Balanced Literacy Program Research Articles

Perspectives for the transition from preschool to primary school education in an online environment

The Covid-19 world health crisis has profound implications and its consequences throughout the world have social, cultural, economic and educational ramifications. Worldwide, preschool teachers were forced to develop the students' learning experience in a new online environment. This research aims to investigate preschool teachers' views about literacy and literacy practices during face-to-face and remote teaching. As a result, the effectiveness of these practices during remote teaching to support the transition from kindergarten to primary school is investigated. Views and practices from 18 Greek preschool teachers were collected with semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results showed that although, during remote teaching several literacy activities took place, teachers expressed their frustration with literacy and transition practices implemented in this educational setting. Teachers seem to be really disappointed with this experience, especially for written language activities, as they considered that the problems they faced and the transformations that were made to their literacy practices did not offer the appropriate framework to meet the requirements of the primary school and the transition from early literacy to school language. Furthermore, they expressed their desire to create a framework for collaboration by primary school teachers via a continuous and systematic training program, especially in case that 'remote teaching comes back'. In conclusion, preschool teachers' reactions and attitudes could be the pillars for establishing a framework for collaboration to ensure continuity through a balanced literacy program and the transition from kindergarten to primary school.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE READING CORNER THROUGH THE SCHOOL LITERATURE MOVEMENT IN INCREASING STUDENT'S READING INTEREST IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

This study aims to determine students' reading interest through literacy movements in schools that implement reading corners in the classroom. This research was carried out at the Irsyadul Ibad Islamic Elementary School in Pandeglang Banten Province. The subjects in the study were fourth-grade students, totaling 40 students. The research uses descriptive qualitative methods, observation, and interviews as data collection instruments. The results showed that there was an increase in students' interest in reading after the implementation of the reading corner in the literacy movement at school. Students feel happy and comfortable in carrying out reading learning activities at school. The reading corner also impacts increasing the intensity of students' reading time because, through the implementation of the reading corner, students are given 15 minutes to read each before starting learning. Support for the literacy movement in schools is needed from various parties, such as teachers, principals, parents, and the community. Schools are expected to provide support for the availability of facilities and infrastructure to support the implementation of reading corner activities so that the reading corner has attractive decorations, a varied collection of books, and other representative supporting facilities. One obstacle in implementing the reading corner is students' boredom with reading. This happens because the concentration and focus of elementary school students are still easily distracted by playing activities, so teacher assistance is needed in this activity. Teachers must be facilitators and motivators for students in reading activities. In implementing reading corner activities, teachers are advised to carry out three activity stages: habituation, development, and literacy-based learning. A good literacy program must be balanced, and schools that implement a balanced literacy program must realize that each student has different learning styles and needs.

Using Appropriate Assessment to Plan Braille Literacy Instruction

To be effective teachers of literacy for students who read braille, we need to know what our students’ strengths and needs are as all these components come together in braille literacy. Using an appropriate assessment that addresses the skill sets involved in braille literacy is critical to putting together effective intervention packages for our students. The first author used the Kamei-Hannan and Ricci Reading Assessment (2015) and the Braille Reading Analysis Chart (Harley, et al., 1997) to determine areas of need for a student in grade 2 in a braille literacy program. Needs included: identifying ending sounds and naming final letters and sounds; basic decoding of short and long vowel sounds; recognizing sight words; and identifying letters. Specific miscue patterns in tactile perception (reversals) were identified. Information gathered from these assessments was used to develop a targeted intervention package and informed the development of a balanced literacy program for this student. Following a period of implementation, data showed evidence of overall improvement in braille literacy skills.

