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Literature Review

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Agnew, M. L. (2000, March). DRAW: A motivational reading comprehension strategy for          disaffected readers. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 43(6),  574-576.  Retrieved January 18, 2003 from: http:// proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?Ver=1&Exp=07-01-2003&FMThtml.

     DRAW is a reading comprehension strategy designed to engage disaffected readers. the acronym is as follows. D represents draw as in pull a question out of hat; R is for read to find answer, A stands for attend as in listen to what classmates say as they discuss answers to drawn questions; and W represents write. Students write answers to a selected few questions based on their notes from class discussion. The author’s purposes in creating this strategy were to encourage higher order thinking skills, motivate student interest and participation, increase listening and organization, and to help below level readers understand content.        

    The participants in this research were the author’s students in a middle or high school setting. Teacher observation and student quiz grades were methods employed by the author to gather data. Results were not analyzed. The author’s observations formed the basis for the findings that the students enjoyed the activity, were engaged and attentive throughout the activity, and performed better on assessments. She reported only for her experiences and class. DRAW seems to be an effective strategy to use with students in content area classes and literature classes.

Allington, R. L. (2002). Research on reading/learning disability interventions.  In A. E. Farstrup & S. J. Samuels, (Eds.),  What research has to say about reading instruction (pp. 261-290). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

     What are the implications of “all children reading on grade level”on the traditional conceptualizations of reading difficulties?  Which students exhibit learning disabilities and what research can be useful in considering the design of effective interventions? With these questions Allington launches into a synthesis of research literature on learning disabilities, students with reading difficulties, effective interventions, and concludes with a re-conceptualization of learning disabilities and reading difficulties. He notes that the standards for achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) have changed from relative, which examined how students performed relative to their performance on previous tests, to an absolute standard, which is a particular level of achievement.

      Alllington  reviews the history of what constitutes reading difficulty in a literate society and from that perspective he begins a subtle attack on special education and learning disabilities. He cites confusion over what he believes is lack of agreement on an operational definition of learning disabilities, that the federal definition differs from definitions utilized by states, and that definitions vary from state to state. In an attempt to discuss research on effective interventions, he noted the definition conundrum, the contradictory nature of intervention research, and the difficulty in generalizing and replicating results as obstacles to conducting a review of the research. Intervention research has also focused on basic skills assessments, rather than studies that measure fluency, analysis or summarization skills.

     Several proposals are presented by Allington to try to address the issues he raised. He advocates re-conceptualizing the two areas of reading difficulties and learning disabilities, create more comprehensive literacy instructional programs, and produce more effective interventions. Learning disabilities would be part of a continuum in which children who have difficulty learning to read would be placed. Three types of designs for interventions are also introduced - preventive, accelerated, and long term. Allington cited three national panels in his conclusions: National Commission on Teaching America’s Future, 1997; National reading Panel, 2000; Snow et al.,1998. The implication is learning disabilities are related to learning style and rate. Students with learning disabilities will learn when given effective instruction.

Ash, G. E. (2002, March). Teaching readers who struggle: A pragmatic middle school framework. Reading Online, 5(7). Retrieved February 14, 2003 from: http://readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=ash/index.html

     Five practices are highlighted in order to bridge the gap between needed literacy skills and literature. The author cited the 1998 NAEP results of eighth grade reading achievement in which 74% were below proficient level. The question posed by the author was “Who will teach basic reading skills at the middle and high school levels?”.  The framework is based on a synthesis of tutorial practices. The group described in this article was a sixth grade class using 110 minutes of instructional time. The framework included daily oral reading or shared reading, guided reading in flexible groups, word study in guided reading groups, self-selected reading, and comprehension strategy instruction.

    The author described in detail how the framework would work during a fifty minute lesson. Ash suggested that her framework provides a balanced literacy approach that can be implemented across grade levels. For each component several activities are provided. Teachers choose from this menu or create their own to incorporate literacy instruction into middle school lessons. This framework could be a basis for  middle and high school literacy program. Priority for improving reading across content areas would need to be given and adopted by the entire staff of the school.

Barry, A. (2000). High  school reading programs revisited. In D. W. Moore, D. E. Alverman, & K. A. Hinchman (Eds.), Struggling adolescent readers: A collection of teaching strategies (pp. 317-325). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

       The purpose of this article was to present the result of a nationwide survey of high school principals who were asked to identify existing programs and practices for students with reading difficulties. The author  presented a comparison of past practices and current practices. About one third of the surveys were returned. The survey questioned titles of programs, grades served, placement and exit criteria, organization and staffing, instructional methods and materials. Current trends were also examined and direction for further research was indicated.

      Barry concludes that much still needs to be done.  The “remedial” reading teacher is now a trained reading specialist, not just any teacher who gets a remedial class by the luck of the draw. At least this is more prevalent than in the 1940's and 1950's. Instruction is slowly moving away from “drill and kill skills” to more integrated and comprehension based instruction. She indicates that more observation and research is needed to validate her conclusions. The implication for literacy development is that reading specialists are still necessary, but literacy instruction for students with disabilities is not included.

Bean, T. (2000). Reading in the content areas: Social constructivist dimensions. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, R. Barr (Eds.),  Handbook of reading research, vol. III (pp. 629-644). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

      The author’s stated goal is to review the historical literature of research in reading in the content areas. Definition of content area reading has evolved into content area literacy but is based on the premise that students require different strategies for different types of subject matter and their related readings. Previous research synthesis of secondary reading presented five themes: single text use in content area; dominant goal was to learn facts; little if any preteaching of vocabulary or concepts; locus of control and discussion was centered in the teacher; accountability testing and lack of time impeded teacher efforts to teach content strategies.

     Social constructivist theory has replaced cognitive strategy theory during the last decade. Social constructivism considers the stance from which both teachers and students use literacy. Bean explored attitudes, beliefs, and practices of both preservice and inservice teachers by reviewing research literature, but he did not define how he selected his studies. While preservice teachers were eager to try strategy teaching in the content areas, they were influenced by cooperating teachers who practiced a traditional text-based instruction. An alternative practicum model is suggested in order to allow preservice teachers to try out literacy strategies. Inservice teachers vary in their willingness to infuse strategy instruction into their classrooms. There is an internal conflict that teachers must reflect upon and resolve: teacher centered classrooms or student centered classrooms. One conclusion of the research into inservice teacher attitudes and practices is that when teacher and student views of learning conflict, then not much learning can occur.

     Bean concludes that the research in content area reading has been expanded to include the social contexts of classrooms, and that there has been some integration of small group instruction and strategy instruction into content area classes. Single textbook use is still the dominant source of authority in most areas. Suggestions for future research include how teachers incorporate literature into their content instruction and how students react to reading literature in content area classes. Special education issues are not addressed although socio-cultural views are incorporated into current research literature.

Bean, T. W. (2002, November). Making reading relevant for adolescents. Educational Leadership, 60(3),  34-37.

