The Research behind Word Reading and Readable Text


Cover of the Research behind Word Reading and Readable Text whitepaper. 

For beginning readers, word recognition is an obstacle that requires specially designed beginning reading materials. The text diet that beginning readers receive affects their development. Texts should be designed, both individually and at a programmatic level, to enhance learning and growth, with particular focus given to the features of words that are most closely associated with word recognition.

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About the Author

Dr. Heidi Anne Mesmer

Dr. Heidi Anne Mesmer is a literacy professor at the Virginia Tech School of Education.  A former classroom teacher, Mesmer works extensively with teachers, schools, and young readers, directing numerous school-based initiatives to improve reading instruction. She studies beginning reading instruction and text difficulty, and her work has been published in The Reading Teacher, Reading Research Quarterly, The Educational Researcher, Elementary School Journal, and Early Childhood Research Quarterly. She is the author of Tools for Matching Readers to Texts, Reading Interventions in Primary Grades, and Teaching Skills for Complex Texts.