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Metalinguistic Awareness is the ability to consciously reflect on and manipulate language, from the level of the phoneme, to words, to whole phrases. Research has shown that engaging in metalinguistic activities can have a positive impact on reading. This article details some of the component skills of metalinguistic awareness (in this case, primarily phonology, morphology, and semantics) and explores how word puzzles can be employed as a means of authentic practice for elementary age students. The authors describe how to analyze games and puzzles for the component language skills practiced, and also how to get started implementing them in the classroom. Strategies are discussed in how to modify and use these games in support of an existing curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple case study was used to explore the impact of a modeling approach on pre-service teachers' self-efficacy and willingness to integrate technology into their elementary lessons. Three primary investigators infused educational technology with a range of objectives into teacher education courses. A survey measured student comfort with and understanding of technology. Student products (lesson plans, websites, reflections) and interview responses were analyzed. The analysis revealed that participants gained knowledge and confidence with technology from instructor modeling, but there was a disparity between what pre-service teachers learned in the college classroom and what they experienced in the elementary classrooms. The implications for teacher education programs are discussed.

The reasons elementary teachers choose not to use technology are many and varied. One commonly cited reason is that preservice programs are struggling to adequately prepare future teachers (e.g., Brown & Warschauer, 2006). This article describes the efforts of one department of education to integrate more technology instruction. Although some aspects of these attempts were more successful than others, the overall conclusion was that teaching about technology in a one-time course within a preservice program is not enough: Collaboration with tech-savvy cooperating teachers and increased technology use in methods courses are also essential. Student surveys and interviews supported this conclusion.

Two experiments explored the effects of reading digital storybooks on tablet computers with 25 preschoolers, aged 4-5. In the first experiment, the students' word recognition scores were found to increase significantly more when students explored a digital storybook and employed the read-aloud function than when they were read to from a comparable print book. Their comprehension scores did not change significantly in the two conditions. In Experiment 2, the same students explored digital storybooks with more animation embedded in them. The students listened to the read aloud function on the tablet computer and explored digital storybooks in both conditions, but in one condition a teacher guided the talk about the story. Contrary to expectations, the students' word recognition and story comprehension scores were higher in the independent condition than in the guided condition. One explanation for the higher word recognition scores when students were reading with the tablet computer is the effect of multimedia, like hotspots and/or text tracking. Although digital storybooks are not a substitute for adult interaction, these preschoolers learned surprisingly well on their own. The importance of digital storybook design, as well as what elements to look for in an e-book to encourage literacy learning are discussed.

The ability to flexibly approach the pronunciation of unknown words, or set "for variability", has been shown to contribute to word recognition skills. However, this is the first study that has attempted to teach students strategies for increasing their set for variability. Beginning readers (N = 15) were instructed to correct oral mispronunciations and then systematically alter sounds in words with exception spellings, while a control group (N = 15) was encouraged to decode passages without the set for variability instruction. It was hypothesized that this brief training would result in readers who are more persistent and more successful in attempting to read words with irregular spellings. Participants who received the experimental training made more attempts to read words with irregular spellings; however, they were not more successful in these attempts. It is argued that this means that set for variability is a teachable concept, in that students in this study acquired the strategy.

There is a wide range in the educational qualities and overall quality of interactive storybook apps for tablet computers (ebooks). Minimally, ebooks for young children present illustrations on a screen, accompanied by an oral reading of the text. Today's ebooks can also include animation, zooming in and out, musical scores, sound effects, text highlighting, built-in dictionaries, hotspots where the reader clicks to interact with a character or object, foreign language translations, and more. While some ebooks do represent quality children's literature presented in a format that optimizes the affordances of the technology, others more closely resemble cartoons. Therefore, teachers, school librarians, and other school officials need to become educated consumers who carefully consider which ebooks they are buying for young elementary students. This article gives guidelines for evaluating the educational potential of ebooks, and makes specific suggestions for resources on how to find high-quality apps for beginning readers.