      Bean outlines strategies to make reading relevant to adolescents citing three cases as examples to support his viewpoint. Recreational reading is not a practice that adolescents engage in frequently. Other benefits include increased achievement, improved vocabulary, more success academically, better attitude about reading, and increased knowledge of the world. He notes that high stakes testing is taking its toll also. The narrow focus of certain types of reading and writing activities tends to turn readers off instead of fostering a love of reading.  “Adolescents.deserve access to a wide variety of reading material that they can and want to read” is a statement taken from the Adolescent literacy: A position statement, which advocates for a concentrated focus on issues, strategies, and interesting materials for adolescent readers.

      Several practices for classroom instruction are mentioned as having positive effects in building an interest in reading. When used well, sustained silent reading can lead to a student’s enjoyment of reading. Other strategies include: the use of literature response journals, reader’s theater, book clubs, Venn diagrams, online discussion groups, and interviews with student’s assuming the role of a character or author. Selecting books that are of interest to students is also important or allowing students to choose their own books for reading. Giving students the time to read is another key element in motivating students to read. Bean concludes by stating that if teachers don’t find ways to motivate student recreational reading, there will be more people who can read, but choose not to. While not directly including special education students, the conclusions drawn pertain to students with disabilities and those without disabilities.

Boyle, E. A., Washburn, S. G., Rosenberg, M. S., Connolly, V. J., Brinkerhoff, L. C., & Banerjee, M. (2002, November/December). Reading’s SLiCK with new audio texts and strategies. Teaching Exceptional Children, 35(2), 50-55.

     What can teachers and students do to resolve the problem of mismatch between learning demands/reading level of content area texts and students with poor reading skills and lack of strategies?  The purpose of this article was to introduce the technology and initial teacher and student reactions which have been positive. The authors cite studies that examined the readability of eighth grade text books with a high 10^th grade readability level. Textbook simplification or elimination often makes comprehension more problematic for students with disabilities due to lack of coherence and structure. Students with cognitive disabilities are not always able to reflect metacognitively on their own reading, choose the best strategy to use, or make associations with any prior knowledge as well as difficulties with word identification. Students with specific learning disabilities may expend an enormous amount of time and effort on decoding and word identification at the expense of comprehension. Researchers from Johns-Hopkins University and Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic were conducting research on the uses of SLiCK.

      The authors suggest that improvements in audio text with CD-ROM recordings allow for easier access and navigation of text. A single CD can hold forty-five hours of recorded material. They also offer the SliCK strategy to support the CD-ROM. SliCK directs reader’s attention to parts of text, cues active listening, and helps synthesize and integrate new information with prior knowledge. SLiCK is a mnemonic device to aid reading comprehension. The acronym is as follows. S stands for set it up by getting the CD player and SLiCK worksheet; L stands for look ahead to preview chapter; C stands for comprehend by rereading or listening again as needed; K is to keep it together by summarizing. Suggestions are given for use in classrooms.

      SLiCK provides access to the curriculum for students with disabilities. It is not a tutorial designed to improve independent reading skills, but could be used in conjunction with a tutorial program.

Brozo, W. G. (2000). Hiding out in secondary content classrooms: Coping strategies of unsuccessful readers. In D. W. Moore, D. E. Alverman, & K. A. Hinchman, (Eds.), Struggling adolescent readers: A collection of teaching strategies  (pp. 51-55). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

     The author described observations of a high school classroom and interviewed  poor readers  to discover their coping strategies. The author and research assistant visited an 11^th grade American History class in a large suburban high school in the Midwest. They observed twice weekly for one semester. Notes were taken on a seating chart and using coded notations. No advance information was given regarding the level of reading ability for any of the students. At the end of the semester they identified the three poorest readers by standardized test scores and categorized the behaviors of those students using their field notes. The categorization process was not delineated. Students were interviewed three times for 30 minutes per session about the observed behaviors and were asked about their perceptions of their coping strategies.

     Several coping strategies are examined and alternative ways of reaching these disaffected readers are discussed. The coping strategies include: avoiding eye contact with the teacher, engaging in disruptive behavior, becoming a good listener, relying on another classmate, seeking help from friends, forgetting to bring books and materials, and using manipulative techniques to gain teachers’ positive perceptions. The author recommends that teachers develop rapport with struggling readers, adapt instruction to lower-ability students, and teach students to monitor their own performance. Brozo concludes that teachers must not ignore disaffected readers, but help them confront their difficulties.

      Confronting their difficulties is the first step. Providing interventions that students will accept is the next step for both the disaffected and the disabled.

Cavanaugh, T. (2002, November/December). Ebooks and accommodations: Is this the future of print accommodation?  Teaching Exceptional Children, 35(2), 56-61.

      Are eBooks the future of print accommodation for people with disabilities?  The eBook is a form of electronic text. There are three distinct components: an eBook file, software to read the eBook, and a hardware device to read it. The author suggests that eBooks are an effective resource that meets the needs of many students especially those with disabilities. The eBook device displays all of the document’s text and pictures. It can be as small as a laptop or hand-held device. Electronic text can provide scaffolding supports such as voice output, interactive dictionaries, and note-taking. Research is cited to support use for students with disabilities who can control the speed of reading and/or text to speech with synchronized highlighting of text.

      Examples are included to demonstrate how the devices can be used individually or within a classroom setting. The availability of eBooks and the multiplicity of features is increasing. The author concludes that eBook technologies have features that are valuable for diverse learners. The eBook provides access to the curriculum. It does not provide reading instruction, but will allow students with disabilities to learn curriculum material without being bogged down trying to decode unfamiliar words.

Curtis, M. E. & Longo, A. M (2001, November). Teaching vocabulary to adolescents to improve comprehension. Reading Online, 5(4). Retrieved January 22, 2003 from http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=curtis/index.html.

      The authors report on the use of the FAME curriculum which is based on Chall’s (1983) stages of reading development. Based on standardized reading tests, students scoring: below 4^th grade reading level focus on acquiring word recognition skill; 4th-6th grade reading levels focus on attaining fluency in word recognition and meaning; 6^th- 8^th focus on building vocabulary; higher than 8^th grade level focus on integration of text via reading and writing. The FAME courses have been replicated 75 times. While the goal is improved reading comprehension, the instruction is limited to vocabulary instructions during five 45 minute sessions per week for sixteen weeks.

      The basis of a vocabulary course is the word list. Word lists are not thematically linked and from the 6^th - 8^th grade level, students supply contexts for words after the initial introduction to the words. Activities include: sentence completions, cloze paragraphs, think alouds, analogies, read and respond, yes/no/why, sentence and paragraph writing, games such as Password and Scattergories. Weekly pretesting and post testing are also components of the course. The Stanford Diagnostic subtests of vocabulary and reading comprehension are used for entry and exit to each course. The authors conclude that the introduction and activation of meaning for high utility words is a worthwhile approach to improve comprehension. The FAME curriculum seems to be another effective design for improving both word knowledge and comprehension for all students.

