Teaching Researching Reading

Now in its third edition, Teaching and Researching Reading charts the field of reading (first and second language) systematically and coherently for the benefit of language teaching practitioners, students, and researchers. This volume provides background on how reading works and how reading differs for second language learners. The volume includes reading-curriculum principles, evidence-based teaching ideas, and a multi-step iterative process for conducting meaningful action research on reading-related topics. The volume outlines 14 projects for teacher adaptation and use, as well as numerous new and substantially expanded resource materials that can be used for both action research and classroom instruction.

Many agree that engaging in research is what makes a teacher’s professional development sustainable, and Researching and Teaching Reading studies the ways in which research and teaching are entwined both within and beyond the classroom. Gabrielle Cliff Hodges encourages readers to deepen their understanding of reading through high-quality teaching and research activities designed to engage young learners and generate rich research data, in the expectation that teachers will wish to adapt or develop them further within their own contexts. The author explores how teachers’ research and critical reading can further develop their understanding of their students’ reading practices and argues that innovative approaches to teaching integrated with research enable English teachers to re-construct ideas and change how reading is taught. Key issues considered in this book include: Studying reading in terms of extending young people’s ability to interpret and enjoy texts; The idea of reading as a social practice; The concept of culture in relation to reading; Why historical and spatial theoretical perspectives matter when researching and teaching reading. This book is a valuable resource for any student teachers or practising English teachers wishing to learn more about the connection between researching and teaching reading, how to combine them in the classroom and the positive effect bringing the two together can have on their own professional development.

Information literacy involves a combination of reading, writing, and critical thinking. Librarians in an academic library, while not directly responsible for teaching those skills, are involved in making such literacy part of the students' learning process. Broussard approaches the misconceptions about the relationship between libraries as a source of information literacy, and offers suggestions on providing students support when working on research papers.

This best-selling text provides a scheme which enables the beginning researcher to organize and evaluate the research that they read and to plan and implement small scale research projects of their own. The authors also give structured, practical guidance on the development of a research question, techniques of data collection, qualitative and quantitative forms of analysis, and the writing and dissemination of research.

This title presents new research on teaching reading in a second language. Controversy abounds across many aspects of second language reading instruction despite much research on the subject. This volume attempts to bring together the competing perspectives on second language reading research and instruction to tackle these questions: should second language reading instruction be comprehension-oriented, or should it be language-oriented? What types of knowledge and skills are necessary for improving reading comprehension? What elements of language can be learned through reading? Is it possible to integrate grammar training into comprehension training, and if so, how may that be achieved in the classroom?By crossing the boundaries between diverse conceptual and pedagogical practice this volume appeals to second language reading researchers, teachers, curriculum developers, materials writers, and graduate students of second language education interested in reading.

Reading for pleasure urgently requires a higher profile to raise attainment and increase children’s engagement as self-motivated and socially interactive readers. Building Communities of Engaged Readers highlights the concept of ‘Reading Teachers’ who are not only knowledgeable about texts for children, but are aware of their own reading identities and prepared to share their enthusiasm and understanding of what being a reader means. Sharing the processes of reading with young readers is an innovative approach to developing new generations of readers. Examining the interplay between the ‘will and the skill’ to read, the book distinctively details a reading for pleasure pedagogy and demonstrates that reader engagement is strongly influenced by relationships between children, teachers, families and communities. Importantly it provides compelling evidence that reciprocal reading communities in school encompass: a shared concept of what it means to be a reader in the 21st century; considerable teacher and child knowledge of children’s literature and other texts; pedagogic practices which acknowledge and develop diverse reader identities; spontaneous ‘inside-text talk’ on the part of all members; a shift in the focus of control and new social spaces that encourage choice and children’s rights as readers. Written by experts in the literacy field and illustrated throughout with examples from the project schools, it is essential reading for all those concerned with improving young people’s enjoyment of and attainment in reading.

The Handbook of Research on Reading Comprehension assembles researchers of reading comprehension, literacy, educational psychology, psychology, and neuroscience to document the most recent research on the topic. It summarizes the current body of research on theory, methods, instruction, and assessment, including coverage of landmark studies. Designed to deepen understanding of how past research can be applied and has influenced the present and to stimulate new thinking about reading comprehension, the volume is organized around seven themes: historical perspectives on reading comprehension theoretical perspectives changing views of text elements of reading comprehension assessing and teaching reading comprehension cultural impact on reading comprehension where to from here? This is an essential reference volume for the international community of reading researchers, reading psychologists, graduate students, and professionals working in the area of reading and literacy.