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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.

This case study examined three pre-service teachers' reflection processes during their first teaching practicum. During the six-week practicum, the pre-service teachers reflected on their own as well as their peers' teaching in group mentoring meetings several times a week. Unstructured stimulated recall facilitated pre-service teacher-initiated reflection on their teaching. As a result, they were able to frame and reframe their understanding and implement that understanding in their next lessons. Each pre-service teacher, however, went through an individual developmental process in learning to reflect. In their developmental path, turning points were identified that were important for transition into a deeper level of reflection. Our results show that it is important for teacher educators and mentors to recognize the process of development from the very first teaching practicum.

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.

Despite both longstanding and recent calls for more informational text in K-3 classrooms, research indicates that narrative text remains in the majority for read alouds, classroom libraries, and instruction, thus limiting children's opportunity to experience the demands of expository text. Because national associations' recommended book lists are frequently proposed to identify books, we analyzed current lists to determine whether they include a higher percentage of expository books than 10 years ago. Our findings show a continuing prevalence of narratives suggesting the need to carefully evaluate books on such lists if the goal is to increase students' experience with expository text.

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.

Finland recently adopted two national core curricula that apply to kindergartens (ages one through six). An early childhood education and care curriculum outlines expectations for children under seven (when school starts), while a preschool curriculum establishes guidelines specifically for six-year-olds. Both curricula describe broad principles, but depend on teachers' professional knowledge to interpret and implement the curriculum in their classrooms. This case study examined teachers' practices in one kindergarten building in relation to seven themes identified in the curricula relevant to learning situations and the language and communication content area. The findings indicate that the curricula were only partly implemented, with many aspects in use, but not in depth and often on an ad hoc basis. The results suggest that in order to exploit this type of curriculum to its full potential, teachers need to develop their professional knowledge through pre-service and in-service training with coaching.

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.)

Presents five educators' ideas about what the demands of literacy in the workplace in the next millennium will be. Notes increased expansion of multiple literacies and considers electronic performance support systems and expert systems. Considers how future workplace literacy is dependent on adult literacy skills. (SC)

Examines how and when spelling begins when a group of Finnish kindergartners were provided guided and meaningful literacy opportunities. Demonstrates a substantial growth in children's spelling: some spelled almost all dictated words correctly, most used invented spelling, and only one child used random letter strings for a few words. Notes that by the second phase of the study, all children used alphabetic strategies. (RS)

Finds that a strategy-instruction approach helped second-grade students to find needed information in the nonfiction texts they read and eliminate the copying of text. Discusses how students learned to search for information, take notes, organize notes, and use those notes to compose a report in their own words. (SR)

Finds significant improvements (at both a Title I school and a middle-income school) in fourth-grade students' ability to find and use information after a year of research-strategy instruction that was integrated with the demands of inquiry-based content-area projects, rather than skills taught out of context. (SR)

Examines three work sites employing deaf individuals (graduates of Gallaudet University), investigating how much time deaf adults spend reading and writing on the job; what types of reading and writing activities they engage in; how deaf employees communicate with their hearing supervisors/co-workers; and what their perceptions are of literacy tasks at work. (SR)

Defines a type of literacy task, the search task (locating specific information). Explains why it is of concern, describes research on high school and college students' searching, and offers suggestions for search instruction. (SR)

Results from a longitudinal study indicated that first grade metalinguistic awareness was a statistically significant predictor of students' (N=65) reading comprehension performance in both third and fifth grades, even when academic aptitude was in the regression equation. (Author/IAH)

Early childhood education majors enrolled in a reading methods course completed a questionnaire on teaching writing. In general, the students supported a process approach to teaching writing, believed that such an approach could be easily implemented in a classroom, and intended to use a process approach themselves. (PCB)

Examines the task of locating information in textbook chapters (text search). Finds differences between more efficient and less efficient searchers in how they distribute their time across various aspects of the task. Discovers that as task complexity increases, efficient searchers allocate relatively more search time to initial stages of text search. (KEH)

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Text search is a type of strategic reading that involves locating specific goal-relevant information. Previous research has indicated that college and high school students often exhibit inefficient or unsuccessful text-search performance. Consequently, the effects of 2 manipulations on text-search performance were investigated: (a) the presence of indexed terms in a text-search task and (b) the use of a planning prompt before beginning a task. Thirty-four college students engaged in 6 text-search tasks. Half of these tasks contained terms that could be used in an index; half required that a search term be generated. Half of the subjects were randomly assigned to a prompt condition in which they were prompted to plan their search before beginning each task. The results indicated that a planning prompt raised the success level of search performance, as did the presence of terms that were searchable in the textbook's index.

A study of the role of phonics in the teaching of reading in Finland is presented. The Finnish language has a very regular letter-sound correspondence and reading instruction in Finland places very heavy emphasis on phonics. However, teachers find that there are still reading problems as the emphasis on decoding does not necessarily lead to reading comprehension. The trend in Finland is towards more meaning-based reading schemes combined with phonics instruction.

Reports that parents of third-grade students had clear responses to various styles of reporting standardized reading test scores and preferred one that indicated how the child had improved over past performance and that showed the toughest item the child could handle on the test. (FL)