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As students proceed through school, they are expected to comprehend complex texts but may not have the necessary competencies to do so. This study examined the impact of teaching text organization of lengthy social studies textbook passages on student comprehension of the content contained there. Over a 10-week period, 205 sixth-grade students received either routine social studies instruction or instruction on identifying rhetorical patterns used to organize textbook content and on constructing graphic representations of that content. The effectiveness of the intervention was measured by comparing graphic representations and written summaries generated by participants before and after instruction. A mixed between-within subjects ANOVA showed a statistically significant interaction between time and treatment on graphic representation and written summary scores for the intervention group indicating that explicit instruction in rhetorical patterns facilitates recognition of key information and supporting details in text. Implications are discussed.

The Reading, Engaging, and Learning project (REAL) investigated whether a classroom intervention that enhanced young children's experience with informational books would increase reading achievement and engagement. Participants attended schools serving low income neighborhoods with 86% African American enrollment. The longitudinal study spanned second through fourth grades. Treatment conditions were: (1) Text Infusion/Reading for Learning Instruction--students were given greater access to informational books in their classroom libraries and in reading instruction; (2) Text Infusion Alone--the same books were provided but teachers were not asked to alter their instruction; (3) Traditional Instruction--students experienced business as usual in the classroom. Children were assessed each year on measures of reading and reading engagement, and classroom instructional practices were observed. On most measures, the informational text infusion intervention did not yield differential growth over time. However, the results inform efforts to increase children's facility with informational text in the early years in order to improve reading comprehension.

Teachers can use expository texts to teach academic vocabulary, content knowledge, text structure, and text features. National associations' recommended book lists are often used to identify books for classrooms. Previously we identified expository texts on these lists from 2001-2002 and 2011-2012. The current study explored instructional possibilities these expository books afford. More recent books have more content, academic vocabulary, and supplementary information. However, many earlier and recent books lack text features such as page numbers, tables of contents, glossaries, and indexes. Teachers will need to supplement these books with other texts to provide experiences enabling proficiency with exposition.

This study examined the thinking processes students engage in while constructing graphic representations of textbook content. Twenty-eight students who either used graphic representations in a routine manner during social studies instruction or learned to construct graphic representations based on the rhetorical patterns used to organize textbook content produced think-aloud responses while constructing graphic representations. Responses indicated that both groups of students needed to restate text while writing, but knowledge of rhetorical patterns appeared to facilitate students' ability to discriminate between main ideas and details, understand relationships between ideas, and, generally, engage the text more deeply. Implications for instruction are discussed.

We investigated how a teacher implemented principles of literacy teaching and learning set forth in the Finnish core curriculum in a first-grade classroom, focusing on two aspects of the curriculum: (1) "a community-oriented view of language," which can be understood from a socio-cultural perspective; and (2) "a broad conception of text," which involves diversified "literacy practices" including both digital and printed environments. We understood the classroom as a place where the teacher deployed her pedagogic habitus (Bourdieu 1977; Pahl 2012), which in turn shaped the practices. Our analysis of videotapes of classroom literacy events and the teacher's diary during one school year showed that change in practices turned the classroom habitus (Bourdieu 1977) into a communicational entity where the pupils worked collaboratively with meaningful literacy activities with oral and print texts, including old and new technologies.

In 2004 the Finnish National Board of Education launched a new curriculum framework that includes principles, instructional aims, and a brief list of content by subject areas. The intent of this framework is that teachers should interpret the core curriculum at the local level and apply it in their own schools and classrooms. This approach encourages teachers to use their professional knowledge and take into account their students and the learning environment in applying and implementing the curriculum. This case study sought to understand how this core curriculum has been implemented by way of observations of language and literacy lessons in 8 grade 1 and grade 2 classrooms during a 2-month period. The observations and the analysis were guided by earlier research conducted in classroom identified as "excellent" in the US. The resulting data, in turn, were compared with the core curriculum. The findings show that, although some of the principles and the content of the core curriculum were reflected in practice, there were inconsistencies between the instructional methods used in the classrooms and the principles set in the core curriculum. Although some areas of the core curriculum were well represented in classroom language and literacy practices, others were covered only in part or not at all during the observation period. (Contains 2 tables and 21 notes.)

In this article, we describe how to help primary-grade English language learners use compare-contrast text structures. Specifically, we explain (a) how to teach students to identify the compare-contrast text structure, and to use this structure to support their comprehension, (b) how to use compare-contrast texts to activate and extend students' background knowledge, and (c) how to use compare-contrast texts to help students expand and enrich their vocabulary. Although these strategies can benefit all young learners, they are particularly important for young ELL students. We, therefore, provide a brief discussion of the unique needs of ELL students. We also describe how understanding text structures can benefit young learners and explain why the compare-contrast text structure is particularly helpful to ELL students. (Contains 1 table and 4 figures.)

Reports that learning to identify explicitly the structure of a story does not increase the amount or type of story information that fifth grade students recall. (Author/FL)