D’Arcangelo, M. (2002, November). The challenge of content area reading: A conversation with Donna Ogle. Educational Leadership, 60(3),  12-15.

     Ogle notes in this interview that reading across the curriculum is still difficult at the middle and high school levels. Teachers focus on content not on how students learn. Departmental organization, discipline-based instruction, short periods,  and lack of reading as an element of the curriculum have been causes of this continued struggle for adolescents. Students must continually adjust to differing teaching styles and content idiosyncracies.

      Good learners always begin with a purpose, make sense of what they read, and are interested in learning. The goals for students should be: to read critically, make decisions, form opinions, respond to and evaluate multiple forms of print sources. They need time to think, reflect and talk about what they have read. Teachers need to teach strategies to: acquire vocabulary, build background knowledge, identify text structures and organization, model comprehension strategies, and help students identify the author’s purpose. Schools need to identify which reading strategies are important to teach in each discipline area and provide professional development for staff.  The issues raised apply to both general and special education..

Duke, N. K. & Pearson, D. (2002). Effective practices for developing reading comprehension. In A. E. Farstrup & S. J. Samuels, S. J. (Eds.),  What research has to say about reading instruction (pp. 205-242). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

      The authors present a review of reading research of the last thirty years. They begin by listing the strategies and practices of good readers. Some of the practices, but by no means all, are: preview text, read actively, make predictions, read selectively, construct and revise meanings, determine meanings of unfamiliar words, use prior knowledge, and read different kinds of text differently. The question they pose is “Can we teach students to engage in these productive behaviors?  The authors believe research supports a positive answer to this question. Students can learn many strategies, but even the effective use of just one strategy will facilitate comprehension. They believe that good comprehension instruction should be balanced and would include strategy instruction with ample time and opportunity to practice these strategies on reading a variety texts for many different purposes.  Students also need to be able to develop a good vocabulary be fluent and accurate with decoding unfamiliar words.

       A gradual release model of comprehension instruction is presented in which the responsibility for task completion shifts from that of primarily the teacher to one that is primarily students. Instructional practices, which have been discussed in research literature, include: modeling, direct instruction, guided practice, scaffolding, facilitating, and participating. Other considerations, not included specifically in the model are selecting appropriate texts, student motivation, and assessment.

      From that model the authors suggest a comprehension curriculum composed of six individual comprehension strategies and several comprehension routines. The strategies are prediction, think alouds, text analysis, use of visual representations (graphic organizers), summarization, and questioning. Vocabulary building strategies, while not part of the comprehension model, are also necessary since understanding vocabulary is important for good comprehension. Routines, the authors suggest, are an integrated set of practices that could be applied to a variety of texts. One such routine is that of reciprocal teaching which incorporates the strategies of predicting, questioning, seeking clarification, and summarizing. Transactional routines promote students learning when to use particular strategies. The components are again predicting, clarifying, questioning, summarizing but also include constructing images, thinking aloud, story grammar analysis, and text analysis.

       The authors raise several questions for future research: “will we understand comprehension in all of its complexity; will we acknowledge that comprehension learning is different for different people; will we question long-held assumptions about effective comprehension instruction; and will we ask tough questions about reading comprehension instruction?”. The authors also provide a checklist that could be useful for assessing classroom comprehension environment.

       This article is a very comprehensive synthesis of the reading research of the last thirty years. There are many practices to choose from, but it is not necessary for students to learn all of the strategies. Instruction of a few selected strategies that are learned well and can be generalized to different texts is probably the most beneficial to students. The practices are adaptable for students of all learning capabilities.  

Fischer, D. Frey, N. & Williams, D. (2002, November). Seven literacy strategies that work.            Educational Leadership, 60(3),  70-73.

     The authors report on three year plan to improve student achievement. Pretests, posttests, and accountability test scores were used as data. This is a narrative report citing the advances made in one high school in a large west coast urban school. Strategic teaching and learning formed the heart of the instructional model that was developed. A review of research provided the base for their plan which they termed “seven defensible strategies”. Read alouds, the use of K-W-L charts, graphic organizers, vocabulary instruction, writing to learn, structured note-taking, and reciprocal teaching were the seven strategies that teachers implemented across curriculum areas.  The benefits to students and teachers are cited in the conclusion of the article. Not only is student achievement up, but teacher morale is up and their willingness to try different approaches has increased. The strategies are applicable to all students, but specific instruction in the use and application of the strategies, especially for students with disabilities, is not included.

Flood, J. & Lapp, D. (2000). Reading comprehension instruction for at-risk students: Research based practice that can make a difference. In D. W. Moore, D. E. Alverman, & K. A. Hinchman, (Eds.), Struggling adolescent readers: A collection of teaching strategies (pp. 138-147). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

      The authors present a review of research that describes what competent readers do to understand text and what is known about teaching strategies for at-risk students. Comprehension is viewed as the construction of meaning and that competent readers are strategic readers. They have a generalized plan for before, during, and after reading. Several research-based practices that foster comprehension are explained: preparing for reading practices, reciprocal teaching, understanding and using  knowledge of text structure, questioning, information processing practices, summarizing, and voluntary/recreational reading.

      The authors ask if at-risk students are at risk because the they have not been taught or because they haven’t practiced reading. No conclusions are presented. They do conclude that comprehension instruction is effective for at-risk students, but leave open the question if comprehension can be taught. They suggest that it is the reader who must construct meaning , not the teacher or the text.

Goldman, S. & Rakestraw, J. A., Jr. Structural aspects of constructing meaning from text. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr, (Eds.),  Handbook of reading research, vol. III ( pp. 311-335). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

      The authors  examined several different aspects of how literate individuals construct meaning from text. Several studies that were mentioned specifically targeted middle and high school populations. This chapter provides an overview of text and knowledge driven processing, a review of empirical research, and structural issues in electronic text.

       The authors first discussed and compared text-driven processing and knowledge-driven processing. Text-driven refers to the “use of the content and organization of the text”. A reading passage that compares/contrasts is organized differently than a text that enumerates a sequence. The use of vocabulary is also different for each passage. Knowledge-driven processing refers to  prior knowledge of text structure and how a reader uses that knowledge to construct meaning from new passages. It is not synonymous  with prior content knowledge but looks at syntax, sentence organization within paragraphs, the organization of the genre, and rhetorical structures. Also included in the discussion was a recognition that structural cues in a text are only valuable if the reader can recognize them and use them.

     The bulk of the chapter was devoted to the discussion and review of the empirical findings for the cue systems in the structural aspects of text-driven and knowledge-driven processing and the three conclusions reached by the authors for each process. Conclusions reached regarding the importance of structure in text-driven processing were: structural cues can improve identification of main ideas and their memorability; parallels between the surface structure text and the underlying conceptual structure enhances comprehension; structures of text need to be readily known by the reader in order to comprehend the text. With regard to the second conclusion the authors noted that if there is a bad fit between the surface structure and the underlying conceptual structure, readers will not comprehend the text. The studies cited by the authors appear to reflect a focus on informational text, not literature. There were some references to “stories”, but the preponderance of the studies appeared to be in the content area.

