. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983.
References Scollon, R., and S. B. Scollon. "The Literate ilvo Year Old: The Fictionalization of
Self." In R. and S. B. Scollon (Eds.), Narrative, Literacy, and Face in Intereth-
Britton, J. Language and Learning. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979. nic Communication. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1981.
Butler, D. Cush la and Her Books. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1979. Warlow, A. "Alternative Worlds Available." In M. Meek et al. (Eds.), The Cool Web.
Chatrnan, S. Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca, London: The Bodley Head, 1977.
NY: Cornell University Press, 1978. Wells, G. "Story Reading and the Development of Symbolic Skills." Paper presented
Culler, J. Quoted in M. Meek. "How Do They Know It's Worth It? The Untaught at the Reading '82 conference, York University, Tbronto, Feb. 18, 1982.
Reading Lessons." In R. Arnold (Ed.), Timely Voices: English Teaching In the Williams, G., and D. Jack. "The Role of Story: Learning to Read in a Special Edu-
Eighties. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1983. cation Class." In Revaluing 7J- oubled Readers, Occasional Paper Number 15,
Docherty, M., "That's Not Right. Lookl There's No Daddy in This Book." In J. Program in Language and Literacy, College of Education, University of Ari-
Miller (Ed.), Eccentric Propositions: Essays on Literature and the Curriculum. zona, n.d.
London: Rout ledge and Kegan Paul, 1984.
Dombey, H. "Learning the Language of Books." In M. Meek (Ed.), Opening Moves: Wayne Sawyer teaches in the School of Thaching and Curriculum at the
Work in Progress in the Study of Children's Language Development. London: University of Sydney, Australia.
University of London Institute of Education, 1983.
Fox, C. 'Talking Like a Book: Young Children's Oral Monologues," In M. Meek
(Ed.), Opening Moves: Work in Progress in the Study of Children's Language
Development. London: University of London Institute of Education, 1983.
"The Book That Talks." Language Arts, 62(1985): 374-384.
Genette, G. Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
Press, 1980.
Graham, J. "Reading Literature with a Slow Learner." In J. Miller (Ed.), Eccentric
Propositions: Essays on Literature and the Curriculum. London: Routledge and
Kegan Paul, 1984.
Harding, D. W. "The Role of the Onlooker." Scrutiny, 6:3(1937).
Hardy, B. "Tbwards a Poetics of Fiction: An Approach Through Narrative." In M.
Meek et al. (Eds.), The Cool Web. London: The Bodley Head, 1977.
Heath, S. B., "What No Bedtime Story Means: Narrative Skills at Home and at
School." Language in Society, 11:1(1982).
May, S. "Story in its Writeful Place." In J. Miller (Ed.), Eccentric Propositions: Es-
says on Literature and the Curriculum. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul,
1984.
Moy, B., and M. Raleigh. "Comprehension. Bringing It Back Alive." In J. Miller
(Ed.), Eccentric Propositions: Essays on Literature and the Curriculum. Lon-
don:.Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984.
69
Meek, M. "StAries Are for Telling." English in Education, 10:1(1976).
6 ao
Reprinted by permission from the Wisconsin State Reading Association Journal, 31 (1986):
3-9.

Strategic Reading: A Brief Overview

Dr. Richard ItTer

Profess° r of Reading Education
U. W. - Whitewater

Over the past few years. researchers have focused

increasing
attention on helping students become strategic readers.
attention has gone beyond simply teaching students This
, com-
prehension skills and study skills. As Johnston (1985) put it.
Muir-hers need to be concerned about improving children's
comprehension ability rather than just comprehension. This .

redirection focuses efforts on the development and

strategic reading comprehension behaviors.' In thisteaching
endeavor.
of
students are taught to activelycontrol their own reading.

111xstegic Reading
Strategic reading seems to involve several elements. btriteoc
readers. obviously. use strategies. `systematic.
goal-dr..-vcted
behaviorls) that can be generalized beyond the Immediate tcsk.-
Strategic readers are flexible in their use of those reading sldils and
strategies Menges (1981) describes this flexibility when he says.
'nom experience with a large number of problems. learners
discover strategies that apply across the whole class of problems.
Or they may develop strategies for dealing with the
learning itself" process of
This type of flexibility Is considered to be characteristic of
experts. Strategic readers also act consciously and intent:wally. As
Paris. Upson. & Wixson (1983) suggest. 'Strategic actions
simplified sense. skills that are. In a
are made deliberate.' In addition.
strategic readers me aware of the reasons for reading. the
charact eristics of the text, and their relative success with reading.
By contrast. readers who are not strategic may not know about
strategies. may not realize the need to stop periodically to check
their own comprehension. and may not understand the benefits of
atrategt use. In short. these students may not have well developed
Metacognitive skills.
Studies of strategic reading have largely centered in three
overlapping areas: (a) mauninhig differences In strategic reading
among different groups. (b) identifying characteristics of strategic
readers. and (c) attempting to teach readers to rad strategically.
Many of the early studies Identified the characteristics of the
strategic readers. Later studies have tended to focus more on
attempts to develop strategic readers.

70 BEST COPY AVAIL; I LE

billbreness between Strateglo and Rea-Strete:lc Readers
Studies that have crammed strategic and nonstrategic
readers' use of strategies have indicated differences primarily in
terms of age or success in reading. In general, older readers and
more successful readers have been more strategic readers. These
differences have been specifically manifested in a number of ways.
First. some researchers have indicated that younger or less
successful readers are not aware of task demands. For example.
Myers and Paris (1978) found that young children were unaware of
many Important parameters of reading. They were not sensitive to
task dimensions or the need to involve special strategies for
different materials and goals.* Bristow 11985) added to these
findings when she indicated that good and poor readers have
different views of reading.
Second. other authorities have indicated that younger or less
successfirl readers lack metacognitive development. Otto (1985)
commented that Poor readers' metacognitive development tends to
lag behind their cognitive development in reading. Even when they
seem able to perform satisfactorily under a teacher's supervision.
they seldom or never reread purposefully when meaning is unclear.
they report little or no awareness of an occasional lack of
understanding. they do not realize the need for exact understanding
when reading directions. and they seem unable to use reading as a
versatile tool for learning and pleasure .°
Third. many researchers have shown that strategic and non-
strategic readers differ in how they understand what they read.
Spring (1985) found that college freshman. good and poor readers.
differed in the types of strategies that they used; good readers used
comprehension strategies associated with understanding what
they read. while poor readers more often used study strategies.
Spring suggested that poor readers 'May rely heavily on study
strategies without first having completely understood the text
material to be studied.' Winograd (1984). who looked at how good
and poor eighth grade readers approached summarizing tarts,
concluded that while most poor readers know the demands of the
summarization task. some of the poor readers had difficulty
identifying information that adults consider to be important.
FOurth. inappropriate placement in materials may be a lector
that distinguishes good from poor readers. Poor readers are more
often placed to material that is inappropriate for them. This
misplacement detracts from ante& reading perfonnance.
rum several authors have also suggested that poor readers
tend to exhibit learned helplessness. The learned helplessness Is
manifested in lower expectations of success and easily shaken
=Mentz Readers become very passive.
Sixth. researchers have described strategic and nonstrategle
eaders as differing in their control of the learning situation.
5impson (19841 indicated that college sophomores who were poor

BEST COPY
71 AVAILABLE
readers 'had a restricted range of strategies for learning from text
and an even more naive concept of how to plan tasks or evaluate
acco-elish:nents.° farces mu=ted that 'One difference between
CectIve and ineffective learners is that effective learners generate
their own strztes for coding. retrieving. and . manipulating
knowledg-- they are in control of their learning process.'
...

12042vo abate& Readisss

In addition to lemming more about strategic reading through
the comparison of successful and less successful readers.
researchers have looked closely at the reading behavior of older and
mote s=led readers In order to identify characteristics of effective
strategic readers. Smith (1982. 1985) identified several charac-
teristics. First. 'mature readers change tactics easily, quickly
recognizing when one Idea isn't working and coming up with
another to .try Instead" .Second. effective readers seem to feel
ownership of a task. They feel that they are In control. Third. skilled
readers use non-reading strategies such as taking breaks and they
report having experienced dramatic breakthroughs following those
breaks. Fourth. skilled readers feel a desire to talk to a
knowledgeable other person to help with 'monitoring. By talking
th this other individual they test their comprektension.
Anderson (1980) also studied skilled venders. He identified
study strategies that were naturally used by these skilled readers.
These strategies were contrasted with those recommended by
experts: 'The qualitative difference is great between strategies that
students report using and those that the 'experts' advocate using.*
In addition to highlighting the Importance of knowing the actual as,
opposed to the recommended use of strategies. 'Anderson gave the
possible explanations that the use of the strategies Is situational,.
and that strategies have a cost hi time and effort. .
.

TsaddogetudentstolleIffeothre litsategleltsadera .

While many studies have focused on tdentitYing characbrrismis.

of good 'and poor readers, a number of the more recent studies
examined ways of teaching students to be more strategic readers.
These studies focused on several related variables.
First, many stressed the Importance 'of increasing student
awareness of strategies. Paris. Cross. and Lipson (1984) used an
approach called Warned Strategies for Latinate, which stressed
children's awareness and .veff, effective reacting strategies.. They
argued that Alma instruclkm- and increased :awareness lead to
better strategy Use.. 'Armbruster:4nd Anderson'.11981)..ptopoied
teaching about four variables affecting the act of studying: (a) the
study task, (b) materials. (c) the student's characteristic.. .and. Id) ,
strategies.
Second, ,other studies have focused on ways of increasing

72 EST COPY AVAILABLE

C"
 the strategies wait under teacher direction. they do trot provide far
the necessary student control.
Second. what is the importance of the total reeding situation.
particularly the effect of the difficulty of the material? Ertckson.
Stahl. and Rinehart (1985) found that poor readers did monitor thetr
comprehension when given appropriate reading material. but did
not monitor when given difficult material. Smith 11985) found that
skilled readers got only limited benefit from strategies when faced
with very Mks& unfamiliar material. These readers were able to
summarize passages. but they did not understand the text.
Third. what are the costs of strategic reading? Sue strategic
reading requites more time and effort than simply reading. what are
the trade-offs? Particularly for non-strategic readers. when and how
do the beneets outweigh the ants?
As ran be seen In this brief review. much is known about
strategic reading and strategic readers. More information is being
generated. and possible teaching approaches are being identified.
The development of strategic readers has the potential to be a very
kultful avenue for research and practice.

