Focuses on how to create a society of "engaged readers" - readers who are socially interactive, strategic, and motivated. Provides a state-of-the-art review of research on promoting reading in relation to reading instruction.

Focuses on how to create a society of "engaged readers" - readers who are socially interactive, strategic, and motivated. Provides a state-of-the-art review of research on promoting reading in relation to reading instruction.

A high level of literacy in both print and digital media is required for negotiating most aspects of 21st-century life, including supporting a family, education, health, civic participation, and competitiveness in the global economy. Yet, more than 90 million U.S. adults lack adequate literacy. Furthermore, only 38 percent of U.S. 12th graders are at or above proficient in reading. Improving Adult Literacy Instruction synthesizes the research on literacy and learning to improve literacy instruction in the United States and to recommend a more systemic approach to research, practice, and policy. The book focuses on individuals ages 16 and older who are not in K-12 education. It identifies factors that affect literacy development in adolescence and adulthood in general, and examines their implications for strengthening literacy instruction for this population. It also discusses technologies for learning that can assist with multiple aspects of teaching, assessment,and accommodations for learning. There is inadequate knowledge about effective instructional practices and a need for better assessment and ongoing monitoring of adult students' proficiencies, weaknesses, instructional environments, and progress, which might guide instructional planning. Improving Adult Literacy Instruction recommends a program of research and innovation to validate, identify the boundaries of, and extend current knowledge to improve instruction for adults and adolescents outside school. The book is a valuable resource for curriculum developers, federal agencies such as the Department of Education, administrators, educators, and funding agencies.

Drawing on the professional literature of many fields, this book provides an interpretation of the available research on motivation and describes instructional approaches in classroom contexts. The book aims to help teacher educators, researchers, and graduate students understand the research literature in motivation and use in their efforts to enhance children's literacy development. After an introduction, "Reading Engagement: A Rationale for Theory and Teaching" (John T. Guthrie and Allan Wigfield), chapters in the book are: (1) "Children's Motivations for Reading and Reading Engagement" (Allan Wigfield); (2) Developing Self-Efficacious Readers and Writers: The Role of Social and Self-Regulatory Processes" (Dale H. Schunk and Barry J. Zimmerman); (3) "Motivation, Volition, and Collaborative Innovation in Classroom Literacy" (Lyn Corno and Judi Randi); (4) "The Pull of the Text and the Process of Involvement in Reading" (Diane Lemonnier Schallert and JoyLynn Hailey Reed); (5) "Teacher Perceptions of Student Motivation and Their Relation to Literacy Learning" (Anne P. Sweet); (6) "The Role of Responsive Teaching in Focusing Reader Intention and Developing Reader Motivation" (Robert B. Ruddell and Norman J. Unrau); (7) "Characteristics of Classrooms That Promote Motivations and Strategies for Learning" (John T. Guthrie and Ann Dacey McCann); (8) "Integrating Science and Literacy Experiences to Motivate Student Learning" (Roger Bruning and Barbara M. Schweiger); (9) "Ownership, Literacy Achievement, and Students of Diverse Cultural Backgrounds" (Kathryn H. Au); (10) "Starting Right: Strategies for Engaging Young Literacy Learners" (Julianne C. Turner); (11) "Incentives and Intrinsic Motivation to Read" (Linda B. Gambrell and Barbara Ann Marinak); and (12) "School Change and Literacy Engagement: Preparing Teaching and Learning Environments" (Carol Minnick Santa). (RS)

The use of technological tools to foster language development has led to advances in language methodologies and changed the approach towards language instruction. The tendency towards developing more autonomous learners has emphasized the need for technological tools that could contribute to this shift in foreign language learning. Computer-assisted language learning and mobile-assisted language learning have greatly collaborated to foster language instruction out of the classroom environment, offering possibilities for distance learning and expanding in-class time. Recent Tools for Computer- and Mobile-Assisted Foreign Language Learning is a scholarly research book that explores current strategies for foreign language learning through the use of technology and introduces new technological tools and evaluates existing ones that foster language development. Highlighting a wide array of topics such as gamification, mobile technologies, and virtual reality, this book is essential for language educators, educational software developers, IT consultants, K-20 institutions, principals, professionals, academicians, researchers, curriculum designers, and students.

Pizza. Pez dispensers. Nerf balls. When we give students "junk" to reward reading, we are focusing their intention away from the act of reading and from their own independence as readers. Instead, we can create classrooms where reading is seen as its own reward. In this book, esteemed researcher Linda Gambrell provides a research-based context for cultivating children's intrinsic motivation to read and identifies three essential principles, the "ARC" of motivation: access: giving kids a wealth of reading materials and opportunities to discuss texts relevance: offering high interest, moderately challenging and authentic reading experiences choice: allowing students to self-select texts and reading activities What exactly do those principles look like in action? Reading specialist and researcher Barbara Marinak shares the strategies and techniques that make a difference for student readers' motivation, turning disengaged readers into passionate ones. "Pizza and Pez dispensers are short lived," Linda and Barbara write, "but confident and empowered readers are likely to remain motivated for life."