The Impact of a Balanced Literacy Program on the Gradual Release of the Instructor’s Accountability

Under no circumstances can anyone argue with the eminent saying, “A child who reads will be an adult who thinks.” Literacy does matter. It’s never a privilege; it is a right. Every child has the right to understand the significance of being educated as it needs hard work as well as persistence to pay off. Therefore, literacy is crucial to any progress and advancement. The purpose of this study is to show how young learners can, eventually, sustain, tolerate, and then master balanced and effective literacy independently. Instructors can gradually release their responsibility in order to set their learners free to learn autonomously. To reach this level, several steps and phases will be highlighted as well as taken into consideration. This research paper presents literacy aspects to be studied within appropriate settings and learning environments; suitable curricula, and applicable time and framework. The study engaged mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative approaches) and analytical methods where surveys, observations, facts, and many measurements are markedly deliberated by the researcher through interviews held by an amount number of teachers and a questionnaire that was distributed online. The researcher, then, received and analyzed all the answers delivered. The results reveal that a balanced and effective literacy program has a positive impact on learners to work and learn independently. Learners will also be able to use different strands in contexts across the curriculum especially when it is held professionally, proactively, and under regular observations. finally, the study approves the gradual release of the instructor’s responsibility while delivering teaching methods and giving the learners the opportunity to be independent.

Investigating the Efficacy of Reading Adventure Time! for Improving Reading Skills in Children with Visual Impairments

Introduction: Reading Adventure Time!, formerly known as the pilot version of the iBraille Challenge Mobile App, is an educational technology tool integrating digital literacy to support braille reading and writing instruction for students in 1st–12th grades. Designed to operate on an Apple iPad with a refreshable braille display, Reading Adventure Time! uses gaming strategies to motivate students to improve literacy skills such as fluency, comprehension, writing dictation, and proofreading. Methods: The application (app) was developed under a Stepping Up Technology grant (H327S120007), which was disseminated to more than 50 teachers and students. Teachers and caregivers completed a Likert-type scale of technology skills as a pre- and postmeasure. Students’ reading speed, comprehension, and miscues were measured by the app. Results: Over 50 participants who used the app showed gains in reading and technology skills. Discussion: Students’ reading speeds, as measured by the app, mirror the reading speeds found in prior research (e.g., the ABC Braille Study). The impact on technology skills for teachers, caregivers, and students was much greater than anticipated. Implications for practitioners: The study provides evidence supporting Reading Adventure Time! as a supplemental intervention that addresses several reading skills and may be used in conjunction with a total, balanced literacy program.

Like Driving From “the Back Seat”: Teaching English as a Second Language in Commodified Curricular Terrains

Contemporary K–12 standards‐based educational reform has emerged as a central focus of scholarship in TESOL, with robust discussions (practical and theoretical) addressing the shift from ESL as a subject matter unto itself to teaching standards‐based content in English (and the standardized assessment of students' achievement across those content areas, including literacy and reading). However, relatively few studies have examined how veteran ESL professionals understand themselves and what their work accomplishes in instructional contexts where literacy and literacy test scores have emerged as the gold standard of adequate yearly progress. In this qualitative narrative, the researchers draw from a 7‐month study of an ESL teacher and her first‐grade colleagues' negotiation of a balanced literacy program. Analysis reveals that for this teacher the schoolwide adoption of “balanced literacy” created tensions between what she was expected to do and who she wanted to be or even was capable of being. It was only with great reluctance and even sadness that she realized that if she were to stay at her school and enact her professional functions with any degree of credibility, she would have to reconsider what teaching ESL could encompass. The authors conclude with implications for TESOL preservice and in‐service teacher education.

Collaborative Learning through Literature Circles in EFL

This paper discusses how the introduction of ‘literature circles’ have led to the stimulation of social interaction among language learners. These social interactions happen because members of the literary circles are able to read and understand a book of choice, and assign participating student members their responsibility through structured time and assessment. They are primarily guided by students’ insights and questions and they apply each other's learning, reading, writing, and speaking skills, making this approach to learning flexible and fluid, while initiating collaborative social interaction at the same time. This collaborative learning and social interactions have been applied in classrooms of ‘English as a Foreign Language’ learners. This paper looks into the need for literature circles that promote collaborative learning in the EFL classroom, in order to attain higher levels of language and literary skills. The research also shows that literature circles as reader-response centric have come to constitute a part of a balanced literacy program in learning foreign language in general and the English language in particular.