      The conclusions reached by the authors on the structural aspects of knowledge-driven processing  reflect the meta-cognitive side of learning. Readers use their knowledge of structure when reading. If the structure doesn’t match their expectations, then comprehension is impaired. The second conclusion was that this knowledge of text structure develops over time through experiences with different genre and is somewhat age and grade-level dependent. The third conclusion was that as readers become more aware of the structures of various genre the more they learn. The studies cited in this section of the chapter reflected both literature and informational text research.

      In the third section the authors explored the efficacy of hypertext for learning. They discussed the difficulties in generalizing from studies that examined traditional text, however they noted that the reader’s interests, goals,  and prior knowledge of text structure in traditional texts and hypertext would affect their learning in a similar fashion.  Because readers are more familiar with traditional text, it is difficult to predict that those same skills and strategies will be effective. New strategies may be required, even though there are many similar structural aspects between hypertext and traditional texts. One conclusion was that the use of hypertext may be useful for some tasks, such as reading to find information. In  reading to learn situations book users were more accurate in their responses to questions.  Another conclusion  reached by the authors was that learning complex and complicated material, especially if readers are familiar with the domain, may be facilitated by accessing from a variety of perspectives that are readily available in hypertext.

     The authors acknowledge the fact that statistical analysis of their conclusions is difficult to conduct and recent studies  have ignored structural aspects of text-driven and knowledge-driven processing. Structural aspects are important in learning new material, provide cues to assist readers in making connections, and have the potential to scaffold  readers in active construction of meaning.

      In terms of theoretical background and potential for future study, the authors utilized multiple sources and synthesized an enormous body of knowledge. The research cited did not specify the diversity of the populations included in the studies. Effective comprehension strategies for adolescents with disabilities and  strategies that can be taught in either a pull-out setting or a regular class setting would have been very informative if part of this research.

Graves, M. F. & Watts-Taffe, S. M. (2002). The place of word consciousness in a research-based vocabulary program. In A. E. Farstrup & S. J. Samuels, (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (pp. 140-165). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

     What is word consciousness and why is it important? The authors presented a brief history of vocabulary research and proposed a four component vocabulary program to promote vocabulary growth. Improved and enlarged vocabulary help to clarify meanings and enhance comprehension. This program was an updated version of Graves’ previous versions. The authors theorizeded that vocabulary is crucial to the success of students both in school and beyond, that the task of learning vocabulary is huge, and that it is impossible to teach 50,000 words during the twelve to thirteen years students are in school.

      The authors consider their program to be a balanced cognitive-constructivist approach that incorporates both cognitive and affective factors. The four components presented are: wide reading or the idea that words are learned in context; teaching individual words or direct instruction; teaching word learning strategies or how to use context, structural analysis, dictionary skills; and fostering word consciousness or the awareness of and interest in words and their meanings. The bulk of the chapter is dedicated to description of word consciousness with examples of activities that can be used across content areas and grade levels. Other studies are cited that promote the idea of word consciousness and the authors conclude that it is essential to develop in students the “will and the skill to improve their vocabularies”.

     Developing word consciousness is a worthy goal for all students, but may take longer for students with disabilities, especially those with language disabilities.

Green, M. (2000). Rapid retrieval of information: Reading aloud with a purpose.   In D. W. Moore, D. E. Alverman, & K. A. Hinchman, (Eds.),  Struggling adolescent readers: A collection of teaching strategies (pp. 171-173). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

     The author, a reading teacher, describes in a narrative report her method of reading selections out loud in order for middle school students to be able to understand text. Her technique is termed RRI - Rapid Retrieval of Information. The strategy uses oral rereading to answer questions, find details and examples, and requires some higher order thinking skills. Oral rereading assists the teacher in evaluating student word recognition skills, fluency and the ability to skim and scan.   This incorporates several features from other approaches and could be used with all students, especially those with disabilities. 

International Reading Association. (2002). Adolescent literacy: Discussion guide and related journal articles.

     This is a handbook for IRA’s literacy study group on adolescent literacy. It includes a variety of resources for teachers to use to examine their own practices, evaluate school programs, develop their own literacy programs, and integrate literacy into the content areas. There are twelve articles on adolescent literacy plus abstracts of several Reading Online articles, some of which are summarized elsewhere in this bibliography. Three main purposes are outlined for this booklet: draw attention to adolescent literacy, develop effective literacy programs for adolescents, and to teach the struggling adolescent reader. References and resources are identified as are guiding questions for discussion.   The targeted audience is the general education population with no reference to those with disabilities.

Ivey, G. (2002, November). Getting started: Manageable literacy practices. Educational Leadership, 60(3),  20-23.

       Ivey proposes several principles of developmental reading instruction for content area teachers to use in promoting success for all students. She cites research conclusions and narratives to support each component. Providing a classroom full of books and other reading material is the first suggestion. A variety of materials will encourage students to select books that appeal to them. Supplementing this is to teach strategies, such as K-W-L to enhance textbook reading, but she promulgates a shift from textbook centered instruction to multi-text based instruction.

      A second principle of effective content area literacy is to read aloud to students. Here the teacher not only models reading aloud, but can display metacognitive strategies through thinking aloud. This also provides inexperienced or delayed readers access to information that they may not be able to understand if reading difficult text independently. A third principle is to provide the time for independent reading. The question she asks is how can students think like historians, scientists, or writers if they don’t have the opportunity to practice reading in science, history, or literature?

     The last suggestion Ivey proposes is for school administrators to provide support in the form of purposeful professional development, resources and materials, and time to explore the literature related to their disciplines. She concludes that educators need to use the same key practices that work in reading classrooms, but does not expect all content area teachers to become expert teachers of reading.           

    While not specifically targeting students with disabilities, these classroom practices will enhance the ability of all students to have access to curriculum. This is a beginning point but needs to be extended to developmental reading instruction for delayed or struggling readers.

Ivey, G. (2000). Reflections on teaching struggling middle school readers. In D. W. Moore,  D. E. Alverman, & K. A. Hinchman,  (Eds.), Struggling adolescent readers: A collection of teaching strategies  (pp. 27-38). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

      This article is a reflection of the author’s experience of working with struggling middle school readers. She used her personal journal as a log of her observations during a 5 month long naturalistic investigation to determine what helps middle school students with reading difficulties become successful readers. Cases study analysis of students in a variety of classrooms from three states produced several themes and successful strategies. A listing of children’s literature is also included.

      Ivey reached several conclusions during the course of her investigations: students need a purpose for reading, struggling middle school readers like to read when they have  interesting materials, and students want to be better readers. She suggests that teachers must reconceptualize how instruction is delivered and that a workshop orientation is appropriate for students with persistent reading difficulties. Her final conclusion is that teacher education programs do not prepare beginning middle school teachers to teach reading to students with reading difficulties. Lack of teacher preparation in reading instruction will continue to perpetuate the difficulties of struggling and disabled learners.

