The authors lucidly explain how we develop our abilities to read and write and offer a unified theory of literacy development that places cognitive development within a sociocultural context of literacy practices.

The acquisition and maintenance of literacy is of pressing interest and concern to educators and educational policy makers worldwide. What are the common themes, the common questions, and the unique circumstances and initiatives that spring from this interest and concern? To address these questions, Understanding Literacy Development: A Global View brings together leading experts from around the world to explore ways to best provide teaching and learning opportunities, tailored to specific educational needs, to help all children become better readers. The premise is that current generic "one-size-fits-all" approaches are inappropriate for many children and can lead to underachievement and failure. The contributors write from a stance that reflects not only their own particular expertise and experience, but also sheds light on literacy development across cultures, countries, and circumstances. Taken together, chapters in this volume target a wide and comprehensive set of literacy issues, and offer an extensive exploration of the complexities of literacy development, including issues related to early literacy, school instruction, family literacy, adolescent and adult literacy, and teacher development. At a time when education is burdened by increasing economic pressure to do more with less, it is imperative that educators and decision makers at all levels have access to current, broad-ranging, and in-depth information and evidence to inform their choices. This volume, compiling critical research on a wide spectrum of literacy concerns, is an invaluable tool for scholars, teacher educators, professionals and graduate students in the fields of literacy education, early childhood education, educational psychology, educational policy, and related areas.

Understanding Language and Literacy Development: Diverse Learners in the Classroom offers effective supporting strategies to address the cultural and linguistic diversity of students in contemporary classrooms. Discusses learners with different linguistic abilities—infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence—by suggesting effective ways to reach them based on their strengths and needs Emphasizes language and literacy supporting strategies in a variety of everyday classroom settings Includes activities and questions to motivate readers to think and develop their own perspectives on language and literacy development Considers a variety of different language acquisition experiences, including monolingual, multilingual, and language impairment Discusses different types of literacies, including digital and hypertext Connects language and literacy development to identity and motivation to contextualize learning styles for pre-service teachers Supported by a companion website that includes additional resources such as PowerPoint presentations by chapter and a summary of relevant information from the Common Core K–12 English Language Arts Standards

As the number of students learning English in elementary schools across the country continues to grow, so does the body of research on their literacy development. This respected course text and teacher resource synthesizes cutting-edge scholarship on how to teach English learners (ELs) at all levels of English proficiency. Accessible chapters on key components of reading and writing combine theoretical issues with practical suggestions for the classroom. Case studies, vignettes, and samples of student work illustrate both the challenges facing emergent bilingual students and the types of high-quality instruction that can help them succeed. New to This Edition *Incorporates the latest research and key current topics, such as bilingual assessment. *Chapter on vocabulary instruction across the elementary grades. *Chapter on collaborative teaching and how to structure it. *Covers implementation of the Common Core State Standards with ELs.

Representing the state of the art in multimedia applications and their promise for enhancing early literacy development, this volume, the first synthesis of evidence-based research in its field, broadens the field of reading research by looking beyond print-only experiences to young readers’ encounters with multimedia stories on Internet and DVD.

As the number of students learning English in elementary schools across the country continues to grow, so does the body of research on their literacy development. This respected course text and teacher resource synthesizes cutting-edge scholarship on how to teach English learners (ELs) at all levels of English proficiency. Accessible chapters on key components of reading and writing combine theoretical issues with practical suggestions for the classroom. Case studies, vignettes, and samples of student work illustrate both the challenges facing emergent bilingual students and the types of high-quality instruction that can help them succeed. New to This Edition *Incorporates the latest research and key current topics, such as bilingual assessment. *Chapter on vocabulary instruction across the elementary grades. *Chapter on collaborative teaching and how to structure it. *Covers implementation of the Common Core State Standards with ELs.

This book provides the theory behind integration of reading and writing throughout the stages of literacy development PK-12. It explores strategies and resources for supporting others as they provide literacy instruction. Teachers, literacy coaches, and district leaders will be a particular focus of the book as they need to be prepared to help their faculty integrate reading and writing in their institutions. Each chapter begins with a scenario or example from K-12 to flesh out the ideas presented in the chapter. Followed by an anticipation guide, the chapter delves into the learner characteristics, various genres, text characteristics, and major concepts encountered during each stage of development. This theoretical background is followed by five examples of stage appropriate genre illustrating strategies for integrating reading and writing instruction. The chapter concludes with activities readers could engage in to deepen their understanding of the concepts presented.