The Effects on Balanced Literacy Program to Use Abilities of Postposition, Ending and Syntactic for the Children with Language Developmental Delayed

The Effects on Balanced Literacy Program to Use Abilities of Postposition, Ending and Syntactic for the Children with Language Developmental Delayed

Critical reading comprehension in an era of accountability

This paper argues for the need for critical reading comprehension in an era of accountability that often promotes reading comprehension as readily assessable through students answering multiple choice questions of unseen texts. Based upon a 1 year study investigating literacy in Years 4–9 the ways strong-performing primary schools develop serious and in-depth reading for learning are explored. School and teacher features which allow for the development of sophisticated pedagogical repertoires and space for critical reading comprehension, without losing the complexity of curriculum offerings, are outlined. How one experienced middle primary teacher operates strategically, ethically and critically in supporting her ESL students to learn to read is illustrated. The teacher’s work is situated within the complex accountability demands faced by classroom teachers. This was accomplished by a teacher whose pedagogical repertoire has been assembled across a career teaching in low-SES high ESL communities in a school with a balanced literacy program and high level of collegial support. Risks for schools and teachers whose circumstances work against their capacities for prioritisation and strategic decision-making are identified and discussed.

The Effects on a Balanced Literacy Program on Studentswith Hearing Impairment Ability of Use Morphemes

The Effects on a Balanced Literacy Program on Studentswith Hearing Impairment Ability of Use Morphemes

The Effects on a Balanced Literacy Program on Studentswith Hearing Impairment Ability of Use Morphemes

The Effects on a Balanced Literacy Program on Studentswith Hearing Impairment Ability of Use Morphemes

Investing in Success: Key Strategies for Building Quality in After‐School Programs

This paper examines the relation between the implementation quality of after-school literacy activities and student reading gains. The data are from an evaluation of a multi-site after-school program in California in which continuous program quality improvement strategies were implemented to improve the delivery of a new balanced literacy program. Strategies included: (1) targeted staff training throughout the year, (2) regular observations and coaching of staff, and (3) the use of data to measure progress. Programs struggled to successfully implement these strategies early in the initiative, but gradually improved the quality and consistency of their use. Program quality, as measured through observations, also increased. Results suggested that the size of student reading gains were positively correlated with the quality of literacy programming provided by each instructor.

The Development of Reading Skills in Children With English as a Second Language

One goal of this longitudinal study was to examine whether the predictors of reading skills in Grade 3 would differ between English as a second language (ESL) students and native English-speaking (L1) students. Phonological processing, syntactic awareness, memory, spelling, word reading, and lexical access skills were assessed in kindergarten and in Grade 3. The results indicated that in kindergarten, the ESL group had significantly lower scores on phonological processing, syntactic awareness, spelling, and memory for sentences tasks. However, in Grade 3, the ESL group performed in a similar way to the L1 group except on the syntactic awareness task. The combination of the two kindergarten measures, memory for sentences and Oral Cloze, and the combination of phonological processing and letter identification all contributed equally to predicting the L1 students' word-reading skills. However, for ESL students, letter identification and phonological processing made much larger contributions to predicting Grade 3 reading ability. Another goal of this study was to assess the procedures used to identify reading disability in the ESL and L1 student sample. Performance on two measures—letter identification and phonological awareness in kindergarten—predicted whether students would be classified in Grade 3 as at risk or having typical reading development for the ESL and L1 groups. The ESL children developed strong reading skills, and their status as ESL speakers did not put them at risk for reading difficulties in Grade 3. ESL students were not at any particular risk for reading difficulties after 4 years in Canadian schooling with an adequate balanced literacy program.