Jacobs, V. L. (2002, November). Reading, writing, and understanding. Educational Leadership 60(3),  58-61.

     The author poses the question, “Why hasn’t the concept of secondary reading become better rooted in schools?” One reason posited is the lament from content area teachers that they teach history or math, not reading. Another reason is the difference between learning to read and reading to learn. The author suggests that comprehension is a three stage process that involves problem-solving. The first stage is pre-reading in which teachers help students to activate their background knowledge and experience. The second phase is guided reading where teachers help students learn self-monitoring techniques. The third phase is the post reading where students can check their assumptions and predictions.

     Interrelated  with these phases of reading to learn are phases of writing to learn or writing to read. Finding relevant details from personal experience, analyzing or generalizing about text, and testing the validity of their assertions are the three phases.  The strategy of inquiry is used to improve composition. Through inquiry writing is seen as a problem-solving activity in which students come to an understanding before they begin writing. Together writing-to-learn strategies and reading-to-learn strategies engage students with text and promote understanding.

     The author presented a theoretical model of reading-to-learn and writing-to-learn strategies with a review of research to support the model. Experimental design was not employed. The framework does not take into account student variability in cognitive or language development which may make the framework not as useful to all teachers.

Joyce, B., Hrycauk, M. & Calhoun, E. (2001, March). A second chance for struggling readers. Educational Leadership, 58(6),  42-46.

      In response to a finding that one-third of students between grades 4 and 12 were beginning readers, the Northern Lights School District in Alberta, Canada developed the Second Chance curriculum to give students another opportunity to learn how to read and write. The Second Chance program was taken by students in place of electives and required 90 minutes per day. There were twelve literacy sections serving 250 students. The components of the program included vocabulary study daily, teacher reading a variety of fiction or nonfiction to students daily, writing prompts almost daily, and silent reading including reading at home. Several problems and issues were also cited: resistance by students to instruction, the need for students to learn how to learn, little or no experience in reading or writing independently.

      Pre and posttest scores of participants were analyzed, using Canadian Test of Basic Skills, the Gates-McGinnitie Battery, and the Gray Oral Reading test. Student growth was measured within each school with the tests adopted by each school. A sampling of results was presented for students in grade 7. Sixty percent of the students gained from 1.5 to 2.0 years on measurements of grade level equivalence. Twenty percent gained at least one year. Results were not generalized but remained specific to the group studied. They concluded that a research based literacy program helped older students improve their reading. The progress of students with learning disabilities was about the same as the progress of other students.   This program warrants further examination to explore the possibility of implementation for secondary students.

Kiddey, P. & Waring. (2001). Success for all: Selecting appropriate reading strategies.   Carlton, South Victoria: Curriculum Corporation.

      This is a collection of strategies developed for the Education Department of Western Australia. It includes general learning strategies, reading strategies, and writing strategies. It is a practical resource that will assist teachers in meeting the needs of the diverse learners in their classes. The premise of the book is that literacy underlies all learning and is the means by which students construct meaning. Improving literacy skills of adolescents will lead to improved learning. This book is a resource for teachers who opt to include strategy instruction into their classes.  The book was first written as part of the Stepping Out Project in Australia and has been reprinted for use in professional development in the United States. The goal of the project is to improve student learning outcomes in all subject areas. The materials are geared for subject area teachers who may have students with disabilities in their classes.            

Klenk, L. & Kibby, M. (2000). Re-mediating reading difficulties: Appraising the past, reconciling the present, constructing the future. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr, (Eds.),  Handbook of reading research, vol. III (pp.667-690). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    The authors conduct an historical  review of literature of models of instruction for students with reading difficulties. Those students need greater intensity of high quality instruction in the opinion of the authors. They review the history of remedial reading, intervention programs such as Title I and Reading Recovery, and special education. Hypotheses about the causes of reading difficulties are discussed with emphasis on what constitutes a learning disability. Criticism is leveled at special education and psychology for labeling and categorizing students because they had difficulty reading. Thus has developed a rift between reading educators and special education concerning reading difficulties. The intent of special education was to try to ameliorate the causes of the difficulties, while the intent of the reading educator was to continue to teach reading skills. The authors believe that fluency development is critical to the improvement of reading comprehension.

     The second section of the chapter discusses current issues and trends in remedial reading. The authors comment on balanced instruction, Reading Recovery, and Title I. They examine the effectiveness of Title I, citing the limited emphasis, incongruence between the theoretical, philosophical, and instructional practices in classrooms, and lack of specific skills instruction. Who should be teaching remedial reading?  Some think paraprofessionals, or volunteer tutors who  under the guidance of a reading specialist should provide reading instruction, while others advocate for more teachers. Students who are identified as learning disabled receive reading instruction from special education teachers.

      In the last section the authors discuss the shift of emphasis from “remedial” reading to the “mediation” of reading difficulties. They believe that reading failure is the result of poor schools and poor teaching; that congruence between home and school is important; reading teachers have special knowledge and expertise for teaching reading; and every child should be reading on grade level. The authors do admit that this last comment is based on faith not research, because there are children who do not read at age or grade appropriate levels.  Implications of this report is to continue to search reading and learning disabilities research findings.

Lee, N. G. & Neal, J. C. (2000). Reading rescue: Intervention for a student at promise. In D. W. Moore, D. E. Alverman, & K. A. Hinchman, (Eds.), Struggling adolescent readers: A collection of teaching strategies  (pp. 19-26). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

     What is the efficacy of intensive literacy intervention for a disabled reader at the middle school level?  A case study of an eighth grade student who required intensive intervention in order to acquire and use reading strategies is reported. There were no health issues, no attendance or behavior issues, nor were there any home or peer problems to interfere with his reading achievement. Informal assessments were conducted and revealed that “David” was reading at the letter and word analysis level of reading. Listening comprehension was checked and found to be far superior to his reading performance.

      A one-on-one intervention was developed based on Marie Clay’s Reading Recovery model. The authors adapted that model and termed their model Reading Rescue. Anecdotal records and interviews were used to gather data. The components of their model are: reading familiar material, reading aloud to the student, use of running records on a portion of new material introduced in the previous lesson, working with words and letters, writing, reading new material. After a 15 week intervention a post-test was administered and the results were encouraging. David’s stress level decreased, enabling him to relax. He has a repertoire of several strategies to use for pre-reading, during reading, and after reading. David  has been able to maintain his gains in high schools as indicated during a follow-up interview. The authors concluded that this approach worked for David.

     This model of one-to-one intensive intervention shows great promise for seriously disabled learners with either a special education teacher or a reading specialist.

