Bringing Reading Research to Life

by Margaret G. McKeown PhD, Linda Kucan PhD

Overview

This book brings together some of the world’s foremost literacy scholars to discuss how research influences what teachers actually do in the classroom. Chapters describe the current state of knowledge about such key topics as decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, digital literacies, reading disabilities, and reading reform. At the same time, the authors offer a unique “inside view” of their own research careers: key personal and professional influences, how their research agendas took shape, and what they see as the most important questions currently facing the field. The book honors the contributions of Isabel Beck, who has achieved tremendous success in translating research into widely used instructional practices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781606234747
Publisher:	Guilford Publications, Inc.
Publication date:	11/20/2009
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	5 - 17 Years

About the Author

Margaret G. McKeown, PhD, is Clinical Professor of Education and Senior Scientist at the Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh. Her work covers the areas of learning, instruction, and teacher professional development in reading comprehension and vocabulary.

 

Linda Kucan, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Reading Education in the Department of Instruction and Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. Her interests include teacher education, classroom discourse about text, the design of meaningful and motivating tasks to support comprehension of text, and vocabulary instruction.

Table of Contents

1. A Tribute to the Diva of Scientifically Based Instruction, Jean Osborn and Marcy Stein

2. Taking a Long View of Reading Development, Connie Juel

3. Research on Students with Reading Disabilities, Sharon Vaughn

4. Lessons from the Reading Reform Field, Janice A. Dole

5. The Word Games, William E. Nagy

6. The Role of Word Meanings in Comprehension, Mary E. Curtis

7. What is a Good Question?, Art Graesser, Yasuhiro Ozuru, and Jeremiah Sullins

8. Developing a Model of Quality Talk about Literary Text, Ian A. G. Wilkinson, Anna O. Soter, and P. Karen Murphy

9. Collaborative Reasoning about a Science and Public Policy Issue, May Jadallah, Brian Miller, Richard C. Anderson, Kim Nguyen-Jahiel, Jie Zhang, Anthi Archodidou, and Kay Grabow

10. Comprehension Processes and Classroom Contexts, Walter Kintsch

11. Understanding the Word-Level Features of Texts for Students Who Depend on Schools to Become Literate, Elfrieda H. Hiebert

12. Text in the Science Classroom: Promoting Engagement to Facilitate Conceptual Change, Suzanne H. Broughton and Gale M. Sinatra

13. Literacy in the Digital World: Comprehending and Learning from Multiple Sources, Susan R. Goldman with Kimberly A. Lawless, Kimberly W. Gomez, Jason Braasch, Shaunna MacLeod, and Flori Manning

14. The Work of Constructing Connections between Research and Practice: What We Can Learn from Isabel L. Beck, Leona Schauble

15. Decoding, Vocabulary, and Comprehension: The Golden Triangle of Reading Skill, Charles Perfetti

16. Another Side of Isabel, Elizabeth Beck and Mark Beck

Interviews

Literacy researchers, teacher educators, and staff developers in elementary and secondary settings. May serve as a supplemental text in graduate-level courses.

Editorial Reviews

"An excellent tool for classroom teachers. It provides well-documented information, accompanied by many references at the end of chapters, to help educators think and rethink, look analytically and critically at research, and use practical classroom strategies. Without a doubt, this volume is highly recommended to help bring reading research to life! Highly recommended. Upper-division graduates and above."

Choice

"The volume features an impressive range of topics, from decoding to determining word meanings to questioning the author. Noted contributors explore much that is central to our current understanding of reading and demonstrate the vitality and importance of scholarly work in the field."—Peter P. Afflerbach, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Maryland

"This volume has the conceptual richness of the field’s best handbooks, but it is written in a uniquely personal style. The contributors are united by their stature as leading researchers in the areas of beginning reading, vocabulary, and comprehension instruction. Bringing Reading Research to Life would make an ideal text for a doctoral seminar addressing historical or contemporary perspectives on reading research. It is fitting that a volume honoring Isabel Beck would be this dynamic, thoughtful, and useful."—Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar, PhD, Jean and Charles Walgreen Jr. Chair of Reading and Literacy; Arthur F. Thurnau Professor; and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Education, University of Michigan
 

"One need only peruse the contributor names and chapter topics to be drawn into this wonderful volume. Researchers, practitioners, teacher educators, and graduate students alike will learn from and enjoy the information within. The research presented here has enriched our understanding of how reading instruction can support development for children from diverse backgrounds. The book points the way toward overcoming areas of past dissension and working toward consensus in the future."—Kathleen J. Brown, PhD,  Director, University of Utah Reading Clinic
 
"An outstanding volume that exemplifies the wedding of theory, research, and practice. Read it not only to learn, but also to be inspired."—P. David Pearson, PhD, Evelyn Lois Corey Professor Emeritus of Instructional Science, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley

From the Publisher

"Provides well-documented information, accompanied by many references at the end of the chapters, to help educators think and rethink, look analytically and critically at research, and use practical classroom strategies. Without a doubt, this volume is highly recommended to help bring reading research to life! Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above."

Schooldays Magazine

An excellent tool for classroom teachers. It provides well-documented information, accompanied by many references at the end of chapters, to help educators think and rethink, look analytically and critically at research, and use practical classroom strategies. Without a doubt, this volume is highly recommended to help bring reading research to life! Highly recommended. Upper-division graduates and above.

Choice Reviews