An experiment examined whether beginning readers can successfully learn to detect and define homonyms, and whether this ability correlates with vocabulary and/or phonological awareness. First graders received ambiguity instruction involving homonyms in isolation, in riddles, and in text. A control group received reading lessons without a metalinguistic component. Results showed that a very brief training program was effective in teaching students to identify multiple meanings of homonyms in isolation. No correlation existed between the ability to learn about homonyms and pretest oral language ability, indicating that this instruction is appropriate for all learners. (Contains 2 figures and 4 tables.)

An experiment examined whether metalinguistic awareness involving the detection of semantic ambiguity can be taught, and whether this instruction improves students' reading comprehension. Lower SES third graders from a variety of cultural backgrounds (M = 8 yr. 7 mo., N = 46) were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Those receiving metalinguistic ambiguity instruction learned to analyze multiple meanings of words and sentences in isolation, in riddles, and in text taken from the Amelia Bedelia series (Parish, 1979, 1988). The control group received a book reading and discussion treatment to provide special attention and to rule out Hawthorne effects. Results showed that metalinguistic ambiguity instruction was effective in teaching students to identify multiple meanings of homonyms and ambiguous sentences and to detect inconsistencies in text. Moreover, this training enhanced students' reading comprehension on a paragraph completion task (WRMT-R) but not on a multiple-choice passage recall task (GMRT4), possibly because the two tests differ in the array of linguistic or cognitive correlates influencing performance. Comprehension monitoring was not found to mediate the relationship between ambiguity instruction and reading comprehension. Results carry implications for the use of language-based methods to improve reading comprehension in the classroom. (Contains 5 tables and 2 figures.)

New evidence shows that some types of metalinguistic awareness could be important for reading comprehension in much the same way that phonemic awareness is important for learning to decode. In a recent study, students between 7 and 9 years old were taught to manipulate language and understand the multiple meanings of ambiguous words and sentences. This brief training program resulted in improved scores on standardized tests of reading comprehension. One of the most successful elements of this training was a session on understanding and producing riddles. Riddles are the perfect medium for learning how to manipulate language for many reasons, including students' familiarity with them and motivation for reading them. This paper contains the procedures used for writing riddles with primary-grade students as well as observations on the riddling abilities that can be expected from students with widely varying reading abilities. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)

While it is generally acknowledged that metalinguistic awareness plays a role in decoding ability (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000), less is known about the role metalinguistic awareness plays in comprehension. In the present study, structural riddles and ambiguous sentences differing in the source of linguistic ambiguity were used to study the importance of metalinguistic awareness in reading comprehension. One hundred sixth and seventh graders were tested on 25 structural riddles and 40 ambiguous sentences. Performance was correlated with scores on the reading comprehension and vocabulary subtests of the GMRT4 (MacGinitie, MacGinitie, Maria, & Dreyer, 2000). It was found that both tasks correlated significantly with reading comprehension and vocabulary. A multiple hierarchical regression found that riddle solving explained unique variance in the reading comprehension scores, after vocabulary was statistically controlled. This is interpreted as evidence that metalinguistic awareness is an ability separate from general linguistic intelligence, which contributes to reading comprehension. The implications for instruction are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

An experiment examined whether metalinguistic awareness involving the detection of semantic ambiguity can be taught and whether this instruction improves students' reading comprehension. Lower socioeconomic status third graders (M age = 8 years, 7 months) from a variety of cultural backgrounds (N = 46) were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Those receiving metalinguistic ambiguity instruction learned to analyze multiple meanings of words and sentences in isolation, in riddles, and in text taken from the Amelia Bedelia series (Parish, 1979, 1988). The control group received a book-reading and discussion treatment to provide special attention and to rule out Hawthorne effects. Results showed that metalinguistic ambiguity instruction was effective in teaching students to identify multiple meanings of homonyms and ambiguous sentences and to detect inconsistencies in text. Moreover, this training enhanced students' reading comprehension on a paragraph-completion task but not on a multiple-choice passage-recall task, possibly because the two tests differ in the array of linguistic or cognitive correlates influencing performance. Comprehension monitoring was not found to mediate the relationship between ambiguity instruction and reading comprehension. Results carry implications for the use of language-based methods to improve reading comprehension in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]