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 094
TURNING CONTEMPORARY READING RESEARCH
INTO INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE

ALAN FRAGER
Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
and
AMOS HAHN
University of Texas, Arlington, Texas

If the 1960s and 1970s were the years that reading edu-
cators discovered that comprehension was really being tested,
not taught, and that the "Great Debate" between phonics
and whole-word instruction didn't matter much anyway,
then what have we learned in the 1980s? Many things, of
course, thanks to a quantum increase in the amount and
sophistication of reading research. The past era of reading
research, which focused on more global aspects of instruction
such as the effectiveness of the general approach the teacher
used or the books the children read, might be likened to
viewing reading instruction with a low-powered objective of
a microscope. While this perspective might have been helpful
for teachers choosing between instructional approaches
which were markedly different from each other (e.g., i/t/a,
synthetic phonics, and the linguistic approach), such benefit
is now limited because, as noted by Pearson (1985) and
Goodlad (1983), both instruction and instructional materials
have become homogeneous and eclectic to a high degree.
Contemporary reading research, as through the micro-
scope's more high-power objective, sheds light on finer
aspects of reading instruction, providing viewpoints on reading
and teaching which teachers can use in making smaller but
still significant modifications in their instructional practices.
Two of these "finer" aspects, modelling and direct teacher
explanation, seem to be the key mediators of research and
practice. This article highlights four promising areas of
contemporary reading research as well as the instructional
practices implied by recent findings.
7f
READING HORIZONS, Summer, 1988 page 264

Direct Teacher Explanation

Paris and his colleagues (Paris, Libson and Wixson,
1983; Paris, Oka and DeBritto, 1983) assert that any type
of instruction should provide students with three kinds of
knowledge; (a) declarative - knowing that a skill works,
(b) procedural - knowing how to perform the skill, and (c)
conditional - knowing when and why a skill should be used
to accomplish different purposes (Paris, Lipson and Wixson,
1983, pp. 303-304). Paris contends that of the three, condi-
tional knowledge is the most important because it provides
the metacognitive insight necessary for skill transfer. Since
research is documenting that commercial materials teachers
use often do not include the how, where, when, and why
for skill learning (Hare and Milligan, 1984; Johnston and
Byrd, 1983), Roehler and her colleagues trained teachers to
use direct explanation as a basis for skill instruction (Roeh-
ler and Duffy, 1984; Roehler, Duffy and Me loth, 1984). In
addition, students in these studies were asked, what were
you learning to do today, how do you do that, and why is
it important? Positive results of these training studies suggest
that direct explanation fosters greater student awareness
for skill learning and nudges the teacher to model and
practice a skill before students apply it to a text.
The instructional implications from the previous discus-
sion are evident. Skill instruction should now include the
how, why, when, and where of skill learning and application.
Contemporary research helps us see that good teaching
involves the teacher directly modeling for the students the
thinking processes required for a skill. For example, suppose
a teacher wanted to determine the explicitly stated main
idea of a paragraph. A possible instructional script would
be as follows:
Today, class, we are going to learn how to find
the main idea of a paragraph when it is stated in
a sentence somewhere in the paragraph. The main
idea of a paragraph states in a general way what
the whole paragraph is talking about. It is important
to know how to find the main idea because the
main idea tells us the most important information
that we should remember from a paragraph. Let
me show you how I find the main idea in the
paragraph I have written on the board.

77
 READING HORIZONS, Summer, 1988 page 265

Many kinds of products are made from different

parts of the bamboo plant. Paper and animal food
are made from bamboo leaves. Buckets, flutes and
fishing rods are made from bamboo stems. Medicine
is made from bamboo juice.
When I read the second, third and fourth sentences, I
see that each of these sentences tells about a specific
product made from a specific part of the bamboo plant.
These sentences that state specific information are
called detail sentences. But when I read the first sen-
tence, I see that it says "many kinds of products", not
just a specific product, are made from bamboo. I now
see that this sentence states in a general way what the
whole paragraph is talking about because the phrase,
"many kinds of products," includes animal feed, medicine,
etc. Therefore, this is the main idea sentence of this
paragraph. So, the most important information that I
want to remember from this paragraph is "many kinds
of products are made from bamboo." This is how I
determine the main idea of paragraphs when I read
chapters in my health, science and social studies texts.
But not all main ideas are found in the first sentence
of a paragraph. Sometimes they are found in the middle
or at the end of a paragraph. Watch as I read the next
paragraph that I have written. . . (same explanations
but the main idea would be located in another position).
This script makes explicit what is to be learned, why
the learning is important, how the learning is acquired, and
when/where it is used. Although time consuming, this type
of instruction readily demonstrates process as well as rele-
vancy of the learning.
Direct teacher explanation is an instructional practice
suggested by three other areas of contemporary reading
research: reading-writing connections, top level test struc-
tures, and main idea identification. In each instance, both
modeling and direct teacher explanation seem to provide the
necessary link by which practices recommended by research
can become methods which work in classrooms.
Reading-Writing Connection
Like reading, writing is a language/thinking process

8
 .

READING HORIZONS, Summer, 1988 page 266

which involves the structuring of meaning. The movement

to emphasize writing concurrently with reading has received
impetus from Smith (1982) and Karlin and Karlin (1984),
who have shown that acquiring writing skills assists student
development of reading comprehension skills. The federal
government through NEH grants for integrated language
arts projects and the media, through positive reports of
successful writing projects (e.g. Time, 1980) have helped
to sustain this momentum.
Parallel to developments in content reading instruction,
which aims to help students read to learn, research in
writing has focused on helping students also see writing as
a tool for learning. Studies by Rhea (1985) and Edelsky
and Smith (1984) have shown that when students write for
"natural" or "authentic" purposes, their writing was more
truthful, more varied, and much more satisfying to both
teachers and students. Authentic writing can be contrasted
to the bland, decontextualized writing that too often goes
on in schools in that authentic writing frequently has
another audience in mind beside the teacher (e.g., parents,
peers, editors, media personalities, etc.). Authentic writing
may also be thought of as writing which is done by people
in the world of work, from business memos to scientific
journals.
Authentic writing seems more likely to occur when a
writer has been reading the same type of text s/he is
trying to write. Smith's (1982) research suggests that a
developmental step of "reading like a writer" takes place
before an author can realize and use all the conventions
required in producing a certain type of text. Just as chil-
dren writing "The End" at the conclusion of an original
story shows they have been reading or listening to stories,
when children write "The End" at the conclusion of a
different type of text (essay, poem), it is evident that
they have not been reading these types of texts.
To develop this sense of "authentic" writing, teachers
need to explain and model the type of writing expected
from students. For example, suppose a teacher wanted her
students to write fables. Using the direct explanation
model, the teacher would read several fables to her class.
Following the reading of the fables, the teacher would
explain the basic components needed for this style of
writing. After the explanation, the teacher would write a

79
READING HORIZONS, Summer, 1988 page 267
fable on the board modeling the necessary writing processes.
This explanation and modeling should make explicit the
critical components needed for this type of writing. The
fables previously read should be examined in the light of
these critical components to .point out the room for devia-
tion from as well as conformity to the pattern. This model-
ing and analysis can help students view a genre as a set
of possibilities for writing instead of a set of limits.
Top-level Text Structure
Recent research has demonstrated that students who
display a sensitivity to a text's top-level structure (e.g.,
sequence, description), tend to (a) recall more important
detail information (Elliot, 1980; McGee, 1982; Taylor &
Samuels, 1982), (b) organize their recalls (either oral or
written) according to the text's overall structure (Hiebert,
Englert and Brennan, 1983; Meyer, Brandt and Bluth, 1980;
Taylor, 1980), and (c) show a transfer from text-structure
training to their own writing of expository prose (Taylor
and Beach, 1984). Since expository prose assumes increased
importance as students progress through their school years,
instruction regarding these top-level structures should be
considered: Description, sequence, enumeration, compare-
contrast, and problem/solution.
Text structure training should begin by using "pure"
examples of each text structure. If examples cannot be
located in texts, then examples will need to be generated
by the teacher. Each text structure should be explained by
the teacher. The teacher would stress how certain key
words in a text (e.g., first, second, same, different, etc.)
signal a specific structure, enumeration. Once a text struc-
ture has been identified, .the teacher would model how she
uses this structure to identify the most important informa-
tion in a text. S/he would then model how s/he rehearses
this important information to prepare for class discussions
of texts as well as writing research reports. Following
teacher explanation and modeling, students would be given
another text (same text structure) to practice identifying
and rehearsing the most important information.
Once students are familiar with this text structure
strategy, they should be expected to apply the strategy
independently when reading content-area texts. The teacher
should continually reinforce the use of this text structure
mcaWILN_1 rivrciz.viNal Jill ID met, 1.Y015 page 268
strategy by helping students to organize their writing
(papers, essay questions) as well as class discussion and/or
questions according to this strategy.
Main Idea Identification
A text strategy taught throughout all grade levels is
identifying the main idea of expository text. Baumann
(1982a) suggests that many students find this to be a diffi-
cult task. A possible reason for this difficulty is that com-
mercial materials used by teachers seem to vary in how
main idea is defined (Winograd & Brennan, 1983).
Hare and Milligan (1984) analyzed four well known
basal reading series to evaluate instructional explanations
for main idea identification. Although all the series agreed
on what main ideas are, where they are found and how
they are useful, all the series seemed to avoid the issue
of how one determines the main idea of a text. Overall,
main idea instruction was characterized by mentioning
rather than by true explanation.
Baumann and Serra (1984) analyzed various social
studies texts to determine how often main ideas are direct -.
ly stated in these texts and if most main idea statements
are found at the beginnings of paragraphs. They found
that for all texts surveyed, 44% of the passages contained
simple main ideas, 30% contained delayed completion main
ideas, and 26% contained inferred main ideas. Concerning
main idea placement, 63% of the simple main ideas were
found in the first sentence, 21% appeared in the middle of
the paragraph, and 12% appeared in the last sentence. But
when all passages were analyzed, only 29% had main ideas
stated in the first sentence position.
Because of the many problems inherent in commercial
programs and texts, direct explanation of this skill by
teachers is crucial. Using natural text (paragraph or pas-
sage), the teacher needs to explain how s/he determines if
a paragraph has an explicitly stated main idea sentence.
Instruction should begin with texts that do have directly
stated main idea sentences. Following sufficient teacher
explanation and modeling as well as student practice ses-
sions, implicit main idea instruction should be given. Using
natural texts also will sensitize students to the fact that
main ideas are not always found in the first sentence
READING HORIZONS, Summer, 1988 page 269
position and many times students will need to generate
their own main idea statements.
When students are competent at this strategy, they
could then be shown how their strategy assists in writing
a text summary, developing a chapter outline and in taking
notes for future study.
Conclusion
The four areas of contemporary research
reading
which have been the focus of this article--using direct ex-
planation to enhance the reading/writing connection as
well as to teach top-level text' structure and main idea
identification--are not the only promising or interesting
ideas under scrutiny by reading professionals. Nor do they
offer to reading teachers the guarantee that, if taught, all
comprehension problems would be resolved. Rather, the
implication is that teaachers do not need to substitute one
whole approach to teaching reading for another, like phonics
for linguistics, as was done so often in the past to improve
reading instruction. Improvement will more likely be the
result of teachers modeling and giving direct explanations
of specific reading strategies which have been demonstrated
to be effective for improving comprehension.
REFERENCES
Baumann, J.F. (1982). Research on children's main idea
comprehension: A problem of ecological validity. Read-
ing Psychology, 3, 167-177.
Baumann,J.F. & J.K.Serra. (1984). The frequency and place-
ment of main ideas in children's social studies text-
books. Journal of Reading Behavior, 16, 27-40.
Belloni,L.F. & E.A.Jongsma. (1978). The Effects of Interest
on Reading Comprehension of Low Achieving Students.
Journal of Reading, 22, 106-109.
Bergquist, L. & M. Kensock. (1981). Reluctant Readers are
Formed--Not Born. Ohio Reading Teacher, 16, 1981,9-13
Edelsky, C. & K. Smith. (1984). Is that writing--or are
those marks just a figment of your curriculum? Lan-
guage Arts, 61, 24-32.
Eliot, S. (1980). Children's knowledge and use of organiza-
tional patterns of prose in recalling what they read.

82
READING HORIZONS, Summer, 1988 page 270

Journal of Reading Behavior, 12, 203-212.

