Shane Templeton

Questions Teachers Ask About Spelling

Questions teachers frequently ask about spelling and spelling instruction, including how students learn to spell and which instructional methods are most effective, are addressed.

The Implications of Adolescents' Academic Word Knowledge for Achievement and Instruction.

The purpose of the current study was to determine relationships between orthographic and morphological awareness of academic words and achievement across content areas. Participants (n = 256), diverse seventh and eighth graders, took three word knowledge measures; two standardized achievement measures were used as outcomes. Orthographic awareness of academic words explained variance in achievement, beyond overall breadth of vocabulary knowledge, with significant changes in R2 ranging from 0.02 to 0.08. Morphological awareness of academic words explained variance in achievement, beyond overall breadth of vocabulary knowledge, with significant changes in R2 ranging from 0.06 to 0.16.

Readability, Basal Readers, and Story Grammar: What Lies Beneath the "Surface"?.

Abstract A line of research is briefly reviewed in which the readability of basal reader stories is assessed through a comparison of traditional and story grammar‐based indices. Basal reader stories intended for grades two through five were analyzed as well as the results of students’ recall as a function of the underlying complexity of stories. Implications for the measurement of readability and the preparation of basal reader stories are presented.