Lewkowitz, N. K. (2000). On the question of teaching decoding skills to older students. In D. W. Moore, D. E. Alverman, & K. A. Hinchman, (Eds.), Struggling adolescent readers: A collection of teaching strategies  (pp. 189-195). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

    The author raises several questions about assumptions regarding the teaching of word attack strategy instruction to older students. She suggests that since there are multiple sources of a reading disability, there are just as many teaching methods. One strategy is decoding which when used in conjunction with sight vocabulary and fluency instruction will help many older students to become better readers. She generated a model of reading that displays relationships between reading skills and the intended improvements in word, sentence, and passage comprehension.           

      Lewkowitz presents her article in the form of a debate, debunking six questionable assumptions about decoding and older students. She cites  literature to substantiate her opinions..  She offers several changes to improve instruction at the secondary level: recognition that lack of decoding skills is a serious handicap, teachers must recognize and identify the older students who are  having difficulty, and greater effort by teachers in explaining decoding principles.                                                                                                                                                                   

Moats, L. C. (2001, March). When older students can’t read. Educational Leadership, 58(6),  36-40.

     What can be done to assist the older struggling reader to become more engaged, fluent, and better in reading?  The author presents a review of  research-based reading interventions. Once children fall behind, they seldom catch up. Reading achievement in first grade is a predictor of reading achievement in high school. Converging evidence from psychological studies explain the learning to read process and that core linguistic deficits underlie poor reading at all ages. At any age, when reading comprehension is more impaired than listening comprehension, inaccurate and slow word recognition is often the cause. Students cannot and should not bypass any critical skills necessary for fluent and meaningful reading because of their chronological age.

     The components to effective instruction are: phonological awareness and decoding skills; word recognition and fluency; vocabulary and phrase meanings; comprehension strategies; and written response. Teaching the foundations of the  language is essential.

Moore, D. W., Bean, T. W., Birdyshaw, D. & Rycik, J. A. (1999). Adolescent literacy: A position statement for the Commission on Adolescent Literacy of the International Reading Association. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

     This statement begins with a synopsis of literacy in the lives of two fictional adolescents in the context of family, school, with friends, and in their community. Despite the prevalence of literacy events during daily routines, adolescent literacy had been not only neglected, but supports for adolescent literacy have been severely curtailed during the late eighties and through the nineties. The authors cite cutbacks at federal, state, and local levels of reading support, most of which was transferred to early literacy. Adolescents have literacy needs that have not been addressed and need to be addressed.

      The position statement advocates seven principles for supporting literacy growth in adolescents. They deserve: access to a wide variety of interesting reading material that they want to read; instruction that builds both skills and desire to read complex material; appropriate assessment that highlights strengths as well as needs; expert teachers who model and provide explicit instruction; access to reading specialists when they have persistent difficulties; caring, respectful teachers; and homes, communities, and society that will support their efforts to achieve high levels of literacy.

      Included at the end of the statement are suggested resources for further reading for those interested in promoting adolescent literacy, teacher resources, booklists for teens, and booklists for parents.

Mulholland, R. (2002, October). Using high interest materials to engage secondary students in reading. Reading Online, 6(3). Retrieved January 22, 2003 from http://wwwreadingonline.org/articles/art_index.HREF=mulholland/index.html.

     This is a report of one teacher’s effort to engage secondary students in reading. It is a peer-reviewed article in narrative form. The author utilized a unit-based approach incorporating reading skills for newspapers, online resources, critical thinking, word processing, and use of Powerpoint. Her sample consisted of high school students who were identified as having reading difficulties by teachers and guidance counselors. A class was created for these students for one grading period of nine weeks. The author’s lessons were based on strategy research to improve comprehension and included direct instruction of several strategies. These were: understanding the nature and purpose of reading for meaning, activating prior knowledge through the K-W-L strategy, note-taking strategies, use of keywords, and summarizing.

      At the end of the term, some students returned to their traditional English class while others remained in the program and new students joined the class. Students who returned to their English class had demonstrated improved interest and achievement while acquiring some strategies to be more effective in their classes. No follow-up information was provided as to the retention rate of the strategies over time and the success of the students who graduated from the program after they returned to their English classes.   This particular model is another intervention that shows promise and whose implementation can be adapted for many high schools. 

 Norris, E.A., Reichard, C. & Mokhtari, K. (1997). The influence of drawing on third graders’ writing performances. Reading Horizons, 38, 13-30.

     This article reported the results of a study to determine if drawing as a pre-writing strategy influenced the quality of the written product. The authors proposed a focus question that provided the background leading up to the study.  Several studies were cited in the introduction, noting that students in both elementary and secondary classrooms did not write creatively with any regularity, writing was not encouraged, and teachers were not well trained in the teaching of writing. Research results from the mid-seventies through 1996 were included in this review. Also noted was a trend to increase writing in the elementary years with emphasis on encouraging all students to write and write for a variety of purposes. The authors cited a few researchers who had studied the visual arts curriculum and had posited a relationship between visual arts and writing.

    The authors proceeded to describe their third grade subjects who were socio-economically, culturally, linguistically similar. No subjects were identified as having any disabilities. The sample population did not represent the diversity of the general population, but then again the general population of that geographic area may not have been very diverse.

      The method of data collection was described including the initial assessment results that established the base points and the similarity in writing ability between the experimental and control groups. Three writing samples were collected from each group over an approximately 1 month period. The procedures were delineated adequately. The analyses looked at 4 dependent variables and described how the samples were scored. Results were reported in terms of group, gender, story, and gender by group. The authors used both the quantitative data and qualitative observations to draw their conclusions for the sample population studied.

     The authors noted the limitations of the study and suggested the replication of the study across socio-economic and ethnic populations, geographic areas, and school settings.

Pressley, M. (2002). Metacognition and self-regulated comprehension.    In A. E. Farstrup & S. J. Samuels (Eds.),  What research has to say about reading instruction. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

     Pressley examines the nature of effective comprehension instruction which exists in schools. He begins by highlighting the skills of effective readers who consciously use strategies when they tackle difficult text. Good readers predict, summarize, and construct mental images as they read. Metacognition is the ability to know when to use particular strategies for any given reading situation. He continues with the assertion that decoding and comprehension takes place in and depends upon short term memory, and because of this limited capacity, students who are not very fluent readers use so much memory in decoding that there is little if any room to remember what they have read. His conclusion in this section is that word recognition skills do matter in comprehension. He cites a few studies the results of which support his conclusions.

      He reviewed literature to find the strategies that were most commonly used and they fell into three categories: before reading, during reading, and after reading. Prereading strategies include: skimming and scanning and activating prior knowledge. During reading strategies include skipping irrelevant text, making predictions and/or inferences, note taking and paraphrasing. Sometimes good readers will reread text, reflect on it and review text after the first reading.  Pressley includes a brief history of strategy instruction of the 1970's, 1980's and early 1990's, concluding with descriptions of metacognitively skilled readers and metacognitively sophisticated reading teachers.  He concludes that explicit instruction in decoding and word recognition is more effective than assuming children will pick up these skills on their own. Comprehension strategies also need to be taught. Word identification skill and comprehension strategy instructions is an important component of a literacy program.