Good lad, J. (1983). A Place Called School. NY: McGraw Hill.
Hare, V.C. & B.Milligan. (1984). Main idea identification:
Instructional explorations in four basal reader series.
Jourrial of Reading Behavior, 16, 189-204.
Hiebert,E.H., C.S.Englert, & S. Brennan. (1983). Awareness
of text structure in recognition and production of
expository discourse. Journal of Reading Behavior, 15,
63-79.
Johnston,P. & M.Byrd. (1983). Basal readers and the improve-
ment of reading comprehension ability. In Niles &
Harris (Eds.), Searches for meaning in reading/language
processing and instruction. Rochester, NY: N. R. C.
Karlin, R. & A.R.Karlin. (1984). Writing for Reading.
Reading Horizons, 24, 124-128.
McGee, L. Awareness of text structure: Effects on children's
recall of expository text. (1982). Reading Research
Quarterly, 17, 1982, 581-590.
Meyer,B., D.Brandt & G.Bluth. (1980). Use of top-level
structure in text: Key for comprehension of ninth-grade
students. Reading Research Quarterly, 16, 72-103.
Peris, S.G., M.Y.Lipson & K.K.Wixson. (1983). Becoming a
strategic reader. Contemporary Educational Psychology,
8, 293-316.
Paris,S.G., E.P.Oka, .& E.M.Britto. (1983). Beyond decoding:
Synthesis of research on reading comprehension. Edu-
cational Leadership, 41, 78-83.
Pearson, P. (1985). Changing the face of reading comprehen-
sion instruction. The Reading Teacher, 38, 724-738.
Rhea, P. (1986). Writing for natural purposes. English
Journal, 75, 43-50.
Roehler,L.R. & G.G.Duffy. (1984). Direct explanation of
comprehension processes. In Duffy, Roehler, & Mason
(Eds.), Comprehension Instruction, perspective and sug-
gestions. N.Y.: Longman.

83
READING HORIZONS, Summer, 1988 page 271

Roehler,L.R., G.G.Duffy, & M.Meloth. (1984). The effects

and some distinguishing characteristics of explicit
teacher explanation during reading instruction. In Niles
& Harris (Eds.), Changing perspectives on research in
reading/language processing and instruction. Rochester,
NY: The National Reading Conference.
The Righting of Writing. Time, May 19, 1980, 88-92.
Smith, F. Writing and the Writer. (1980). NY: Holt, Rine-
hart, and Winston.
Taylor,B. (1980). Children's memory for expository text
after reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 15, 399-411.
Taylor,. B. & R. Beach. (1984). The effects of text structure
instruction on middle-grade students' comprehension
and production of expository text. Reading Research
Quarterly, 19, 134-146.
Taylor, B. & S. Samuels. (1983). Children's use of text
structure in the recall of expository material. American
Educational Research Journal, 20, 517-528.
Winograd, P. & S. Brennan. (1983). Main idea instruction
in the basal readers. In Niles & Harris (Eds.), Searches
for meaning in reading/language processing and instruc-
tion. Rochester, NY: The National Reading Conference.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Selected Abstracts from the ERIC
Educational Resources Database

ERIC Clearinghouse on
Reading, English, and Communication
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
 How to Read an ERIC Abstract
and Find Related Articles on this Subject

The ERIC educational resource database includes more than 800,000 bibliographic records.
Educational resources listed in the ERIC database are of two types: EJ, journal (magazine)
articles, which are easily found in most Education libraries, or through interlibrary loan; and
ED, documents such as Master's theses, which are available at any library that has an ERIC
microfiche collection. ED documents can also be ordered directly from ERIC Document
Reproduction Service by using the form at the end of this bibliography section.

You may also wish to perform your own ERIC database search, to retrieve the most current
information on your topic. This is easily done at any Education library; it may also be
available to you online through your university computing system.

In the following bibliography, we have selected some recent relevant articles that you may
wish to read for your further knowledge, or to use in a Distance Education
Application/Research Project. ERIC abstracts are easy to read, once you are used to the
system, which is detailed below.

Sample ERIC Abstract

Note that this abstract has an El accession number, which means that the work abstracted is a journal article.

ERIC Accession Number

identification number sequentially
assigned to articles as they are Clearinghouse Accession
processed.
-tom Number
EJ446919 EC606287
Article Title 0- Family-Centered Techniques: Integrating
Enablement into the IFSP Process. Andrews.
Author(s) *- Mary A.; Andrews. James R. Journal of Childhood -0 Journal Title
Communication Disorders, v15 n1 p41-46 1993
Reprint Availability --0- (Reprint: UMI) Volume No., Issue No., Pages
Descriptive Note Note: Theme Issue: Service Delivery to Infants and Publicaton Date
Toddlers: Current Perspectives.
ISSN: 0735-3170 ISSN
Major and Minor Descriptors *- Descriptors: Child Rearing: Communication (International Standard Serial
subject terms found in the Disorders: 'Early Intervention: Number)
Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors that
Family Involvement; Individual Development:
characterize substantive content.
Only the major terms (preceded by Objectives: Parenting Skills: Skill Development:
an asterisk) are printed in the Teamwork: Young Children
Subject Index of Current Index to Identifiers: 'Enabler Model: Family Needs: Major and Minor identifiers
Journals in Education (CUE). Individualized Family Service Plans terms found in the Identifier
Authority List that characterize
This article describes techniques, used in a family- proper names or concepts not yet
Annotation represented by descriptors. Only the
centered early intervention project, that both assist in
major terms (preceded by an
accomplishing the goals of the Individualized asterisk) are printed in the Subject
Family Service Plan process and create opportunities Index of Current Index to Journals in
for families to display their present competencies Education.
and acquire new oncs to meet the needs of their
children with communication disorders.
Annotator's initials 0- (Author/JDD)

;Nolo: The format of an ERIC Journal

Article resume will vary according to
the source from which the database
Is accessed. The above format is
'from the printed Index. Current Index
to Journals in Education. 86
1/95

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 The 0:Oi lowirig.Abstracts on "What WOrkit:
Are,from the ERIC Educational Resources Database
AN: ED392237 preliminary evidence of their instructional effectiveness
AU: Dombey,-Henrietta is presented. (Author/PB)
TI: Eight Lessons from Research Into Literacy.
PY: 1992 AN: EJ514832
NT: 18 p.; In: Perspectives on Reading. CLE Working AU: Pressley,-Michael; And-Others
Papers 2. For complete volume, see FL 023 547. This TI: The Comprehension Instruction That Students
paper formed the basis of a talk to the Centre for Need: Instruction Fostering Constructively
Language in Education. Responsive Reading.
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. PY: 1995
AB: This article explores research evidence on the JN: Learning-Disabilities-Research-and-Practice; v10
teaching of reading from eight specific points: (1) n4 p215-24 1995
readers engage in a complex, multi-level process that AB: This study reviews research indicating that specific
involves knowledge of sound-symbol relations, spelling instruction in reading comprehension strategies is
patterns, vocabulary, sentence structures, propositional effective in improving comprehension for students,
meanings, and realms of meaning beyond individual including those with learning disabilities. The reading
propositions; (2) literacy learning is not to be simply strategies of highly competent readers are identified,
and straightforwardly equated with teaching in school; and effective application of transactional strategies
(3) it is an active process, driven and shaped by the instruction with weak second-grade readers and weak
learner's intentions; (4) it operates most middle-school and secondary readers is reported. (DB)
characteristically on a number of different linguistic
levels simultaneously and is not made easier by being AN: EJ514642
broken down into apparently simpler elements that are AU: Juel,-Connie
then taught separately; (5) Children vary in the amount TI: The Messenger May Be Wrong, but the Message
of direct literacy teaching they need, but all do much of May Be Right.
their literacy learning tacitly, implicitly; (6) there are PY: 1995
many important literacy lessons that only powerful texts JN: Journal-of-Research-in-Reading; v18 n2 p146-53
can teach; (7) literacy is laden with the values of the Sep 1995
social context that both surrounds and is shaped by it; AV: UMI
(8) there is no substitute for watching how, when, NT: Special issue: The Contribution of Psychological
where, and why children learn reading and writing and Research.
responding to the efforts of adults to help them. It is AB: Suggests that abandoning controlled vocabulary
concluded that successful literacy teaching can only be texts on the assumption that reading is a
accomplished when these eight research foundations psycholinguistic guessing game was wrong. Claims
are followed. (Contains references.) (Author/NAV) that the current emphasis on strategy instruction,
scaffolded reading experiences, and the use of writing
AN: EJ516969 to foster letter-sounds may provide good outcomes for
AU: Newton,-Douglas-P. those teachers and children who dreaded reading
TI: The Role of Pictures in Learning to Read. instruction in dull texts and even duller workbooks. (RS)
PY: 1995
JN: Educational-Studies; v21 n1 p119-30 Mar 1995 AN: EJ514637
AV: UMI AU: Perfetti,-Charles-A.
AB: Maintains that pictures are one constant aspect of TI: Cognitive Research Can Inform Reading
children's books. Reviews research on whether pictures Education.
hinder or facilitate the development of reading skills in PY: 1995
young children. Provides suggestions on when and JN: Journal-of-Research-in-Reading; v18 n2 p106-15
where pictures might provide instructional support. Sep 1995
(CFR) AV: UMI
NT: Special issue: The Contribution of Psychological
AN: EJ516135 Research.
AU: Torgesen,-Joseph-K.; Barker,-Theodore-A. AB: Discusses four clear contributions of cognitive
TI: Computers as Aids in the Prevention and research that deserve special attention: (1) skilled
Remediation of Reading Disabilities. readers read words rather than skip them; (2) less
PY: 1995 skilled readers do rely on context; (3) skilled readers
JN: Learning- Disability - Quarterly; v18 n2 p76-87 Spr use phonology in reading; and (4) children learn to read
1995 successfully by learning how their writing system
AV: UMI works. (RS)
NT: Special issue: Technology for Persons with
Learning Disabilities: An International Perspective.
AB: This article provides examples of ways computer-
assisted instruction can help children with learning
disabilities (LD) learn to read more effectively.
Computer programs providing training in phonological
awareness, specific context-free word identification
skills, and reading of connected text are described, and

