This book started with a simple idea -- examine models of reading instruction that have emerged during the past 20 years. These models span a wide range of instruction representing a continuum from highly structured, task analytic instruction to child-centered and holistic instruction. Each model has its own epistemology or views on how "reading" and "instruction" are to be defined. The different epistemologies indicate different principles of instruction which, in turn, indicate different practices in the classroom. Each model is also supported by a different research base. In this volume, leading proponents of these different models discuss their ideas about reading instruction thereby encouraging readers to make their own comparisons and contrasts.
The chapter authors seem to adopt the editors' eclectic approach--to some greater or lesser extent--incorporating aspects of other models into their instruction as they see other goals. Thus, models of reading instruction are complex. Complicating matters further is the fact that teachers hold their own models of reading, which may or may not be congruent with those discussed here. Although academically developed models influence college preservice and in-service instruction, teachers' own models of reading filter the information that they take from what they learn from these perspectives. By carefully examining these variables, this book makes a firm contribution toward disciplined inquiry into what it means to teach reading.

Originating in a recent CIERA conference held at the University of Michigan, this book brings together the nation's most distinguished researchers to examine how readers understand text and how comprehension is assessed. The first part provides both national and historical contexts for the study of reading comprehension. The second part examines how vocabulary, motivation, and expertise influence comprehension, and it includes analyses of the developmental course and correlates of comprehension. Chapters in the third part consider how schools focus on comprehension for instruction and assessment. The fourth part includes chapters on large-scale assessment that analyze how test formats and psychometric characteristics influence measures of reading comprehension. At the end of each part is a commentary--written by an expert--that reviews the chapters, critiques the main points, and synthesizes critical issues. Key features of this outstanding new book include: *Integration of Research and Practice--provides a bridge between conceptual issues studied by researchers concerned with reading comprehension theories and practical issues addressed by educators concerned with classroom instruction and assessment. *Comprehension Focus--provides a thorough history and rigorous research-based analyses of reading comprehension. *Assessment Focus--provides innovative approaches to comprehension assessment that include the influences of vocabulary, decoding, and motivation. *Synthetic Commentaries--provides periodic summaries that analyze and synthesize research, practices, and issues discussed in each part. *Expertise--contributing authors and commentators are highly respected authorities on reading comprehension (see table of contents). This text is appropriate for educational and psychological researchers, reading educators, and graduate students in education and psychology. It is part of the CIERA series, which includes the following volumes: Taylor and Pearson: Teaching Reading: Effective Schools, Accomplished Teachers (2002) Van Kleeck, Stahl, and Bauer: On Reading Books to Children: Parents and Teachers (2003) Hoffman and Schallert: The Texts in Elementary Classrooms (2005)

"On Reading Books to Children: Parents and Teachers" brings together in one volume current research on adult book reading to children. The authors, drawn from around the world, are key researchers and eminent scholars from the fields of reading and literacy, child language, speech pathology, and psychology, representing multiple perspectives within these disciplines.
Chapters on the effects and limitations of book sharing are integrated with chapters discussing promising programs on storybook research. The reality of reading to children is more complex than it appears on the surface. The authors discuss some effects of and suggestions for reading to children that have emerged from the research. The ideas set forth in this volume will stimulate new lines of research on the effects of storybook reading, as well as refinements of current methods, yielding findings that enrich our understanding of this important arena of literacy development.

This book started with a simple idea -- examine models of reading instruction that have emerged during the past 20 years. These models span a wide range of instruction representing a continuum from highly structured, task analytic instruction to child-centered and holistic instruction. Each model has its own epistemology or views on how reading and instruction are to be defined. The different epistemologies indicate different principles of instruction which, in turn, indicate different practices in the classroom. Each model is also supported by a different research base. In this volume, leading proponents of these different models discuss their ideas about reading instruction thereby encouraging readers to make their own comparisons and contrasts.
The chapter authors seem to adopt the editors' eclectic approach--to some greater or lesser extent--incorporating aspects of other models into their instruction as they see other goals. Thus, models of reading instruction are complex. Complicating matters further is the fact that teachers hold their own models of reading, which may or may not be congruent with those discussed here. Although academically developed models influence college preservice and in-service instruction, teachers' own models of reading filter the information that they take from what they learn from these perspectives. By carefully examining these variables, this book makes a firm contribution toward disciplined inquiry into what it means to teach reading.