The Style of Reading and Reading in Style

Adult read aloud book activities, including literature selections, have significant impact on children’s language learning opportunities. The style in which books are orally shared with children is also important. Detailed examination of adult-child book reading conversations has demonstrated a variety of teaching and learning approaches in the empirical and popular literature. Three of these approaches are included in this article: didactic-interactional, co-construction, and performance-oriented styles (Dickinson & Smith, 2004). Ten children’s books are reviewed and recommended.     

The Best Thing About a Book is...

A wealth of research documents the reading preferences of young children. However, much less is known about children’s actual agendas or reasons for using and experiencing books. This article proposes the simple ENGAGE process to help adults better understand what children believe is best about the books in their lives. Twelve books are reviewed and recommended.     

Pre-K Music and the Emergent Reader: Promoting Literacy in a Music-Enhanced Environment

Emergent literacy may be nurtured in an early childhood environment that integrates literacy experiences with meaningful music activities in which young children develop skills necessary for success in both areas simultaneously. Early childhood educators can develop the knowledge and skills needed to bring music into the classroom as an engaging and stimulating element of literacy education.     

Books and Good Stuff: A Strategy for Building School to Home Literacy Connections

Engaging young children in literacy activities at home is one way for families to augment and enrich the home literacy setting and to participate in their child’s education at an early age (St. Pierre et al. in Dev Psychol 41(6): 953–970, 2005). Burgess et al. (Read Res Quart 4(4): 408–426, 2002) suggested that the resources families have at their disposal, the quality of literacy role models provided by parents, and the types of literacy and language activities in which parents and children engage, are all related to young children’s developing literacy and language abilities. Other studies demonstrated that even modest literacy-promoting interventions can significantly enhance a young child’s early literacy environment by increasing the frequency of parent–child book-sharing activities (Weitzman et al. in Pediatrics 113(5):1248–1253, 2004). Dever (J Early Educ Fam Rev 8(4):17–28, 2001) and Dever and Burtis (Early Child Dev Care 172(4):359–370, 2002) emphasize the use of family literacy bags for early childhood development. Developing and sharing take-home literacy bags is an exciting literacy-promoting activity that may be shared with children and families to provide support for emergent literacy. This article explores the development of the BAGS (Books and Good Stuff) take-home literacy kits and provides suggestions for content, construction, implementation, and evaluation. Sixteen current books are reviewed and recommended by theme.     

Telephone Testing and Teacher Assessment of Reading Skills in 7-year-olds: I. Substantial Correspondence for a Sample of 5544 Children and for Extremes

Many research questions require the assessment of reading in large samples of children. We compared two nonconventional procedures for early reading assessment: test administration by telephone, and teacher assessment. Five thousand five hundred and forty four children participating in a longitudinal twin study were assessed by telephone using the Test of Early Word Reading Efficiency, and by their teachers using the UK National Curriculum criteria. A correlation of 0.69 was obtained between the TOWRE and Teacher Assessment for Reading. There was also good agreement between the two procedures for identification of children at the lower extreme. Both appear to be practical and valid for research studies.     

Reading Aloud with Infants: The Controversy, the Myth, and a Case Study

Reading aloud to infants continues to be the focus of controversy between educators, researchers, and health care professionals. This article will provide insight into what research says about reading aloud to infants as well as the results of a case study of a six-month-old infant who has been read aloud to in utero to the present time. The results of this case study confirm that parents and caregivers reading aloud to infants is necessary in developing literacy skills that are paramount to book awareness, print awareness, vocabulary development, fluency, and comprehension, all of which are stepping stones to learning to read and write.     

The children's centre teacher role: developing practice in the private,voluntary and independent sector

This study assessed the impact of the role of the teacher in two children's centres in England and identified some of the supporting and limiting factors that influenced outcomes. The teachers worked across several settings in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector, with the aim of enhancing early years practice and practitioner confidence. A conceptual framework was devised to model the impact of the teacher role based on Leithwood and Levin (2005 Leithwood K, Levin B. 2005. Assessing school leader and leadership programme effects on pupil learning. DfES Research Report 662. http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR662.pdf (accessed December 2006) [Google Scholar]). Teachers were found to bring vital professional knowledge and experience to the role and delivered their methods through a range of leadership styles as identified in the literature. Teachers were successful in developing practice and staff confidence in settings; this also impacted positively on outcomes for children. However, success was dependent on a number of moderating factors, including sector‐related factors such as the qualifications of staff. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

基于《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要（2010—2020年）》的地方高校发展战略新思路

1993年2月13日《中国教育改革与发展纲要》的出台,推动了高等教育的多元化发展和规模扩张,地方高校由此获得快速成长。2010年7月29日《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要（2010—2020年）》颁布实施,进一步对高等教育发展提出了新的目标任务和战略举措。在此背景下,地方高校必须重新确立办学定位,创新发展理念,突出发展质量,形成办学特色。