87 Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 1

In JEST COPY AVAILABLE
AN: EJ513997 phonological processing ability explains significant
AU: Share,-David-L. differences between good and poor readers; (2)
TI: Phonological Recoding and Self-Teaching: Sine phonological awareness is a general ability with
qua non of Reading Acquisition. multiple dimensions; (3) phonological awareness has a
PY: 1995 reciprocal relation to reading acquisition; (4)
JN: Cognition; v55 n2 p151-218 May 1995 phonological awareness is necessary but not sufficient
AB: Elaborates the view that phonological recoding, or for reading acquisition; and (5) phonological awareness
print-to-sound translation, is a self-teaching mechanism is teachable and promoted by attention to instructional
enabling learners to acquire the orthographic variables. Also discussed are issues of construct
representations necessary for visual word recognition. validity, the importance of explicit teaching of
Discusses developmental properties of phonological phonological awareness, the value of combining
recoding, reviews evidence on the importance of phonological awareness instruction with instruction in
cognitive abilities underlying the development of letter-sound correspondences, and the value of
phonological recoding, and examines issues relevant to providing intense and explicit instruction in phonological
phonemic awareness and early reading instruction. awareness to diverse learners who may potentially
(BC) have reading disabilities. A table allows comparison of
the major studies reviewed. (Contains 32 references
AN: ED386869 and 4 figures.) (DB)
AU: Smith,-Sylvia-Barrus; And-Others
TI: Phonological Awareness: Curricular and AN: ED386864
instructional Implications for Diverse Learners. AU: Dickson,-Shirley-V.; And-Others
Technical Report No. 22. TI: Text Organization and Its Relation to Reading
CS: National Center To Improve the Tools of Comprehension: A Synthesis of the Research.
Educators, Eugene, OR. Technical Report No. 17.
PY: 1995 CS: National Center To Improve the Tools of
NT: 24 p.; For a related document, see EC 304 257. Educators, Eugene, OR.
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. PY: 1995
AB: This review focuses on areas of converging NT: 60 p.
evidence concerning the importance of phonological PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.
awareness and the corresponding curricular and AB: This research review focuses on the effects and
instructional implications for diverse learners. Five implications of text organization, both physical
areas of converging evidence are identified: (1) presentation and text structure, and on reading
phonological processing ability explains significant comprehension, with special emphasis on the
differences between good and poor readers; (2) comprehension of diverse learners. The review
phonological awareness (a component of phonological includes students in kindergarten through college, who
processing) is a unitary construct with multiple are high and low readers and comprehenders; low
dimensions; (3) phonological awareness has a performers/achievers; remedial readers; normal
reciprocal and causal relation to reading acquisition; (4) achievers and general education students; and
phonological awareness is a necessary but insufficient students who have learning disabilities (LD), dyslexia,
skill for early reading acquisition; and (5) phonological behavior disorders, and mild mental retardation. The
awareness is teachable and promoted by attention to research indicates that reading comprehension is
instructional design variables. The curriculum design enhanced by text organization, students' awareness of
principles of conspicuous strategies, mediated text organization, students' strategic use of text
scaffolding, strategic integration, primed background organization, and explicit instruction in the physical text
knowledge, and judicious review are then discussed in presentation and/or text structure. Text organization
terms of application to developing phonological includes the visual, physical organization (e.g.,
awareness. The review notes that similar levels of heading, location of main idea) as well as less visible
procedural details were not found for each design text structures (e.g., narrative and sequence). Attention
principle despite strong support for the underlying idea is directed to implications for learning of well-presented
of phonological awareness. (Contains 14 references text, and instruction in and student strategic use of text
and 2 figures.) (DB) structure. A chart of research studies reviewed
identifies study author(s) and year, number and type of
AN: ED386868 study participants, the type of text organization, and the
AU: Smith,-Sylvia-Barrus; And-Others study purpose. (Contains 22 references.) (SW)
TI: Synthesis of Research on Phonological
Awareness: Principles and Implications for AN: ED386862
Reading Acquisition. Technical Report No. 21. AU: Chard,-David-J.; And-Others
CS: National Center To Improve the Tools of TI: Understanding the Primary Role of Word
Educators, Eugene, OR. Recognition in the Reading Process: Synthesis of
PY: 1995 Research on Beginning Reading. Technical Report
NT: 72 p.; For a related document, see EC 304 258. No. 15.
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. CS: National Center To Improve the Tools of
AB: This research synthesis identifies areas of Educators, Eugene, OR.
convergence in reading research regarding the PY: 1995
importance, dimensions, and effects of phonological NT: 47 p.
awareness on the reading acquisition process. It also PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.
highlights similarities and differences between normal AB: Evidence regarding the centrality of word
achievers and diverse learners. The following five areas recognition to the reading process is considered, based
of research convergence are identified: (1) on a review of research on beginning reading from 15

Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 2

secondary sources. The research includes diverse Circus"); math ("Careers in Math: From Architects to
learners who are low performers, learning or reading Astronauts') and nature ("Eyewitness"). Provides
disabled, remedial readers, high achievers, culturally details of each program and addresses to contact for
disadvantaged, language delayed, and linguistically more information. (BAC)
diverse. The characteristics, contexts, and conditions of
learners and learning are discussed. Evidence from a AN: ED381747
variety of models and frames of reference In beginning AU: Kibby,-Michael-W.
reading research is presented, Including cognitive, TI: Student Literacy: Myths and Realities. Fastback
Instructional, and educational psychology; linguistics; 381.
and special education. Four areas of convergence from CS: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation,
the studies reviewed are identified, with implications for Bloomington, Ind.
word recognition: reading comprehension is dependent PY: 1995
on strong word recognition skills; strong word AV: Phi Delta Kappa, 408 N. Union, P.O. Box 789,
recognition requires understanding that words can be Bloomington, IN 47402-0789 ($1.25 plus processing
spoken or written, print corresponds to speech, and fee).
words are composed of phonemes; alphabetic NT: 27 p.
understanding facilitates word recognition; and PR: EDRS Price - MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not
phonological recoding combined with word frequency Available from EDRS.
mediates word recognition. A chart Identifies study AB: Suggesting that too many educators and parents
author(s) and year, number and type of study believe the myth of declining student literacy, this
participants, the beginning reading dimension, and the fastback puts student literacy In focus by examining
purpose of the study. (Contains 27 references.) (SW) trends in reading achievement from 1840 to the 1990s.
The fastback discusses "then-and-now" studies, test
AN: ED386860 restandardizatlon studies, and the National
AU: Baker,-Scott-K.; And-Others Assessment of Educational Progress, concluding that
TI: Vocabulary Acquisition: Synthesis of the unqualified statements that proclaim a decline in
Research. Technical Report No. 13. literacy are wrong. The fastback also examines some
CS: National Center To improve the Tools of of the instructional Issues obscured by "quick-fix"
Educators, Eugene, OR. remedies implemented in response to the perceived
PY: 1995 decline in achievement--the need for (1) more reading
NT: 55 p. Instruction for all students; (2) more difficult texts,
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. especially for average and better readers; (3) more
AB: Recent research on vocabulary development Is critical analysis and synthesis of information from
reviewed, highlighting issues related to diverse multiple texts; and (4) more emphasis on meaningful
learners. The review included studies of students who vocabulary throughout the grades. (RS)
are low performers; learning or reading disabled;
remedial readers; high achievers; and students who are AN: ED380947
culturally disadvantaged, language delayed, and AU: Bailey, - Jane -M.; And-Others
linguistically diverse. Areas of convergence in the TI: Language Arts Topics Papers.
research literature on vocabulary acquisition are CS: College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.
identified: vocabulary size differences among students; School of Education.; Washington-Warren-Hamilton-
factors that contribute to individual differences in Essex Counties Board of Cooperative Educational
vocabulary development, including generalized Services, Hudson Falls, NY. Southern Adirondack
linguistic differences, memory deficits, and poor word Educational Center.
learning strategies; successful methods to Improve the PY: 1994
vocabularies of students with diverse learning needs; AV: College of William & Mary, School of Education,
and the relation between vocabulary knowledge and Center for Gifted Education, 232 Jamestown Rd.,
reading achievement. Issues concerning the direct Williamsburg, VA 23185 ($10 plus 10% shipping and
instructional approach to word meanings are handling).
discussed, along with the use of semantic NT: 79 p.
mapping/features analysis and keyword and computer- PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC04 Plus Postage.
assisted methods. A chart provides information on the AB: This document brings together six papers on
studies reviewed, identifying the author(s) and year, language skills and language arts teaching of gifted
number and type of study participants, the vocabulary students. 'The State of the Art Issues in Language
dimension, and the purpose of the study. (Contains 34 Study for High Ability Learners: Thinking about
references.) (SW) Language with Gifted Children" (Michael Clay
Thompson) considers two areas traditionally included in
AN: EJ501968 discussions of language study--grammar and
AU: Allen,-Denise vocabularyand a third area that should be included
TI: Teaching with Technology. Software That's the study of aesthetic language structures that interact
Right for You. with and have an impact on syntax. 'Reading,
PY: 1995 Language, and Literacy Development' (Jane M. Bailey)
JN: Teaching-PreK-8; v25 n8 p14-17 May 1995 points out that meaning is the linking concept among
AV: UMI reading, language, and literacy, and contends that the
AB: Recommends software to help teachers plan role of schools is to provide first, a knowledge base
curriculum In the areas of comprehensive language upon which students can build networks of connectors
arts ("Cornerstone*); writing and information ("Keroppl and second, a curricular environment to pose the
Day Hopper"); creative writing and Imagination necessary ambiguities to extend those networks.
("Imagination Express"); reading ("Jo-Jo's Reading. 'Teaching with Writing: The State of the Art' (Colleen
Kennedy) describes a writing pedagogy that helps

89 Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 3

EST COPY AVAILABLE,

students understand the extended audience and larger TI: Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading.
purpose of writing, by integrating writing with the Fourth Edition.
teaching of content areas throughout the curriculum CS: International Reading Association, Newark, Del.
and from kindergarten through college. "Issues in PY: 1994
Contemporary Oral Communication instruction" (Ann L. AV: International Reading Association, 800 Barksdale
Chaney) offers a working definition of oral Rd., P.O. Box 8139, Newark, DE 19714-8139 (ISBN -0-
communication, a review of pedagogical Implications, 87207- 437-4, paper: $60 members, $75 nonmembers;
and suggestions for adaptation of concept and skill ISBN-0-87207-438-2, cloth: $75 members, $100
instruction to gifted elementary and middle school nonmembers).
students. "The Concept of Change: Interdisciplinary NT: 1,290 p.
Meaning and Inquiry' (Linda Neal Boyce) explores the PR: Document Not Available from EDRS.
concept of change in several disciplines, identifies key AB: Serving as a source of questions for researchers to
resources that focus on change, and examines the way investigate and a resource for professors and their
the concept of change has been applied in the National students, this book presents 51 essays that discuss
Language Arts Project for High Ability Learners. where the reading field has been, is now, and might be
"Creating a New Language Arts Curriculum for High going. More than 80% of the essays are new or revised
Ability Learners" (Joyce VanTassel- Baska) presents a from the third edition. Essays in the book Include
framework for developing a language arts curriculum ' Professional Connections: Pioneers and
that makes meaning through Inquiry, uses multicultural Contemporaries in Reading' (Harold L. Herber);
literature, is conceptually oriented, incorporates all "Learning about Literacy: A 30-Year Journey" (P. David
major strands of the language arts, and highlights Pearson and Diane Stephens); 'Children's Language
gifted education features. (Each paper contains and World: Initial Encounters with Print" (Jerome C.
references.) (JDD) Harste and others); "Language Acquisition and Literacy
Processes" (Robert B. Ruddell and Martha Rapp
AN: ED380783 Ruddell); 'Literacy Research in Community and
AU: Strech,-Lorie-L. Classrooms: A Sociocultural Approach' (Luis C. Moll);
TI: Ability Grouping for Elementary Reading "Children's Emergent Reading of Favorite Storybooks:
Instruction and Its Relationship to the Balanced A Developmental Study" (Elizabeth Sulzby);
Literacy Approach. ' Viewpoints: The Word and the World
PY: 1995 Reconceptualizing Written Language Development or,
NT: 73 p.; M.Ed. Project, California State University, Do Rainbows Mean a Lot to Little Girls?' (Anne Haas
Long Beach. Dyson); 'Word Recognition' (S. Jay Samuels);
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. "Becoming Literate through Authentic Tasks: Evidence
AB: This paper discusses implications of ability and Adaptations" (Eifrieda H. Hiebert);
grouping in elementary reading instruction according to ' Comprehension of Text Structures' (P. David Pearson
current research, and how such research can be and Kaybeth Camperell); "Learning to Learn from Text:
applied to the classroom practice of 'guided reading' A Framework for Improving Classroom Practice"
within a balanced literacy program. The paper suggests (Robert J. Tierney and P. David Pearson); "Problem-
that the "balanced literacy' approach from New Solving Schema with Question Generation for
Zealand is basically the same as whole language with Comprehension of Complex Short Stories' (Harry
the added component of guided reading, in which Singer and Dan Donlan); "A Dual Coding View of
students are placed in homogeneous ability groups. Imagery and Verbal Processes in Reading
The paper discusses definitions; presents a history of Comprehension' (Mark Sadoski and Allan Paivio);
the balanced literacy approach and ability grouping in 'Research in Reader Response, Naturally
reading instruction; addresses issues, controversies, Interdisciplinary' (James R. Squire); 'Readers as
programs, and contributors; and offers a synthesis and Writers Composing from Sources" (Nancy Nelson
analysis of existing research. The paper concludes that Spivey and James R. King); "Metacognition and
(1) there is not adequate evidence to apply all of the Executive Control' (Ruth Gamer); "Instructing
findings of research on ability grouping in traditional Comprehension-Fostering Activities in Interactive
dassrooms to the type of ability grouping In traditional Learning Situations' (Ann L. Brown and others);
classrooms; (2) the balanced literacy approach appears ' Toward a Theory of Automatic Information Processing
to be in line with whole language philosophies; (3) in Reading, Revisited' (S. Jay Samuels); "Modeling the
implementation of a balanced literacy program takes a Connections between Word Recognition and Reading°
large portion of the instructional day and involves risks (Marilyn Jager Adams); 'The Substrata-Factor Theory
for teachers and students. Recommendations in the of Reading" (Harry Singer); "A Cognitive Process
paper Include: teachers need to prioritize literacy; Theory of Writing' (Linda Flower and John R. Hayes);
content areas should be integrated into the balanced ' Reading as a Meaning-Construction Process: The
literacy classroom; administrators should establish Reader, the Text, and the Teacher' (Robert B. Ruddell
inservice training in the balanced literacy approach; and Norman J. Unrau); "The Transactional Theory of
and future researchers should conduct both Reading and Writing" (Louise M. Rosenblatt);
quantitative and qualitative research on specific effects 'Reading, Writing, and Written Texts: A Transactional
of ability grouping within a balanced literacy classroom. Sodopsycholinguistic View' (Kenneth S. Goodman);
Contains 93 references. Appendixes present suggested "Parallels between New Paradigms in Science and in
teaching sequences, a framework for literacy learning, Reading and Literacy Theories: An Essay Review"
descriptions of work areas in a learning to read (Constance Weaver); and "Literacy as Curricular
classroom, an example of a running record, and a daily Conversations about Knowledge, Inquiry, and Mortality"
schedule. (RS) (Jerome C. Harste). (RS)

