Comprehension Instruction: Research-Based Best Practices [Paperback]

Cathy Collins Block PhD (Editor), Michael Pressley PhD (Editor), Michael Pressley (Author), Cathy Collins Block (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572306920 | ISBN-13: 978-1572306929 | Publication Date: October 17, 2001 | Edition: 1

Comprehension instruction is widely recognized as an essential component of developing students' pleasure and profit from reading. Yet despite significant recent gains in knowledge about how comprehension develops and how it can be taught effectively, classroom practice still lags behind research in this crucial area. This volume brings together the field's leading scholars to summarize current research and provide best-practice guidelines for teachers and teacher educators. Each coherently structured chapter presents key findings on a particular aspect of comprehension, discusses instructional practices supported by the research, and addresses what still needs to be known in order to provide the best possible comprehension instruction for every student. Topics covered include assessment, curriculum, methods, and comprehension difficulties, from the preschool level through high school.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The importance of this timely volume cannot be overstated. It provides an essential counterbalance to the strong emphasis on decoding research that is currently so influential in educational policy. Researchers, students, and professionals from a wide variety of disciplines will find much of value in this very up-to-date and complete volume. Featured are readable summaries of research in particular areas, evidence-based practice guidelines, and clear outlines of future research needs. This is truly an excellent resource."--Anne van Kleeck, PhD, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Georgia

"This book offers a detailed, comprehensive, yet readable presentation of current research-based understandings of effective comprehension instruction, from the initial stages of reading acquisition through college literacy instruction. Chapters from leading scholars demonstrate the complex nature of comprehension and the complex task of teaching students to construct meaning from text. The book provides teacher educators with a solid framework for introducing effective comprehension instruction to teachers-in-training. Working teachers, for their part, will find it a wonderful resource for developing instruction and instructional routines based on up-to-date theory and research."--Timothy Rasinski, PhD, Department of Teaching, Leadership, and Curriculum Studies, College and Graduate School of Education, Kent State University

"In this unique volume, Block and Pressley give us comprehension, comprehensively addressed. They have brought together researchers and educators who fundamentally reconceptualized the nature of reading comprehension in the last quarter of the 20th century, as well as those who have elaborated and extended those insights. For teachers and graduate students, here is a robust agenda for effective comprehension development and instruction across a range of developmental levels, genres, formats, contexts, and individual learner characteristics."--Shane Templeton, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, University of Nevada, Reno

"From new looks at familiar topics, such as metacognitive strategies and schema theory, to emerging topics such as comprehension of morals and themes and critical reading, this book brings comprehension instruction fully up to date. Each chapter moves research clearly into practice, so that there is something here for practicing elementary and secondary teachers, for researchers, and for teacher educators and graduate students. I found something new and useful in every chapter."--Steven A. Stahl, EdD, Department of Reading Education, College of Education, The University of Georgia; Codirector, Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA)

About the Author

Cathy Collins Block, PhD, has served on the graduate faculty of Texas Christian University since 1977. She has taught at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, served as Research Assistant at the Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Cognitive Development, and taught kindergarten through high school in private and public schools. Dr. Block has directed and served as principal investigator of six nationally funded research projects and has served on the boards of directors of a number of organizations, including the National Center for Research and Training for Learning Disabilities and the National Reading Conference.

Michael Pressley, PhD (deceased), was University Distinguished Professor, Director of the Doctoral Program in Teacher Education, and Director of the Literacy Achievement Research Center at Michigan State University. An expert on effective elementary literacy instruction, he was the author or editor of more than 300 journal articles, chapters, and books. Dr. Pressley was the recipient of the 2004 E. L. Thorndike Award (American Psychological Association, Division 15), the highest award given for career research accomplishment in educational psychology.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Paperback: 414 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; 1 edition (October 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572306920
• ISBN-13: 978-1572306929
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #805,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)