Pressley, M. What should comprehension instruction be the instruction of?  In M. L. Kamil,  et al. (Eds.),  Handbook of reading research, vol. III ( pp. 545-561). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

     Pressley approached the topic of comprehension from the perspective that strategy teaching isn’t the only approach to improving comprehension of text by children. He posited that in order for students to be able to understand what is in text that they must have sufficient word-level skills, background knowledge, and efficient comprehension strategies. He offered that past research into the areas of comprehension, comprehension skills and comprehension instruction was fragmented, focusing on one aspect or skill to the exclusion of others. He divided this chapter into two sections, the first of which is a summary of the work in  what he termed “naturalistic” comprehension. The second section is a set of instructional recommendations.

      In the first section Pressley discussed the word-level processes which are those processes needed to recognize words. He specifically referred to decoding and the development of sight vocabulary. His synthesis of research into decoding indicated that instruction in decoding with emphasis on the fit of the decoded word to the context as in the Reading Recovery is a more powerful approach than just teaching students to decode words. He also examined research that concluded that a more extensive vocabulary promotes comprehension of text. One study  noted that using context did not automatically translate into correctly identifying the meaning of an unknown word.

      Pressley discussed a reader’s ability to relate text to prior knowledge. This discussion relied heavily on the idea of schema theory and propositional-theoretical models. Both theories relate the activation of  prior knowledge to the creation of new understandings on an almost automatic level not in ways that the reader consciously controls. Pressley continued with a synopsis of his and Afflerbach’s summary of 40 think-aloud studies of what readers consciously did as they were reading a variety of text. While he labeled the readers as mature he did not define the age of the populations studied in this chapter. His conclusion for this section is that the construction of meaning depends on the ability of readers to decode words, process the meaning of words in relation to other ideas in the text, and put it all together to get the global message. Understanding this global message is a function of the ideas expressed in the text and the reader’s response.

      In the second section Pressley advocated a multicomponential approach to comprehension instruction. This approach needs to occur over time and be based on the developmental needs of the reader. At last an approach that might consider the needs of students with disabilities. He suggests that the instruction of decoding and word recognition skills are best suited for the primary and/or early elementary years of school.  He encourages the instruction of self-monitoring in the decoding of words. Does the decoded word make sense in the context of the sentence or passage?  On the issue of whether to provide instruction in vocabulary meaning, he waffled a bit. Eventually he concluded that there is more evidence to support the teaching of vocabulary than not.

       Another component of this  approach is to read early, read often, and read a variety of materials at the elementary levels. Exposure to literature and nonfiction materials improves breadth of knowledge and develops vocabulary. Active questioning by readers is encouraged to assist them in determining if the material makes sense. The use of “why” questions is encouraged for later elementary and middle school years. The use of comprehension building strategies is deemed important. Not only is the instruction of  particular strategies, such as prediction, questioning, visualization, clarification,  and summarization important but the recognition of when to use each strategy independently is paramount. Instructional strategies were also reviewed, such as teacher modeling, reciprocal teaching, direct explanations followed by guided practice, and scaffolding.

Rothenberg, S. S. & Watts, S. M. (2000). Students with learning disabilities meet Shakespeare: Using a scaffolded reading experience. In D. W. Moore, D. E. Alverman, & K. A. Hinchman, (Eds.), Struggling adolescent readers: A collection of teaching strategies (148-156). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

    The authors describes an instructional model of teaching Shakespeare’s MacBeth to a group of eighth and ninth graders with learning difficulties. The goal was to provide opportunities for the students to appreciate and understand the play. They used a research based model called the Scaffolded Reading Experience which utilized prereading, during reading and after reading activities.  The characteristics of the reading material and the characteristics of the students were taken into consideration. A ten day implementation was planned and carried out. As a result of the unit, the authors conclude that students with scaffolding support could comprehend the difficult reading material of a Shakespeare play.

Salembier, G. B. (1999, February). SCAN and RUN: A reading comprehension strategy that works. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 42 (5), 386-394.

     The “SCAN and RUN” model is a mnemonic system of cues designed to assist middle and secondary teachers in addressing the reading comprehension needs of diverse groups of learners. The goals were: to teach all students the SCAN and RUN strategy within the regular education setting; ensure that students would use the strategy independently and automatically across curriculum areas; and enable students to answer questions and participate in class discussion. SCAN is a pre-reading strategy in which S means to survey headings and turn them into questions; C represents capture the captions and visual; A means to attach bold face words; N means to note and read the chapter questions. RUN is a  strategy used to monitor comprehension during reading  in which R represents read and adjust speed; U means to use word identification skills; and N means to notice and check parts are not understand and reread or read on.

       Participants in the study were 95 eighth graders. Data collected were: the number of homework assignments completed, quiz and test grades, teacher observations, and student surveys. One of the findings was that by working in small groups student were able to observe how other students implemented and applied the strategies, thus modeling the use for those less experienced. Other results showed increased homework completion and improvement in test and quiz grades for all students including those with disabilities. The author concludes that teaching strategies to students is effective.

     One implication for practice is that teachers need training in the use of this system or in any set of strategies  to implement them effectively. Modeling the use of strategies by other students is another practice that is both effective and easy to implement.

Samuels, S. J . (2002). Reading fluency: Its development and assessment.  In A. E. Farstrup & S. J. Samuels, (Eds.),  What research has to say about reading instruction (pp. 166-183). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

     What is reading fluency, why is it important, how is it assessed, and what methods build fluency?  These are the questions Samuels attempts to answer using a review of the literature approach. Fluency is viewed as both word recognition and comprehension processes. Decoding, comprehension, and attention are three processes required to build fluency. When students are fluent, they can decode and comprehend at the same time.

     Samuels reported the results of studies using “the new improved version of repeated readings” as a way to increase reading comprehension. The procedure was delineated for one study conducted in 1979. The population was a class of mentally retarded students who were experiencing difficulty reading. No age or grade level was given. Pretests involved students  reading a short selection at their reading level to determine baseline oral reading speed and errors. Students were given passages to practice then to read orally to an assistant who continued to record speed and errors. This continued until student reached the target speed of 85 words per minute.  He concluded that repeated readings improved word recognition, reading speed, and oral expression, but that the procedure is very labor intensive.

     The technique has evolved over time to incorporate classroom management strategies, such as children working with partners in a reciprocal teaching type model. The classes described are lower elementary classes. The number of time students repeat the oral reading is now four. The procedure now begins with the teacher reading a passage to the children, then students work in pairs to practice and question each other about what has been read. The pretest for this technique involves the use of two passages, one read by the teacher to test listening comprehension and one read by the student who is asked to recall what he has read. This informal assessment is administered as both a pre and posttest.

     Samuels concludes that repeated reading instruction has been proven effective in improving reading fluency. As the use of these strategies increased, the ability to draw inferences becomes more automatic, thus increasing reading comprehension. While the population described is lower elementary, the practice would appear to be beneficial for older students in tutorial settings.

