Reading Instruction

Educators are always on the lookout for quick ways to check student comprehension. After all, no teacher wants to get to the end of a unit only to find out that students have been struggling all along. Periodic, low-stakes, informal assessments allow educators to see whether students need more review...

If you’ve worked with students who are beginning to read and write, you’ve likely found yourself explaining the difference between b, d, and p. Why are these letters so often confused? Not only do b, d, and p have similar names and shapes, they also sound alike. Making the distinction...

It is widely acknowledged today that too many adolescents lack sufficient literacy skills. The United States Department of Education has even declared a “crisis” in adolescent literacy, stating that “the literacy skills of many students in grades 4–12 are so alarmingly low that the students have difficulty meeting the academic...

Your students are still learning to read, so when should they begin reading to learn? Right now! In fact, reading informational text builds background knowledge, supports the development of academic language, and can capitalize on students' natural curiosity about the world around them. Informational text often develops a topic by...

Oral language is often associated with vocabulary as the main component. However, in the broadest definition, oral language consists of phonology, grammar, morphology, vocabulary, discourse, and pragmatics. The acquisition of these skills often begins at a young age, before students begin focusing on print-based concepts such as sound-symbol correspondence and...

Middle and high school students who struggle with reading need a very different type of support than educators might offer to their younger, early-elementary counterparts. While struggling readers in kindergarten through third grade are still learning new skills and being exposed to new information, adolescent students have likely been receiving...

Auditory—or aural—learners are students who tend to learn best when instruction or information is delivered orally. Other characteristics of aural learners include a preference for talking, listening, and other social interactions; an ease of remembering names and songs; and a need for verbal praise and support. Some researchers estimate that...

Literacy educators know how important reading and writing will be in every aspect of their students’ lives. Beyond reading for pleasure or writing for personal expression, literacy is crucial for communicating important information, connecting over shared interests, and collaborating on group projects. However, while educators can demonstrate the importance of...

In a 2011 paper prepared for the United States Department of Education, American Institutes for Research fellow Terry Salinger made a stark declaration: The literacy skills of many students in grades 4 to 12 are "so alarmingly low" that these students will struggle with not only high school, but also...

There are two related but different strategies to approach the identification of words with more than one syllable: syllable division and structural analysis. While application of the phonic word attack strategies related to syllable division is important for identifying one- and two-syllable words, these strategies may not work as well...