AN: ED379626
AU: Ruddell,-Robert-B., Ed.; And-Others 90
Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 4
AN: EJ497017 a discussion of five areas for future research: (1) the
AU: Peat,-David-W. nature of reading; (2) learning to read and write; (3) the
TI: Towards Minimizing Social, Cultural, and acquisition of knowledge; (4) critical reading and
Intellectual Disruptions Embedded In Literacy thinking; and (5) the education of reading teachers.
Instruction. (RS)
PY: 1994
JN: Interchange; v25 n3 p261-79 Sep 1994 AN: EJ485211
AV: UMI AU: Kiefer,-Barbara
AB: To explain the concept of literacy, the Integrative TI: The Literature-Based Movement: Yesterday,
Systems Model of Literacy is developed, illustrating Today and Tomorrow.
how understanding literacy has direct applications to PY: 1994
both instruction and research. The model's utility in JN: Emergency-Librarian; v21 n5 p8-13 May-Jun 1994
reconciling opposing concepts of literacy is shown, AV: UMI
presenting practical suggestions for literacy instruction AB: Discusses literature-based classrooms and
which minimize social, cultural, and intellectual influences on students' reading habits. Highlights
disruption. (Author/SM) include beliefs about learning and teaching, including a
comparison of the transmission model and the
AN: EJ496027 transactional model of education; the importance of
AU: Dimino,-Joseph-A.; And-Others literary experiences for language development and
TI: Synthesis of the Research on Story Grammar as literacy learning, including phonological development;
a Means to Increase Comprehension. and efferent reading and aesthetic reading. (Contains
PY: 1995 48 references.) (LRW)
JN: Reading- and - Writing - Quarterly: - Overcoming-
Learning- Difficulties; v11 n1 p53-72 Jan-Mar 1995 AN: EJ480984
NT: Mini-Theme: Direct Instruction Reading. AU: Rekrut,- Martha -D.
AB: Reviews research on the effectiveness of story TI: Peer and Cross-Age Tutoring: The Lessons of
grammar in promoting the comprehension of narrative Research.
text in students with learning disabilities and at-risk PY: 1994
students. Offers Instructional recommendations for JN: Journal-of-Reading; v37 n5 p356-62 Feb 1994
successful Implementation of this strategy. (RS) AV: UMI
AB: Offers an overview of research findings on peer
AN: EJ494576 and cross-age tutoring, including what elements of
AU: Dowhower,-Sarah-L. reading are amenable to tutoring, the effects of the age
TI: Repeated Reading Revisited: Research Into and ability of tutors, gender pairing, and tutor training.
Practice. (SR)
PY: 1994
JN: Reading- and - Writing - Quarterly: - Overcoming- AN: EJ468599
Learning- Difficulties; v10 n4 p343-58 Oct-Dec 1994 AU: Pearson,-P.-David
NT: Mini-Theme: Individual Differences in Reading and TI: Teaching and Learning Reading: A Research
Writing. Perspective (Focus on Research).
AB: Summarizes findings about repeated reading since PY: 1993
the 1970s and details the most recent findings. Argues JN: Language-Arts; v70 n6 p502-11 Oct 1993
that, because of strong evidence of the effectiveness of AV: UMI
repeated reading, the many facets of this procedure NT: Themed Issue: Reading Instruction Today.
should be Integrated into the fabric of daily literacy AB: Synthesizes research on the basic processes and
Instruction. Offers specific suggestions for applications instructional factors that influence literacy development.
Including applications geared to children with reading Points out patterns of agreement and disagreement
problems. (SR) among literacy scholars and practitioners. Presents an
agenda for reading research of the future. (RS)
AN: ED376443
AU: Anderson,-Richard-C. AN: EJ459558
TI: The Future of Reading Research. Technical AU: Nicholson,-Tom
Report No. 600. TI: Reading Wars: A Brief History and an Update.
CS: Center for the Study of Reading, Urbana, IL. PY: 1992
PY: 1994 JN: Intemational-Joumal-of-Disability,-Development-
NT: 18 p. and-Education; v39 n3 p173-84 1992
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. NT: Theme Issue: Reading Difficulties.
AB: Providing a context for discussion rather than an AB: The debate among major theorists of the whole-
insider's point of view, this report discusses the current language approach (Kenneth Goodman and Frank
state of reading research. The report reviews differing Smith) and their critics (e.g., Philip Gough) is
visions of educational reform of reading instruction summarized. It concludes that the Goodman/Smith
espoused by supporters of phonics and by supporters theoretical position has not stood the test of time,
of the whole language approach. The report then though some of their Instructional recommendations
proposes four criteria for use in selecting future may be valid for other reasons. (Author/DB)
research projects--attack the most important problems,
attack problems whose solutions will lead to the
greatest advance in knowledge, attack problems the
field can solve, and attack problems whose solutions
can be implemented readily. The report concludes with

Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 5

91
AN: ED373319 NT: 14 p.
AU: Flowers,-Pearl; Roos,-Marie-C. PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
TI: Literature-Based Reading Programs: Elements AB: Various lines of research demonstrate that children
for Success. do not need intensive phonics instruction to develop the
PY: 1994 functional command of letter/sound patterns that they
NT: 49 p. need as readers. The fact that children normally learn
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. highly complex processes and systems by merely
AB: This paper reviews the literature and research on interacting with the external world is perhaps the most
literature-based reading programs (as an alternative to important reason why children do not need systematic
basal reading instruction) that have proven successful and intensive phonics Instruction. Other reasons
and identifies key elements of such programs. The first (based on research) are: (1) English is an alphabetic
part of the paper contains an Introduction, a statement language, but by no means a phonetic one; (2)
of the problem, the significance of the problem, a spelling/sound relationships are extremely complex, so
description of the procedures to be used, and complex that commonly taught phonics generalizations
definitions of terms. The second part of the paper are not reliable; (3) patterns of letters are much more
presents a review of the literature and research related consistent than the relationships between single
to literature-based reading programs. The last part of sounds and syllables; (4) it Is much easier for young
the paper Includes a summary, conclusion, and children to hear and grasp syllables and syllable-like
recommendations. The paper concludes that the units in written language than to hear separate letter
success of literature-based reading programs is well- sounds; (5) proficient reading involves using everything
documented and that such programs serve as a viable readers know to get words and construct meaning from
approach to teaching reading at the elementary level. text; (6) too much emphasis on phonics encourages
Recommendations offered in the paper Include: (1) children to use 'sound it out" as their first and possibly
literature-based reading instruction should be only independent strategy for dealing with problem
introduced at the earliest grades; (2) librarians, words; (7) many emergent readers are not good at
teachers, and parents need to cooperate in carrying out leaming analytically, abstractly, or auditorily; (8)
effective literature-based programs in their schools; (3) research purporting to demonstrate the superiority of
longitudinal studies should be conducted to determine intensive systematic phonics over incidental phonics
the long range effect of literature-based reading (most of which is pre-1967) is not very impressive; and
programs on academic achievement; and (4) teachers (9) more recent research comparing whole language
should provide an environment in which students view classrooms with traditional skills-based classrooms
themselves as good readers who can enjoy and profit (including those that emphasize phonics) has found
from various kinds of materials. Contains 58 that children develop phonics skills as well or better in
references. (RS) whole language classrooms as measured on
standardized tests. (Contains 41 references.) (RS)
AN: ED371291
AU: Abromitis,-Barbara AN: ED370082
TI: The Role of Metacognition in Reading AU: Shearer,-Arleen-P.; Homan,-Susan-P.
Comprehension: Implications for Instruction. TI: Linking Reading Assessment to Instruction: An
Literacy Research Report No. 19. Application Worktext for Elementary Classroom
CS: Northern Illinois Univ., De Kalb. Curriculum and Teachers.
Instruction Reading Clinic. PY: 1994
PY: 1994 AV: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New
AV: NIU Reading Clinic, Graham 119-Northern Illinois York, NY 10010 ($18.66).
University, Deka lb, IL 60115. NT: 271 p.
NT: 31 p. PR: Document Not Available from EDRS.
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. AB: A field-tested 'worktext," this book applies current
AB: Metacognition has received recent attention by theory to classroom practice by providing, in each
researchers and teachers alike because of the chapter, a brief explanation of major concepts followed
possibilities for successful instruction and intervention by guided practical experience in administering,
for readers at all levels. This paper explores the area of scoring, and interpreting reading assessment
metacognition as it relates specifically to reading techniques. The book emphasizes the use of
comprehension. The paper addresses six areas: (1) the assessment and diagnosis for instructional decision-
definitions of metacognition, metacomprehension and making; stresses the use of informal assessment
metalinguistic awareness; (2) the significance of techniques but also includes coverage of standardized
metacognition In the cognitive processing of written text test scores; provides both classroom tested results in
by good and poor readers; (3) the teacher's role in interpretations of data; and includes numerous "hands-
developing metacognitive abilities; (4) specific on" activity worksheets. Chapters in the book are: (1)
strategies that have successfully increased Assessment and Diagnosis Defined; (2) Self-
metacognitive skills; (5) ideas for assessing Evaluation; (3) Structured Observations and the
metacognitive abilities both for research and instruction Interview; (4) Using Standardized Test Scores; (5)
purposes; and (6) recommendations for future study of Identifying Problem Readers; (6) Informal Reading
the role metacognition plays within the reading process. Inventory; (7) Evaluating Comprehension Strategies;
Contains 87 references. (RS) (8) Assessment of Word-Recognition Knowledge and
Spelling Stages; and (9) Grouping and Instructional
AN: ED370090 Decision Making. Directions for the Directed Listening-
AU: Weaver,-Constance Thinking Activity, directions for the Language
TI: Phonics Revisited. Experience Approach, and extra forms are attached.
PY: [1994] (RS)
92
Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 6

