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“This volume represents the definitive word on reading comprehension—and as we all know, reading with understanding is what reading is all about. The second edition takes the reader through the history of reading comprehension research right up to the present, with chapters that are highly readable and accessible. The book is exceptionally well organized and is an ideal text for graduate classes in literacy development. The authors of these chapters are the top scholars in the field.”

—Susan B. Neuman, EdD, Teaching and Learning Department, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University


“A masterpiece. This volume represents the new gold standard for research on reading comprehension. It surveys the historical, theoretical, methodological, empirical, cultural, and pedagogical dimensions of comprehension research. Researchers, educators, policymakers, and curriculum designers will find the second edition of this handbook indispensable.”

—Douglas K. Hartman, PhD, College of Education, Michigan State University


“Over recent years, there has been a revolution in our understanding of reading comprehension. The second edition of this handbook is the best and most up-to-date introduction to this revolution for researchers, teachers, and students alike. It is essential reading for anyone interested in literacy.”

—James Paul Gee, PhD, Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies and Regents’ Professor, Arizona State University


“We live in a time when an individual’s ability to process information and reason at a deep level is critical to quality of life and advancement as a society. Fortunately, the second edition of this handbook extends our knowledge about why we should study various aspects of reading comprehension and what approaches to instruction have merit. An extremely valuable and comprehensive resource.”

—Michael F. Hock, PhD, Senior Research Scientist and Director, Center for Research on Learning, University of Kansas

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Table of Contents

I. Historical Analysis

1. Introduction: The Consequential Pulse of Reading Comprehension Research, Susan E. Israel and D. Ray Reutzel

2. The Roots of Reading Comprehension Instruction, P. David Pearson & Gina N. Cervetti

3. Comprehension Is Not Simple: Considering the Persisting Dangers in the Simple View of Reading Comprehension, James V. Hoffman

4. Professional Learning for Educators Focused on Reading Comprehension: A Historical Perspective, Barbara Laster & Carla Finkelstein

5. Research on Helping Readers Make Sense of Print: Evolution of Comprehension-Based Pedagogy, Kenneth S. Goodman, Yetta M. Goodman, & Kelly L. Allen

II. Theoretical Perspectives

6. An Evolving Perspective of Constructively Responsive Reading Comprehension Strategies in Multilayered Digital Text Environments, Byeong-Young Cho & Peter Afflerbach

7. Toward a Theory of Literacy Meaning Making within Virtual Worlds, Richard Beach and Robert J. Tierney

8. Meaning Making in the 21st Century: The Sociogenesis of Reading Comprehension, James Gavelek & Colleen E. Whittingham

9. Literacy, Comprehension, and the Neurosciences, George G. Hruby

III. Diagnosis, Assessment, and Intervention

10. Assessments of Reading Comprehension: Challenges and Directions, Lauren Leslie and JoAnne Schudt Caldwell

11. Using Assessments to Map and Evaluate the Comprehension Development of Young Children, Katherine A. Dougherty Stahl & Georgia Earnest García

12. Comprehension Difficulties and Struggling Readers, Richard L. Allington & Anne McGill-Franzen

13. Self-Regulation and Reading Comprehension: Moving Beyond the Individual's Cognition in Regulated Learning, Dixie D. Massey & Samuel D. Miller

14. Reconsidering Fluency's Role in Reading Comprehension, Melanie Kuhn & Paula J. Schwanenflugel

IV. Impact of Text and Higher-Order Processing

15. Text and Comprehension: A Retrospective, Perspective, and Prospective, Emily Fox & Patricia A. Alexander

16. Reading Comprehension in the Middle Grades: Characteristics, Challenges, and Effective Supports, Ruth Wharton-McDonald & Joy Erickson

17. Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension: The Nexus of Meaning, Gwynne Ellen Ash & James F. Baumann

18. Improving Adolescent Comprehension: Developing Strategies in the Content Areas, Mark W. Conley

19. Structure, Epistemology, and Metalanguage Foundations of Reading Comprehension in Scientific Texts, Linda M. Phillips & Anat Yarden

20. Graphic Text and Visual Literacies in Reading Comprehension, Stergios Botzakis, Jason D. DeHart, & Sean P. Connors

V. Diverse Components and Engagement

21. Reading Comprehension Research and the Shift Toward Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, Colleen M. Fairbanks, Jewell E. Cooper, Sandra M. Webb, & Lynn A. Masterson

22. Comprehension in the Disciplines, Cynthia Shanahan

23. Constructing Meaning through Discussion, Keli Garas-York & Janice F. Almasi

24. The Role of Interest in Reading Comprehension, Sheree E. Springer, Janice A. Dole, & Douglas J. Hacker

25. Comprehension Strategies Instruction for Learners of English: Where We Have Been, Where We Are Now, Where We Still Might Go, Rachel Brown

26. Family Literacy Initiatives and Reading Comprehension, Patricia A. Edwards, Maria Selena Protacio, Marliese Peltier, & Laura Hopkins

