Language and Literacy Beyond Decoding

Evidence-Based Instruction in Grades PreK-6

Edited by Rebecca D. Silverman and Kristin Keane

HardcoverPaperbacke-bookprint + e-book
Hardcover
January 7, 2026
ISBN 9781462559602
Price: $68.00
326 Pages
Size: 6" x 9"
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Paperback
January 7, 2026
ISBN 9781462559596
Price: $45.00
326 Pages
Size: 6" x 9"
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e-book
January 7, 2026
PDF and Accessible ePub ?
Price: $45.00
326 Pages
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print + e-book
Paperback + e-Book (PDF and Accessible ePub) ?
Price: $90.00 $54.00
326 Pages
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professor copy Digital professor copy available on VitalSource once published ?

Successful reading comprehension requires readers to draw on a range of language comprehension abilities alongside decoding. This timely teacher reference and text explains how language comprehension develops throughout grades PreK–6 and presents evidence-based instructional strategies. The volume reviews innovative ways to conduct content-rich classroom conversations, deliver strategy and text structure instruction, target motivational aspects of comprehension, use assessment to guide comprehension-focused instruction, and more. Ways to support language and reading comprehension with multilingual and multidialectal learners are considered in depth. Ideal for professional learning within a science-of-reading perspective, each chapter provides guiding questions, research reviews, classroom applications, and reflection questions.

“Every day, educators encounter many students who can sound out individual words on the page but struggle to comprehend the text they are reading. This timely, approachable volume brings together an extraordinary group of reading experts to share proven principles and techniques for teaching language comprehension. Topics range from promoting content-rich language instruction, to leveraging better assessments and new technologies, to integrating linguistic diversity as a central feature—not a special case—in today’s classrooms. This book addresses all of the elements most essential to improving our students’ literacy performance and life outcomes.”

—Michael Kieffer, EdD, Department of Teaching and Learning, New York University


“Providing a vital corrective to foundational skills mandates, this volume addresses the importance of rich language development occurring alongside—not after—phonics instruction. Contributors address the complex needs of diverse learners, including multilingual students and speakers of African American English, through culturally responsive approaches that honor students' linguistic assets while building academic success. Teachers, coaches, and teacher educators will find research-proven strategies and concrete solutions for fostering language's critical role in reading comprehension.”

—Elfrieda H. Hiebert, PhD, President and CEO, TextProject

About the Editors

Rebecca D. Silverman, EdD, is the Judy Koch Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. A former elementary school teacher, Dr. Silverman’s research focuses on language and literacy development and instruction in early childhood and elementary school. In particular, her work has contributed to the research base on supporting vocabulary and other aspects of language that are critical to reading and writing, and using multimedia and educational technology to facilitate literacy. At Stanford, Dr. Silverman leads the Language to Literacy Lab and teaches in the Stanford Teacher Education Program. She also engages in research–practice partnerships with school districts and provides professional development to teachers. Widely published in education journals, she has served on the board of directors of the International Literacy Association and is Editor-in-Chief of Elementary School Journal. Her website is https://langlitlab.stanford.edu.

Kristin Keane, PhD, directs and manages partnerships in a number of research studies in the Language to Literacy Lab in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. Her research focuses on literacy development and instruction in elementary schools, specifically the ways multimodal, digital, and critical literacies can be used to drive equity-centered pedagogies in classrooms to enhance engagement, comprehension, and dialogic discussion of varied types of text. Prior to her work at Stanford, Dr. Keane led a network of literacy coaches, served as a literacy staff developer, and worked in California classrooms. She has taught in both the University of San Francisco’s and Stanford's teacher education programs. A mixed methodologist, Dr. Keane has published a number of observational and meta-analytic studies pertaining to literacy practice and development in leading education journals.

Audience

Classroom teachers of students ages 4–11 (PreK–6); literacy coaches and specialists; staff developers; teacher educators and graduate students.

Course Use

Will serve as a supplemental text in such courses as Elementary Reading Methods, Language and Literacy, and The Science of Reading.