EST COPY AVAILABLE,

AN: ED368145 with, and positive toward, computers. Computers help
AU: Shaughnessy,-Michael-F.; And-Others monitor successful learning. Computer groups spend
TI: Gifted and Reading. more time on task; however, this is due to the special
PY: [1994] features used in computers. No definite answer
NT: 15 p. supported either mode of presentation in efficiency.
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. However, the review suggests that the quality of
AB: This article reviews the literature and practice software and hardware may influence computer
(especially in New Mexico) concerning reading efficiency and more studies are needed in different
instruction of gifted children. it considers early or instructional situations and subject areas. (Contains 32
'precocious' reading, instruction in the early grades, references.) (Author/RS)
and identification of the gifted in New Mexico. Reading
teachers in New Mexico are urged to be aware of AN: ED350849
specific conflicts in the area of gifted identification and AU: Field,-Mary-Lee
gifted instruction. The seven intelligences identified by TI: Reading Research: A Guide to Classroom
H. Gardner are listed. The appropriateness of Practices and Teaching Tools.
traditional basal reading programs for this population is PY: 1992
questioned. A variety of literacy activities are NT: 17 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of
encouraged, including guest speakers in the the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
classroom, tie-ins of books with television or movies, Languages (26th, Vancouver, British Columbia,
student creative writing, investigatory activities, and Canada, March 3-7, 1992).
activities which develop higher order thinking skills. PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
(Contains 14 references.) (DB) AB: Research on six major issues in reading is
organized into charts and a bibliography. For each of
AN: ED366908 the six areas (schema theory, reading strategies and
AU: Zhang,-Zhicheng processes, comprehension studies, culture and
TI: Literature Review on Reading Strategy reading, methods for teaching reading,
Research. cognitive/metacognitive issues), relevant research is
PY: 1993 summarized in a chart. Each chart contains two
NT: 18 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of sections, one describing the classroom pradices
the Mid-South Educational Research Association (New supported by the research and one listing specific
Orleans, LA, November 10-12, 1993). tools, ideas, techniques, definitions, or teaching aids
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. suggested in the literature. Each bibliographic item
AB: Reading strategies that have been identified and cited in the summary is annotated in the accompanying
recommended by recent literature can be classified into bibliography. Key terms in reading research are defined
four categories: cognitive strategies, compensation in an introductory section, and a 26-item non-annotated
strategies, memory strategies, and test-taking bibliography is appended. (MSE)
strategies. Research indicated that the use of
appropriate strategies may improve reading AN: ED348650
comprehension. Research has also suggested that AU: Lopez,-Pamela
readers could be trained to team and use reading TI: Metacognitive Strategies for Teaching Reading
strategies, which raised the need to incorporate reading to Elementary Students.
strategy instruction into the school curriculum. Reading PY: 1992
strategy instruction is making its way into regular NT: 19 p.
dassrooms. The integration of reading strategy PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
instruction with cooperative learning has changed the AB: This literature review examines studies in the field
traditional pattern of reading as an individual activity. of metacognition and reading comprehension on the
Group efforts, peer cooperation, and teacher-student elementary level. It discusses sources in the areas of
interaction become an important part of the new metacognitive theory, field experimentation, and
reading strategy instruction approach. Considering the specific learning and teaching strategies which have
large number of students in a regular reading class, emerged from experimentation. The 25 sources are
this seems to be a feasible solution. (Contains 32 taken from published journals and ERIC documents.
references.) (RS) Metacognitive theory hypothesizes that reading
comprehension is enhanced by the use of
AN: ED362831 metacognitive strategies. Field experiments of this
AU: Tzung-yu,-Cheng hypothesis show conflicting results. The controversy
TI: Comparing the Use of Computers with has not been resolved, but specific strategies (including
Traditional Print in Reading Instruction: What the activating prior knowledge, self-questioning, and
Research Says. teacher modeling) have been developed on the basis of
PY: 1993 positive experimental results. (Author/SR)
NT: 21 p.
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. AN: ED348174
AB: Studies comparing computer-assisted instruction AU: Stavin,-Robert-E.
with traditional print were reviewed in order to TI: Ability Grouping and Student Achievement in
determine what researchers have discovered about Elementary Schools: A Best-Evidence Synthesis.
using computers in reading. The research findings were Report No. 1.
then compared and integrated through using the CS: Center for Research on Elementary and Middle
following five categories: interaction, attitude, Schools, Baltimore, MD.
instructional control, time on task, and efficiency. Most PY: 1986
studies indicate that the subjects are more interactive NT: 127 p.

Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 7

93
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. AN: ED378546
AB: This report reviews research on the effects of AU: Manzo,-Anthony-V.; And-Others
between- and within-class ability grouping on the TI: Informal Reading-Thinking Inventory: An
achievement of elementary school students. The informal Reading Inventory (IRI) with Options for
review technique, known as 'best-evidence synthesis,' Assessing Additional Elements of Higher-Order
combines features of meta-analytic and narrative Literacy.
reviews. Overall, evidence does not support PY: 1995
assignment of students to self-contained classes AV: Harcourt Brace and Co., 6277 Sea Harbor Dr.,
according to ability, but grouping plans involving cross- Orlando, FL
grade assignment for selected subjects can increase 32887 ($33.25).
student achievement. Research particularly supports NT: 215 p.
the Joplin Plan, cross-grade ability grouping for reading PR: Document Not Available from EDRS.
only, and forms of nongraded programs involving AB: Focusing on better assessing the thinking, or
multiple groupings for different subjects. Within-class meaning-making, aspects of reading that are
ability grouping in mathematics is also found to be emphasized in current views of the reading process,
instructionally effective. Ability grouping is held to be this book presents the Informal Reading-Thinking
maximally effective: (1) when it is done only for one or Inventory (IR-TI) which offers options to enhance
two subjects, with students remaining in heterogeneous assessment beyond assessing students' listening level,
classes most of the day; (2) when it greatly reduces oral reading of words, and basic comprehension. The
student heterogeneity in a specific skill; (3) when group inventory in the book offers a separate means of
assignments are frequently reassessed; and (4) when assessing student reading and thinking 'beyond
teachers vary the level and pace of instruction the lines" and an option to measure students'
according to students' needs. (An 18-page reference metacognition. The first part of the book is the manual
list is appended). (Author/RH) for administering and interpreting the IR-TI, including a
discussion of purposes and components, how the IR-TI
Alternative Assessment was developed, preparation to use the IR-TI,
administration of the word lists and passages,
AN: ED379353 completion of the cumulative record form, and
AU: Shepard,-Lorrie; And-Others determination of reading and listening levels. The
TI: Second Report on Case Study of the Effects of second part of the book presents teachers
Alternative ssessment In Instruction. Student recording forms for the word lists, and two different
Learning and Accountability Practices. Project 3.1. forms of the passages for each of the grade levels from
Studies In Improving Classroom and Local one to nine, inclusive. The third part of the book
Assessments. presents materials for the student, including word lists,
CS: National Center for Research on Evaluation, both passage forms, and rating cards. Contains 70
Standards, and references. Appendixes present a 31-item list of
Student Testing, Los Angeles, CA. no-charge inventories and lists, and an informal writing
PY: 1994 inventory.
NT: 121 p.; Papers presented at the Annual Meeting of (RS)
the American Educational Research Association (New AN: ED377682
Orleans, LA, April 4-8, 1994). AU: Thrond,-Mary-A.
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. TI: Meaningful Assessment: An Annotated
AB: Three papers are presented that summarize Bibliography.
current project findings from a study of the actual PY: 1994
effects of introducing new forms of assessment at the NT: 11 p.
classroom level. All focus on aspects of performance PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
assessment as an alternative to traditional AB: The annotated bibliography contains citations of
assessments. 'Effects of Introducing Classroom nine references on alternative student assessment
Performance Assessments on Student Learning' by methods in second language programs, particularly at
Lorrie A. Shepard, and others, examines effects of the secondary school level. The references include a
performance assessment on the learning of third critique of conventional reading comprehension
graders in 13 classrooms. ''How Does my Teacher assessment, a discussion of performance
Know What I Know?' Third Graders' Perceptions of assessment, a proposal for a multi-trait, multi-method
Math, Reading, and Assessment' by Kathryn H. approach to documenting student learning, guidelines
Davinroy, Carribeth L. Bliem, and Vicky Mayfield uses for performance-based assessment in second
interviews with students in the classrooms of languages, an examination of qualitative
the larger study to explore student ideas and attitudes. analysis in the classroom, a view of alternative
'How 'Messing About' with Performance Assessment in assessment as a means for decision-making, a
Mathematics Affects What Happens in Classrooms' by collection of symposium papers on equity in
Roberta J. Flexner reviews work with the teachers of assessment, an article on capturing authentic
the study's classes. Eighteen tables and six figures in intellectual performance during assessment, and an
the three papers present study findings. (Contain 77 analysis of classroom conditions conducive to authentic
references in all.) (SLD) assessment. (MSE)

94
Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 8
AN: ED377523 comprehension at the elementary school level.
TI: Portfolios and Your Child: Some Questions and Subjects, 30 fifth-grade boys and girls in a low
Answers for Parents and Families. socioeconomic area of Brooklyn, New York, were
CS: Vermont State Dept. of Education, Montpelier. divided into experimental and control groups. Subjects
PY: 1994 in the experimental group used a computer 1 day a
NT: 9 p. week for 9 weeks to read and answer questions on
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. reading passages. Subjects in the control group read
AB: Noting that portfolios contain the students' best and answered questions on reading passages using
efforts at writing and mathematics problem-solving handouts. Results indicated that both groups increased
skills, this pamphlet discusses issues surrounding their reading comprehension scores, and that no
Vermont's portfolio assessment program from the statistically significant differences in reading
parent's point of view. The pamphlet discusses comprehension between the groups existed. Results
reasons to use portfolios, how portfolios differ from also indicated that even though both groups had an
traditional ways of looking at students' writing and math overall positive attitude toward reading and
skills, what goes into a portfolio, how portfolios are computers, the experimental group's positive attitude
evaluated, how the results of portfolio assessment are seemed more definite. The implication for instruction is
used by various entities, special needs students, and that if a group of students is given access to computer
what parents and family members can do to help. assisted reading instruction, reading scores and
(RS) reading comprehension will increase. (Contains 37
references, 8 appendixes of data, and 4 survey
Computer Assisted Instruction In Reading instruments.) (RS)

AN: EJ521363 AN: ED392024

AU: Greenlee- Moore, - Marilyn -E.; Smith,-Lawrence-L. AU: Simic,-Marge, Comp.; Essex,-Christopher, Comp.
TI: Interactive Computer Software: The Effects on TI: The Computer as an Aid to Reading Instruction.
Young Children's Reading Achievement. Hot Topic Guide 27. Revised Edition.
PY: 1996 CS: Indiana Univ., Bloomington. School of Education.
JN: Reading-Psychology; v17 n1 03-64 Jan-Mar 1996 PY: 1996
AB: Investigates the effect on reading comprehension NT: 56 p.; For earlier edition, see ED 333 393.
when reading shorter and easier narrative text and PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.
longer and more difficult texts on the printed page as AB: One of a series of educational packages designed
compared to reading the same narrative texts using for implementation either in a workshop atmosphere or
interactive CD-ROM software displayed by the through individual study, this Hot Topic guide presents
computer. Finds that reading from computers increased a variety of materials to assist educators in designing
comprehension when subjects read longer and more and implementing classroom projects and activities
difficult narratives. (PA) centering on the topic of the computer as an aid to
reading instruction. The Hot Topic guide contains
AN: EJ519815 guidelines for workshop use; an overview/lecture on the
AU: Heimann,-Mikael; And-Others computer as an aid to reading instruction; and 6
TI: Increasing Reading and Communication Skills focused documents and articles from scholarly and
In Children with Autism through an Interactive professional journals. A 29-item annotated bibliography
Multimedia Computer Program. of items in the ERIC database on the topic is attached.
PY: 1995 (RS)
JN: Journal-of-Autism-and-Developmental-Disorders;
v25 n5 p459-80 Oct 1995 AN: EJ516137
AV: UMI AU: Leong,-Che-Kan
AB: An interactive, child-initiated software package was TI: Effects of On-Line Reading and Simultaneous
used in teaching reading and communication skills to 3 DECtalk Auding in Helping Below-Average and
groups of children (n=30), including 20 children with Poor Readers Comprehend and Summarize Text.
autism and mixed disabilities. Results suggest that PY: 1995
such programs may stimulate reading and JN: Learning-Disability-Quarterly; v18 n2 p101-16 Spr
communication, but that Interventions must be 1995
individualized and include detailed planning and AV: UMI
monitoring from teachers, parents, and clinicians. NT: Special issue: Technology for Persons with
(Author/PB) Learning Disabilities: An International Perspective.
AB: This study investigated the role of online reading
AN: ED392025 and simultaneous DECtalk (a text-to-speech computer
AU: Tillman,-Gail system) aiding in helping 192 above-average and
TI: Will Implementing Reading Computer Assisted below-average readers comprehend expository prose.
instruction Compared to Traditional Reading Results showed significant differences among grades,
instruction Produce More Effective Comprehension reading levels, and modes of responses to the reading
at the Elementary School Level? passages, but not for the experimental conditions. High
PY: [1995] student motivation was found. Similar results were
NT: 81 p. obtained in a replication with poor readers. (Author/PB)
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC04 Plus Postage.
AB: A study examined whether Implementing reading
computer assisted instruction compared to traditional
reading instruction will produce more effective

