Frankly Freddy Blog
TextProject president and CEO Elfrieda H. (Freddy) Hiebert blogs about important issues in reading research and practice.Frankly Freddy entries (published from 2005 to 2014) have been sorted into five topics of literacy learning and instruction. Click here to download the ebook!
Results May Vary: Do First-Grade Reading Curriculum and Instruction Need to Be Adapted?
January 25, 2021
Beginning readers have different levels of proficiency, but many may follow a similar path as they learn new words and orthographic patterns. This may not be the case for those with the lowest levels of ability, so curriculum and instruction should take into account the needs of those who depend most on their in-school literacy experiences.
Feature Presentation: How Familiarity and Concreteness Can Help Beginning Readers Learn New Words
January 5, 2021
Teachers can help beginning readers master more than half of the 2,500 most frequently occurring word families by focusing on words they have already acquired in oral language and words with high concreteness ratings.
What is the Best Way to Teach Vocabulary?
November 18, 2020
With over 600,000 words in written English, which ones should English Language Arts teachers teach, and how?
Teaching Networks of Words
August 13, 2020
Students have trouble learning and retaining lists of unconnected words. Teaching words in networks helps students form connections among the words, bolstering their understanding.
Getting Back to the Page & Staying There
July 16, 2020
Reading is all about knowledge; it’s not just for practice.
Bad with Names: Why Proper Names Deserve Instructional Attention
January 28, 2020
Rare words typically make up only 5% or less of the total words in texts, but it’s often these words that get students anxious about reading.
A Whole New World of Vocabulary Instruction
January 21, 2020
Words are not only a means of communicating, but a foundation of learning.
Not All Rare Words Are Sesquipedalian!
January 15, 2020
A small part of the English vocabulary accounts for the majority of the words in the texts students read across the grades – but some of the words may surprise you.
What Does It Mean To Be A Digitally Literate Scholar?
November 27, 2018
Some thoughts for Literacy Research Association session: Opening up the ivory tower: Examining the elements of open, digitally engaged scholarship (November 28, 2018, Indian Wells, CA)
Building Background Knowledge and Reading Proficiency: One Article at a Time
August 14, 2018
Article-A-Day” is an open-access program from Readworks.org. Daily, students read an article from focused topics that ensure their development of background knowledge. Evidence shows that daily reading of an article supports students’ comprehension and engagement.