Every Student Can Be a Reader: A Balanced Literacy Program

What follows is a summary of a proposal to enhance the reading and writing skills of reluctant readers. It is called a Balanced Literacy Program. The acronym R.A.P., Reading Apprentice Program, captures the purpose and process of the program.

Connecting Reading and Writing Through Author's Craft

Teachers can link the isolated components of a balanced literacy program by helping students make focused connections in reading and writing throughout the day. The authors share how two teachers made such connections through components of author's craft. They conclude with an extensive list of minilesson topics designed to improve students' understanding of texts and develop their skills as authors of their own texts.

Code-Breaker: Developing Phonics With a Young Adult With an Intellectual Disability

The teaching and learning of phonics are core elements of a balanced literacy program for people with intellectual disabilities. Studies have shown that individuals who have limited phonic and decoding skills will be unlikely to progress in their reading ability beyond an emergent level and are more likely to experience difficulty in comprehension. The authors discuss the challenges of integrating contemporary understandings about literacy practices (specifically the Four Resources Model) with a literacy program for a young adult with an intellectual disability. They identify three key strategies to meet these challenges: •Knowing the learner •Motivating the learner •Using multiple approaches and activities These strategies and practical teaching approaches are illustrated with examples of the authors' work with a young man with Down syndrome.

Guided Reading: A Research-Based Response to the Challenges of Early Reading Instruction

The purpose of this article was to illuminate for early childhood teacher practitioners how guided reading, as a research-based approach to reading instruction, could address the challenges of early reading instruction. The early years are the focus for the prevention of reading difficulties and research conducted over the past two decades has produced extensive results demonstrating that children who get off to a poor start in reading rarely catch up (Lentz, 1988; Neuman & Dickinson, 2001; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998; Torgesen, 1998; Whitehurst & Lonigan, 2001). One particular research-based strategy, guided reading, is an important “best practice” associated with today’s balanced literacy instruction. The National Reading Panel (2000) argued that balanced approaches are preferable when teaching children to read, based on their review of scientific research-based reading instructional practices used by teachers in classrooms across the country. Additionally, guided reading practices as part of a balanced literacy program conforms to the recommendations on literacy as suggested in position statements by the International Reading Association/The National Association for the Education of Young Children (1998), and the National Council of Teachers of English (2002).

Inquiry at the Crossroads of Policy and Learning: A Study of a District-Wide Literacy Initiative

The literacy improvement efforts of New York City's Community School District #2 serve as the locus of a study into the relationship between educational policy and practice. Based on 100 observations of classroom literacy instruction, a review of documentation related to the district's Balanced Literacy Program, and interviews with teachers, staff developers, and district leaders the investigators found strong parallels between how the district children learn to read and district teachers learn to teach. These parallels are due in part to the ways in which District #2's professional development system is anchored in the Balanced Literacy Program. They also stem from District #2 leaders’ beliefs in authentic and social forms of learning, beliefs that researchers found to have resonance with sociocultural theories of how individuals develop complex knowledge and skills. The result is a coherent system in which district policy regarding student learning is consistent with that of teacher learning.

Inquiry at the Crossroads of Policy and Learning: A Study of a District-Wide Literacy Initiative

The literacy improvement efforts of New York City's Community School District #2 serve as the locus of a study into the relationship between educational policy and practice. Based on 100 observations of classroom literacy instruction, a review of documentation related to the district's Balanced Literacy Program, and interviews with teachers, staff developers, and district leaders the investigators found strong parallels between how the district children learn to read and district teachers learn to teach. These parallels are due in part to the ways in which District #2's professional development system is anchored in the Balanced Literacy Program. They also stem from District #2 leaders’ beliefs in authentic and social forms of learning, beliefs that researchers found to have resonance with sociocultural theories of how individuals develop complex knowledge and skills. The result is a coherent system in which district policy regarding student learning is consistent with that of teacher learning.