95 Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 9

BEST COPY AVAILABLE,

AN: EJ516136 reading experiences can take place in an electronic
AU: Lundberg,-Ingvar reading environment. (SR)
TI: The Computer as a Tool of Remediation In the
Education of Students with Reading Disabilitiesa Constructivism
Theory-Based Approach.
PY: 1995 AN: ED362967
JN: Learning- Disability- Quarterly; v18 n2 p89-99 Spr AU: Baker,-Otis
1995 TI: How Constructivist Theory and Research Inform
AV: UMI Educational Policy.
NT: Special issue: Technology for Persons with PY: 1993
Learning Disabilities: An International Perspective. NT: 10 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of
AB: A strategy for using computers in remediating the American Educational Research Association
dyslexia is Illustrated, drawing on the relationship (Atlanta, GA, April 12-16, 1993).
between phonological skills and word recognition. PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
Dyslexic students (n=83) who underwent computer AB: This paper describes how the Missouri Department
training with speech feedback gained more in reading of Elementary and Secondary Education is using
and spelling performance than did students in constructivist theory and research to Inform educational
conventional special education settings (n=59). policy and practice. The state's most concentrated and
(Author/PB) comprehensive effort in this direction is Project
Construct, a unified instructional approach for children
AN: EJ516135 ages 3-7. The project consists of the following
AU: Torgesen,-Joseph-K.; Barker,-Theodore-A. components: (1) a curriculum framework based on
TI: Computers as Aids in the Prevention and Piaget's belief in child autonomy as the aim of
Remediation of Reading Disabilities. education; (2) formative and summative student
PY: 1995 assessment that is aligned with the curriculum
JN: Learning-Disability -Quarterly; v18 n2 p76-87 Spr framework; (3) a teacher-evaluation process that
1995 recognizes the use of constructivist classroom
AV: UMI practices; and (4) a continuing program to educate
NT: Special issue: Technology for Persons with early childhood and primary teachers in constructivist
Learning Disabilities: An International theory and practice. The project has resulted in
Perspective. collaboration among state-level policymakers, the
AB: This article provides examples of ways educational research community, and public school
computer-assisted instruction can help educators. Constructivist theory has also influenced
children with leaming disabilities (LD) learn to read state policy recommendations for preschool and
more effectively. Computer programs providing training primary education, contributed to the creation of the
in phonological awareness, specific context-free word Practical Parenting Partnerships program, and
identification skills, and reading of connected text are influenced the development of a comprehensive
described, and preliminary evidence of their outcome-based plan to ensure that high school
instructional effectiveness is presented. (Author/PB) graduates have the knowledge, skills, and
competencies necessary for productive citizenship in
AN: EJ516078 the next century. The appendix contains a list of Project
AU: Wise,-Barbara-W.; Olson,-Richard-K. Construct's student domains, areas, and goals. (LMI)
TI: Computer-Based Phonological Awareness and
Reading Instruction. AN: ED362556
PY: 1995 AU: Gorrell,-Jeffrey
JN: Annals-of-Dyslexia; v45 p99-122 1995 TI: The Discovery of Personal Meaning: Affective
AV: UMI Factors in Learning.
AB: Elementary students (n=105) with problems in PY: 1992
word recognition were given computer-assisted NT: 28 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of
instruction involving either only reading words in the Mid-South Educational Research Association (21st,
context, or reading words in context and completing Knoxville, TN, November 11-13, 1992).
exercises Involving Individual words (to increase their PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.
phonological awareness). The latter group showed AB: Learner-centered principles espoused by the
significant gains on tests of phoneme awareness and American Psychological Association (APA) built on
rapid word recognition. (Author/DB) research of the last three decades suggest that
learning does not simply entail coordinated cognitive
AN: EJ508076 processes. These 12 principles portray factors
AU: Chu, -Meet- Ling -Claw associated with leaming as essential parts of the
TI: Reader Response to Interactive Computer portrayal of learners as active creators of their own best
Books: Examining Literary Responses in a answers and solutions. Some of the issues related to
Non-traditional Reading Setting. active, volitional learners are summarized, with
PY: 1995 attempts to integrate then in terms of the discovery of
JN: Reading-Research-and-Instruction; v34 n4 p352-66 personal meaning. The following types of personal
Sum 1995 meaning that may occur are considered: (1) increased
AV: UMI sense of relation of new knowledge to personal events
AB: Investigates the responses of three first-grade in the learner's life; (2) increased sense of self as
boys to interactive computer books. Shows that the learner-, (3) increased sense of efficacy related to the
children demonstrated high interest in reading the capability to use knowledge; and (4) increased
computer books, and indicates that transactional expectancy for success and sense of commitment to
96
Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 10
extend learning. The paper is organized around the even design their own learning. The metacognition of
idea that the discovery of personal meaning in learning teachers will enable them to perceive their instruction in
is a vital part of the learning process. The learner is an a more reflective and dynamic way. Empowering
active constructor of such meanings and may find them teachers will empower learners. In a learning-centered
more durable than the particular knowledge gained in environment, learners and teachers become the main
cognitive fashion. One table lists types of personal actors of the leaming drama. (Contains 26 references.)
meaning that may be acquired. An attachment lists the (SLD)
APA principles. (Contains 61 references.) (SLD)
AN: ED362160
AN: ED362213 AU: Cole,-Peggy
AU: Wilson,-Brent-G. TI: Learner-Generated Questions and Comments:
TI: Constructivism and Instructional Design: Some Tools for Improving Instruction.
Personal Reflections. PY: 1993
PY: 1993 NT: 18 p.; In: Proceedings of Selected Research and
NT: 20 p.; In: Proceedings of Selected Research and Development Presentations at the Convention of the
Development Presentations at the Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and
Association for Educational Communications and Technology Sponsored by the Research and Theory
Technology Sponsored by the Research and Theory Division (15th, New Orleans, Louisiana, January 13-17,
Division (15th, New Orleans, Louisiana, January 13-17, 1993); see IR 016 300.
1993); see IR 016 300. PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. AB: It is argued that increased use of learner-generated
AB: Some personal reflections on instructional design questions and comments can benefit every stage of the
and its relation to constructivism are explored. instructional process. A strategy is proposed that
Instructional design in its present form is out of sync integrates design into the implementation of instruction.
with the times in that its orientation, methods, and The emerging interest in learner-generated questions
research base are behavioristic, or positivistic. has followed the paradigmatic shift in psychology from
However, a constructivist theory of instructional design behaviorism to constructivism. The
Is possible, particularly if constructivism is recognized generative/constructivist learning model is consistent
as a philosophy rather than a strategy. To better fit the with encouraging learners to become independent by
needs of practitioners, Instructional design theories learning how to learn. Developing the ability to monitor
need to be better grounded in a broad understanding of one's own comprehension, articulate questions, and
learning and instructional processes. Generic principles explore answers requires time and practice that can be
and specific heuristics are needed for dealing with afforded through student journals written as homework.
recurring problems and situations in instructional The use of the journal writing approach in a community
design practice. In addition, instructional design college setting is described. The superiority of journal
theories need to reflect instructional design as a writing to the use of adjunct questions is described. A
profession. The theories of instructional design need to vehicle like the student journal allows the learner to
be adjusted or replaced with better ones that fit the share questions and comments, while the teacher is
newer understandings of learning and instruction. able to monitor comprehension, identify
(Contains 81 references.) (SLD) misconceptions, and empower the learner to complete
the task. Recommendations are given for implementing
AN: ED362180 student journal writing. Two tables compare questions
AU: Li,-Ming-Fen and journal entries. (Contains 59 references.) (SLD)
TI: Empowering Learners through Metcognitive
Thinking, Instruction, and Design. AN: ED358410
PY: 1993 AU: Jaeger,-Michael; Lauritzen,-Carol
NT: 14 p.; In: Proceedings of Selected Research and TI: The Construction of Meaning from Experience.
Development Presentations at the Convention of the PY: 1992
Association for Educational Communications and NT: 17 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of
Technology Sponsored by the Research and Theory the National Council of Teachers of English (82nd,
Division (15th, New Orleans, Louisiana, January 13-17, Louisville, KY, November 18-23, 1992).
1993); see IR 016 300. PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. AB: Constructivists view thinking and learning
AB: A perspective is presented for designing instruction differently from other learning theorists: they believe
in metacognition, drawing on how human beings that learners do not acquire knowledge that is
acquire metacognitive skills and how these skills are transmitted to them; rather, learners construct
interwoven with other thinking skills. An instructional knowledge through intellectual activity. Sharp contrasts
designer must consider the dynamic and integrative exist between a 'transmission" model of instruction and
nature of metacognition. Traditionally, learning theories, the constructivist perspective. The transmission model
instructional theories, and instructional design theories is teacher directed, ignores prior knowledge, depends
are treated as distinct entities. Recent exploration of on external motivation, and involves isolated skill
constructivism has made it seem possible to Integrate teaching. The constructivist perspective offers student
learning and instructional theories. Learners, teachers, directed learning, uses prior knowledge of students,
and instructional designers all need to engage generates knowledge, offers students intrinsic
themselves fully in the roles they play. Teachers need motivation, and capitalizes on context. Tenets of a
to guide, rather than control, student learning. constructivist perspective include: (1) learners come to
Instructional designers must reflect on the complex school with a wealth of prior knowledge; (2) learners
relationship between leaming and instruction. Learners make meaning of their world by logically linking pieces
need to be given the responsibility to direct, manage, or of knowledge, communication, and experiences; (3)
these belief systems are often incomplete explanations