VI. Future Directions

27. The Role of Literacy Coaching in Improving Comprehension Instruction, Misty Sailors, Sylvia Minton, & Lorena Villarreal

28. Public Policy in an Era of Changing Literacies: A Focus on Reading Comprehension, Lori Helman & Cory Stai

29. Sophistication of Reading Comprehension: Where to from Here?, Susan E. Israel

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About the Editor

Susan E. Israel, PhD, is a literacy researcher, educator, and author who has focused on reading comprehension since her early days teaching in the classroom in the 1990s. She taught at the University of Notre Dame, in the Alliance for Catholic Education summer program, and at the University of Dayton, where she received the Panhellenic Council Outstanding Professor Award. Dr. Israel is a recipient of a Teacher as Researcher grant from the International Literacy Association (ILA) and has served on several ILA committees and interest groups, including as president of the History of Literacy Special Interest Group. Dr. Israel has written or edited more than 25 books on literacy and teacher education, including, most recently, Verbal Protocols in Literacy Research.

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Contributors

Peter Afflerbach, PhD, Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

Patricia A. Alexander, PhD, Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

Kelly L. Allen, PhD, Department of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Richard L. Allington, PhD, Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

Janice F. Almasi, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky

Gwynne Ellen Ash, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas

James F. Baumann, PhD, Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri

Richard Beach, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Stergios Botzakis, PhD, Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

Rachel Brown, PhD, Reading and Language Arts Center, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

JoAnne Schudt Caldwell, PhD, College of Education and Leadership, Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Gina N. Cervetti, PhD, School of Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Byeong-Young Cho, PhD, Learning Research and Development Center and Department of Instruction and Learning, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Mark W. Conley, PhD, Department of Teacher Education, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee

Sean P. Connors, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas

Jewell E. Cooper, PhD, School of Education, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina

Jason D. DeHart, EdS, Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

Janice A. Dole, PhD, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

Patricia A. Edwards, PhD, Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Joy Erickson, MS, Department of Education, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire

Colleen M. Fairbanks, PhD, Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina

Carla Finkelstein, PhD, Department of Instructional Leadership and Professional Development, Towson University, Towson, Maryland

Emily Fox, PhD, Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

Keli Garas-York, PhD, Department of Elementary Education and Reading, Buffalo State, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York

Georgia Earnest García, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Champaign, Illinois

James R. Gavelek, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Kenneth S. Goodman, EdD, Department of Language, Reading and Culture, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Yetta M. Goodman, EdD, Department of Language, Reading and Culture, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Douglas J. Hacker, PhD, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

Lori Helman, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

James V. Hoffman, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

Laura Hopkins, MEd, Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

George G. Hruby, PhD, Collaborative Center for Literacy Development and College of Education, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky

Susan E. Israel, PhD, Global Reading Alliance for Catholic Education, Fishers, Indiana

Melanie Kuhn, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

Barbara Laster, EdD, Department of Elementary Education, Towson University, Towson, Maryland

Lauren Leslie, PhD, College of Education, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Dixie D. Massey, PhD, College of Education, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

Lynn A. Masterson, PhD, College of Education, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

Anne McGill-Franzen, PhD, Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

Samuel D. Miller, PhD, School of Education, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina

Sylvia Minton, PhD, Department of Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas

P. David Pearson, PhD, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California

Marliese Peltier, MA, Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Linda M. Phillips, PhD, Canadian Centre for Research on Literacy, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Maria Selena Protacio, PhD, Department of Special Education and Literacy Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan

D. Ray Reutzel, PhD, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming

Misty Sailors, PhD, College of Education and Human Development, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

Paula J. Schwanenflugel, PhD, Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

Cynthia Shanahan, PhD, College of Education (Emerita), University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Sheree E. Springer, MEd, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

Katherine A. Dougherty Stahl, EdD, Department of Teaching and Learning, New York University, New York, New York

Cory Stai, MEd, Division of Academic Standards and Instructional Effectiveness, Minnesota Department of Education, Roseville, Minnesota

Robert J. Tierney, PhD, Department of Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Lorena Villarreal, PhD, Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas

Sandra M. Webb, PhD, Department of Professional Learning and Innovation, Georgia College, Milledgeville, Georgia

Ruth Wharton-McDonald, PhD, Department of Education, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire

Colleen E. Whittingham, MEd, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Anat Yarden, PhD, Department of Science Teaching, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

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Audience

Teacher educators, literacy researchers, and graduate students in education; educational and school psychologists.

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Course Use

May serve as a text in graduate-level courses such as Curriculum and Instruction, Foundations of Reading, and Literacy Pedagogy.

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New to this edition:

• A decade's worth of significant research advances are reflected in 10 entirely new chapters.
• Revised throughout to incorporate new studies and timely topics: the expanding role of technology, changing school populations, the Common Core standards, international research, and more.
• Chapters on graphic, scientific, and multiple digital texts.
• Chapters on fluency, professional learning, and literacy coaching.