Now in a revised and expanded third edition, this widely adopted text provides a comprehensive guide to effective literacy instruction in the elementary grades. Distinguished scholar and educator Michael Pressley presents research-based, classroom-tested best practices for combining skills-based and whole language approaches in the context of a highly motivating environment. Updated throughout with the latest data, the book explains the theoretical underpinnings of recommended strategies and techniques and shows how exemplary teachers actually put them into practice. Three all-new chapters provide state-of-the-science coverage of fluency, vocabulary, and writing.

This book is part of a book series called Solving Problems in the Teaching Of Literacy .

This book is aimed at the following children: primary school, university .

This book was published 2002 by Guilford Publications .

Michael Pressley, PhD, who passed away in May 2006, was University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, as well as Director of the Doctoral Program in Teacher Education and Director of the Literacy Achievement Research Center, with both roles part of his professorship in the Department of Teacher Education and the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education. He was an expert on effective elementary literacy instruction, with his research appearing in more than 300 journal articles, chapters, and books. Dr. Pressley served a 6-year term as editor of Journal of Educational Psychology. He was honored with awards from the National Reading Conference, the International Reading Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the American Psychological Association, among others. Dr. Pressley received the 2004 E. L. Thorndike Award from Division 15 of the American Psychological Association, the highest award given for career research accomplishment in educational psychology.

This book has the following chapters:

Introduction. Whole Language. Skilled Reading. Children Who Experience Problems in Learning to Read. Before Reading Words Begins. Learning to Recognize Words. Fluency, with Lauren Fingeret. Vocabulary, with Laurel Disney and Kendra Anderson. Expert Primary-Level Teaching of Literacy Is Balanced Teaching, with Ruth Wharton-McDonald and Jennifer Mistretta Hampston. The Need for Increased Comprehension Instruction, with Ruth Wharton-McDonald. Writing, with Mary M. Juzwik. Motivation and Literacy. Concluding Reflections. for the Time Being.