97 Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 11

or misconceptions; (4) learners hold to their belief nature of local decision-making, control by
systems and are resistant to change; (5) direct compromising superintendents, adversarial teacher-
instruction is unlikely to change belief systems; (6) board relationships, dissatisfied teachers, and
learning takes place when confrontation with new apathetic parents. Strategies for bringing
experience yields dissonance; (7) a social context constructivism into school systems at several levels
facilitates these processes; and (8) learning takes include hiring visionary principals and superintendents,
place best in a meaningful context. From the providing teacher retraining programs, and enlisting
constructivist perspective, the role of the teacher community support. (LMI)
becomes one of facilitating, guiding, and coaching. (A
figure representing an °objectivist' lesson plan, and a Older but Still Useful References
figure contrasting the constructivist and transmission
models are included. (Contains 22 references.) (RS) AN: EJ359142
AU: Gray,-Mary-Jane
AN: ED352610 TI: Comprehension Monitoring: What the Teacher
AU: Oldfather,-Penny Should Know.
TI: Sharing the Ownership of Knowing: A PY: 1987
Constructivist Concept of Motivation for Literacy JN: Clearing-House; v61 n1 p38-41 Sep 1987
Learning. AV: UMI
PY: 1992 AB: Reviews the literature relevant to the subject of
NT: 18 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of comprehension monitoring and offers ideas from the
the National Reading Conference (42nd, San Antonio, reading research for how students can improve their
TX, December 2-5, 1992). comprehension and how teachers can tell if students
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. understand what they read. (JC)
AB: 'Sharing the ownership of knowing" (a
constructivist concept of motivation for literacy learning) AN: EJ327813
is a dynamic classroom interaction in which a teachers AU: Clary,-Linda-M.
constructivist epistemological stance facilitates TI: Twelve "Musts" for Improved Reading
students' sense of their own construction of meaning Comprehension.
and the integrity of their own thinking. Sharing the PY: 1986
ownership of knowing was one of several interactive JN: Reading-Horizons; v26 n2 p99-104 Win 1986
processes identified within the classroom of a AV: UMI
constructivist teacher who was the subject of a AB: Summarizes research conducted at the Center for
qualitative study of student motivation. The study was the Study of Reading at the University of Illinois and
initiated in a small academic community in a southern points out what it means to daily reading instruction.
California school. As a participant-observer, the author (FL)
of the study shared the thinking and experience of 31
students in a student-centered whole language fifth- AN: EJ327196
and sixth-grade classroom. After analyzing the data, AU: Silvem,-Steven
the participant-observer identified connections between TI: Parent Involvement and Reading Achievement:
self-expression, constructivism, and epistemological A Review of Research and Implications for
empowerment. The concept of epistemological Practice.
empowerment is a dimension of students' motivation PY: 1985
for literacy learning that may be present in social JN: Childhood-Education; v62 n1 p44,46,48-50 Sep-
constructivist classrooms as the teacher shares the Oct 1985
ownership of knowing. Those who are epistemologically AV: UMI
empowered may become more engaged as literacy AB: This research review Identifies parental roles and
learners when they become aware of their own practices that have been shown to promote reading
construction of meaning. (Nineteen references are readiness, receptivity to reading instruction, and
attached.) (RS) increased achievement in reading. Reviews studies of
intervention and involvement programs designed to
AN: ED350665 expand or alter parental practices in improving
AU: Wadsworth,-Barry children's reading attitudes and achievement. (DST)
TI: Promoting Constructivist Teaching & Learning:
Problems and Possibilities. A School Committee AN: EJ326504
Perspective. AU: Bristow,-Page-Simpson
PY: 1992 TI: Are Poor Readers Passive Readers? Some
NT: 7 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Evidence, Possible Explanations, and Potential
American Educational Research Association (San Solutions.
Francisco, CA, April 20-24, 1992). PY: 1985
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. JN: Reading-Teacher; v39 n3 p318-25 Dec 1985
AB: The potential for the coherent integration of the AV: UMI
cognitive and affective aspects of student development AB: Indicates that passivity in poor readers seems to
through a constructivist approach is discussed in this be tied to several Interrelated factors, including
paper. Educators should be concerned with students' frustrating materials, repeated failures, and differences
learning with regard to developing values and in teacher treatment of good and poor reading groups.
characteristics, especially respect and responsibility. Suggests that direct training can mitigate these
The obstacles that hinder the creation of constructivist problems. (FL)
schools are described, some of which include the
politics of state-level policy formation, the hierarchical

98
Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 12
BEST COPY AVAILABLE,
AN: EJ297934 the book deal with the following areas: (1) reading
AU: Wiesendanger,-Katherine-D.; Birlem,-Ellen-D. programs, (2) effective schools and effective teaching
TI: The Effectiveness of SSR: An Overview of the research, (3) developing lifetime readers, (4) learning
Research. from text, (5) comprehension and thinking skills, (6)
PY: 1984 vocabulary, (7) readability, (8) objectives and materials,
JN: Reading-Horizons; v24 n3 p197-201 Spr 1984 (9) integrating oral and written language, (10) grouping,
AV: UMI (11) teacher decision making, (12) metacognition, and
AB: Reviews research concerning sustained silent (13) staff development. A 27-page bibliography
reading and lists factors that are important in concludes the document. (FL)
determining whether such a reading program is
successful. (FL) AN: ED273924
AU: Mason,-Jana-M.; Allen,-JoBeth
AN: ED279997 TI: A Review of Emergent Literacy with Implications
AU: Miller,-Becky-Iden for Research and Practice in Reading. Technical
TI: Parental Involvement Effects Reading Report No. 379.
Achievement of First, Second, and Third Graders. CS: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc., Cambridge,
PY: 1986 Mass.; Illinois Univ., Urbana. Center for the Study of
NT: 43 p.; Exit Project, Indiana University at South Reading.
Bend. PY: 1986
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. NT: 99 p.
AB: A review of research data focused on the effects of PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC04 Plus Postage.
parental involvement on children's reading achievement AB: Defining emergent as the process of becoming and
and ways in which parents can help promote children's literacy as the interrelatedness of reading and writing in
reading achievement. The review included 35 studies young children's development, this paper reviews
(which are briefly summarized) of (1) parents' attitudes emergent literacy research and relates it to beginning
about their involvement in their child's education, (2) reading and writing instruction. The first section of the
the positive effects of parent/teacher interaction on paper describes the social and linguistic contexts for
children's reading achievement, (3) parental practices literacy, reviewing research that shows communication
at home that influence children's reading achievement, patterns and practices and parent-scaffolding of literacy
(4) the effects of parental involvement in the classroom for preschool children to be critically important events
on children's reading achievement, and (5) ways to for literacy development. The second section deals with
educate parents about guiding their children in effective oral and written language distinctions and describes
reading activities. Results of the review indicated that why literacy is not a simple extension of oral language.
children's achievement can be increased through The third section reviews research on the acquisition of
parental involvement and parent/teacher interaction. emergent reading and writing skills and knowledge,
Parent attitude surveys revealed that most parents while the fourth presents examples of landmark
want to be involved in their children's education. instructional studies that adopt an emergent literacy
Reading to children and listening to them read for 10 perspective. (Author/FL)
minutes daily were found to be the most significant
ways parents could increase their children's reading AN: ED272842
achievement. Findings also indicated that parents can AU: Faman,-Nancy-J.
also affect children's achievement by playing TI: A Look at Reading and Writing as Similar
educational games, going to the library, and viewing Language Skills: A Review.
educational television programs with them. Results PY: [1985]
showed that educating parents to guide their children's NT: 24 p.
reading at home often increases children's reading PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
achievement. (Lists of recommendations for parents AB: Four similarities between reading and writing and
and teachers are included, as well as a four-page their corresponding instructional significance are
bibliography.) (JD) examined in this literature review. Each of the four
reviewed topics is prefaced by general instructional
AN: ED273928 suggestions based on research cited in the review.
AU: Alvermann,-Donna, Ed.; And-Others Topics and suggestions are as follows: (1) linguistic- -
TI: Research within Reach: Secondary School whenever possible, the processes of reading and
Reading. A Research-Guided Response to the writing should be integrated within the framework of
Concerns of Educators. classroom instruction; (2) cognitive--by virtue of the
CS: Appalachia Educational Lab., Charleston, W. Va. interrelationship between thought and language,
PY: 1986 reading and writing should be integrated across all
NT: 283 p.; For a related document on mathematics, content areas to enhance students' skills in thinking
see ED 225 842. and learning; (3) affective--strategies that take into
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC12 Plus Postage. account students' interest, attention, and motivation are
AB: Intended for secondary school teachers in all necessary for effective language skill development,
subject areas, this book synthesizes and translates since each of these variables influences students'
reading-related research on a variety of specific topics. ability to use their language skills to maximum
Each chapter in the book opens with a question or potential; and (4) instructional -- instruction should
questions posed by teachers, then proceeds to a emphasize the complementary nature of reading and
discussion of the research and practice pertaining to writing as mutually facilitative, not mutually exclusive,
the issues raised. Each chapter ends with a summary language skills. The review ends by presenting a model
and a list of references. Each chapter can be read of reading and writing as similar language skills. A
independently. Questions raised in the 13 chapters of three-page reference list is appended. (HOD)

Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 13

AN: ED245195 PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
AU: Pearson,-P.-David, Ed.; And-Others AB: Research discoveries over the past 15 years
TI: Handbook of Reading Research. concerning reading comprehension have had a
PY: 1984 significant impact on reading instruction, particularly
AV: Longman Inc., 1560 Broadway, New York, NY schema theory. This theory, based on prior learning,
10036 ($45.00). which states that the reader uses the text to construct a
NT: 899 p. meaning within his or her own mind, affects what
PR: Document Not Available from EDRS. teachers can do to help students improve
AB: Intended for reading educators and researchers, comprehension. A conceptual rather than a definitional
this handbook characterizes the current state of or contextual approach should be used to teach
methodology and the cumulative research-based vocabulary, because it shows students how particular
knowledge of reading. The book's three sections cover vocabulary items relate to other concepts they already
methodological issues, basic reading processes, and know. Further, teachers should encourage students'
instructional practices. The 25 chapters discuss the initiative in reading, and encourage them to pause and
following topics: (1) reading research history, (2) think while reading. In this way, teachers can help
reading research traditions, (3) design and analysis of children select schemata for understanding a new
reading experiments, (4) ethnographic approaches to selection. Schema theory also affects the ways
reading research, (5) building and testing models of teachers can help children extend beyond the text and
reading processes, (6) reading assessment, (7) reading interact with it at more complex levels, by emphasizing
process models, (8) word recognition, (9) schema the importance of helping students get background
theory and comprehension processes, (10) listening knowledge and of respecting the reader's role in
and reading, (11) text structure, (12) metacognitive creating meaning. (JD
skills and reading, (13) sociolinguistic study of reading,
(14) social and motivational influences on reading, (15)
figurative language, (16) individual differences and
underlying cognitive processes, (17) early reading from
a developmental perspective, (18) beginning reading
instruction, (19) word identification, (20) research on
teaching reading comprehension, (21) studying, (22)
readability, (23) classroom instruction in reading, (24)
managing instruction, and (25) oral reading.
Biographical notes are provided for approximately 40
contributors. (HTH)

AN: ED227093
AU: Emans,-Robert
TI: Teaching Behaviors In Reading instruction: A
Review of the Research and Critique.
PY: 1983
NT: 49 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of
the American Association of Colleges for Teacher
Education (Detroit, MI, February 24, 1983).
PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.
AB: This paper summarizes research findings on
teacher behavior and its relationship to student reading
achievement. Research studies included in the review
identified actual teaching behaviors, included
observations of teacher-learner interactions, were
limited to elementary school, and were conducted
between 1966 and 1972. Subjects covered in the
studies include: (1) instructional time and student
achievement; (2) direct instruction; (3) classroom
climate and teacher management; (4) teacher praise
and criticism; (5) teacher expectations; (6) teachers'
use of questions; (7) specialized subject matter
teaching behaviors; and (8) changing teacher behavior
through interactive inservice programs. A discussion is
presented on the research methodology used in these
studies, the general reliability of research findings, and
significant and recurring findings brought forward by
this review. A list of 126 references is included. (JD) 100
AN: ED281140
AU: Tiemey,-Robert-J.; Pearson,-P.-David
TI: Schema Theory and implications for Teaching
Reading: A Conversation. Reading Education
Report No. 67.
PY: 1986
NT: 19 p.

Hot Topic Guide 26: Updated Bibliography 14

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