Schwarz, G. (2001, November). Graphic novels for multiple literacies. Reading Online, 5(4). Retrieved January 21, 2003, from: http://readingonline.org/newliteracies/jaal/11-02_column/index.html

      The author describes the positive impact of graphic novels, formerly known as novels in comic book form, in engaging student interest and promoting literacy. Graphic novels have gained wide-spread usage in a culture that has become increasingly dependent on visuals. Graphic novels can be used in English classes to teach literary terms. In social studies classes graphic novels add depth to topics under discussion. They bring media literacy as a format into class discussion. Graphic novels present alternative viewpoints of culture and/or history with humor and/or from a minority point of view. Links to other sites, a short annotated bibliography, and references are included.

Sternberg, R. J., Grigorenko, E. L., & Jarvin, L. (2001, March). Improving reading instruction: The triarchic model. Educational Leadership, 58(6),  47-52.

     The approach taken by the authors in these studies, only one is reported in article, was based on the triarchic theory of cognition. The three parts of this cognitive model are analytical, creative and practical thinking. The authors hypothesized that by applying this theory to reading instruction the result would be improved reading performance. Students are taught through the use of analysis, creative writing, and practical applications.

     The participants in the reported research were 708 middle school students. 450 students were in the experimental group receiving triarchic instruction, with the remaining students in the control group. The control group received regular instruction with the use of mnemonic techniques added to their lessons.  Data was collected by using pre and posttests for all three types of tasks and rating scales. Findings showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on analytical tasks, creative tasks, and practical. Teachers reported that the triarchic approach addressed the learning needs of all students and was a very inclusive approach. More trials with different grades were being planned to see if results could be generalized and replicated. This particular approach, while very interesting, would need much coordination and cooperation to implement across grade levels within a school.

Supporting young adolescents’ literacy learning: A joint position statement of the International Reading Association and the National Middle School Association. (2002).  Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

     This statement cites results of an international study comparing achievement in reading of 200,000 students in 31 countries. U. S. nine year-olds ranked second, while fourteen year-olds ranked ninth. Average scores of elementary age students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 1998 remained stable, but those of older readers dropped. With this as the background the two associations developed a statement advocating quality reading instruction for adolescents. Their recommendations include: continuous reading instruction for all young adolescents, individually appropriate instruction, appropriate assessment, and ample opportunity to read and discuss reading. Suggested readings in the field are included.

Vacca, R. T. (2002) Making a difference in adolescent’s school lives: Visible and invisible aspects of content area reading. In A. E. Farstrup. & S. J. Samuels (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (pp. 184-204). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

     Vacca discusses the lack of focus on adolescent literacy, the historical context of content area reading, and the paradigm shifts during the last century. He presented a review of reading research and the evolution of content area reading. The assumption made by educators in previous generations was that once students mastered learning to read they were able to read to learn.  He believes that this assumption is faulty. Students need other strategies and need to have them modeled, explained, practiced, and applied. The original model of reading instruction was based on a study skills approach which lasted until the 1960's, at which time the cognitive learning model was in ascendance. Beginning in the 1990's the social constructivist theory was promulgated. He described the visible and invisible aspects of reading instruction. The visible aspect includes the activities and materials used in instruction. The invisible aspect is the teacher’s instructional framework.

Vacca, R. T. (2002, November). From efficient decoders to strategic readers. Educational Leadership, 60(3), 6-11. 

     The author presents his perspective on the emergence of content area literacy programs following years of neglect by the educational community. After 7^th grade few schools provide literacy programs except for some that address the needs of low achieving students. After the 4^th grade students abandon reading as a way of learning and rarely connect writing with learning. Early literacy programs are essential, but have emerged at the expense of adolescent literacy. Content literacy is reemerging because students need to learn how to read and write like scientists, mathematicians, and historians. Who better to teach these strategies than the content area teacher? 

      He describes the practices of strategic readers and some of the activities that can be used to teach these strategies. Strategic readers know how to activate prior knowledge before, during, and after reading. They can decide what is important and relevant, then synthesize information. They draw inferences during and after reading, ask questions,  and make revisions. The use of graphic organizers, quick writes, and word exploration activities is suggested as easy to implement strategies for teachers to employ. He concludes with the thought that every teacher is a teacher of reading.  

Williams, J. P. (2002). Reading comprehension strategies and teacher preparation. In A. E. Farstrup & S. J. Samuels (Eds.),  What research has to say about reading instruction  (pp. 243-260). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

      What is the effect of strategy instruction on reading tasks, how effective is strategy instruction over the long term, what is the optimal age for instruction and for how long? The author proposes that teachers need to know not only the strategies they will teach to their students, but also know the instructional strategies they will need to employ to teach these strategies. She conducted a review of the literature using ERIC and PsychLit databases that met the five criteria she established. The studies were classified by several characteristics and she discussed the results of each one. The key terms in her search were: comprehension, strategy, instruction, direct explanation, and teacher explanation.

      The findings gleaned from her search fell into two distinct approaches to instruction: direct explanation and transactional strategy instruction. Results of the direct explanation approach indicate that student awareness of the need to think strategically is increased, but the effects of such instruction on comprehension is not conclusive. In the transactional approach, the role of the teacher is one of facilitator and the emphasis is on interactions with students and reading material. Gains in reading comprehension were seen from pretest to posttest in this approach.

      Her conclusions are: teaching comprehension strategies leads to increased awareness and use of other strategies; teachers can be taught to teach comprehension strategies; and more research is needed in this field. She concluded with two questions, “Do the effects generalize to other settings, does teaching comprehension strategies have lasting effects on students?”             

     The implications of this study are several: teachers must model and discuss comprehension strategies with students; student achievement in reading comprehension is the best indicator of effectiveness of instruction; and substantial teacher preparation at both the preservice level and inservice level.

Ysseldyke, J.E., Algozzine, B., & Thurlow, M. L. (2000). Critical issues in special education.   (pp. 195-202).  Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin.

     Among the many issues facing the field of special education is the issue of effective reading instruction for students with disabilities. One section of Chapter 7 is devoted to this topic, citing the qualities of appropriate interventions and effective program practices. Successful reading programs are characterized by practical training of staff with appropriate supervision, a problem-solving approach, opportunity for teachers to observe and model other programs, and teacher participation in decision-making. The focus of reading research has been on effective programs for general education students, with little if any, research or inclusion of students with disabilities in mainstream educational research.

     After an extensive review of the literature the authors conclude that there is not one kind of instruction that benefits general education students and another that works just for special education students. There are “laundry lists” of effective practices for student achievement that can be applied to both general and special education. Achievement for special education students is influenced by the same factors as is the achievement of general education students. The authors developed a conceptual framework for effective instruction that focuses on planning, managing, delivering and evaluating instruction for all subject areas, not just for reading. Students with disabilities may require more time, more practice, and more individualized instruction to acquire skills and strategies. They may require more intensive instruction and time to gain the knowledge of how to use those skills and strategies in a variety of situations.

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