"Vocabulary is the bedrock supporting academic language proficiency. Without any doubt, speech-language pathologists recognize the critical importance of vocabulary learning for children and adolescents struggling with language and literacy learning. The challenge is how we can better support genuine vocabulary learning so that struggling students will be better positioned to meet the new reading and writing standards. This book offers speech-language pathologists a strong conceptual framework and evidence-based strategies for achieving the goal of functional vocabulary learning. The rich and detailed strategies are presented in a highly readable way. This accessibility allows the creative speech-language clinician to find many ideas that can easily be adapted into meaningful strategies for boosting the authentic word knowledge that most students with language learning disabilities urgently need for attaining academic language proficiency."--Elaine R. Silliman, PhD, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Florida

"This little book is a gem. It shows how teachers can teach word meanings so powerfully that students of all ages will be able to grasp an author's meaning or communicate their own more effectively. The book offers a well-organized and first-rate plan for teaching vocabulary, presented by a team of researchers with a genuine grasp of the practical."--Timothy Shanahan, PhD, Center for Literacy, University of Illinois at Chicago

"This book succinctly addresses the challenges of teaching and developing vocabulary, providing research-based, clearly spelled-out strategies and many, many rich examples. It gives teachers the tools they need to effectively increase students' vocabularies. Reflecting the authors' own expertise with words, the book is written clearly enough for undergraduates, yet has a level of depth that will lend new insights to even the most advanced student of language and literacy. This book should be required reading in teacher and reading specialist preparation programs and should be used in in-service programs with reading, language arts, and English teachers as well as with content area teachers. If the strategies and suggestions offered in this book were widely and intensely implemented, we would see significant increases in students' verbal abilities and reading comprehension scores."--John J. Pikulski, PhD, School of Education, University of Delaware

"Bringing Words to Life lives up to its title. It made me want to gather a group of kids immediately, so I could start putting these sensible, practical, novel, and intriguing ideas about building vocabulary into practice. Beck, McKeown, and Kucan show how much fun learning words and teaching words can be. Every early childhood and elementary teacher should have this book on their bedside table for inspirational reading."--Catherine E. Snow, PhD, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University

"All educators who are lovers of the English language will thoroughly enjoy and reap the benefits of this articulate book. The authors present a brilliant rationale for delivering lively and direct vocabulary instruction. They offer excellent advice on how to select rich words, present them to students, and help them revel in their usefulness!"--MaryAnne Rossbach, MEd, sixth-grade teacher, Sunrise Valley Elementary School, Reston, VA

"This wonderful book provides a very practical introduction to effective vocabulary instruction.This book is an excellent example how "research-into-practice" should be done -- it is very readable, informative, practical, and concrete."--BalancedReading.com

"Vocabulary is the bedrock supporting academic language proficiency. Without any doubt, speech-language pathologists recognize the critical importance of vocabulary learning for children and adolescents struggling with language and literacy learning. The challenge is how we can better support genuine vocabulary learning so that struggling students will be better positioned to meet the new reading and writing standards. This book offers speech-language pathologists a strong conceptual framework and evidence-based strategies for achieving the goal of functional vocabulary learning. The rich and detailed strategies are presented in a highly readable way. This accessibility allows the creative speech-language clinician to find many ideas that can easily be adapted into meaningful strategies for boosting the authentic word knowledge that most students with language learning disabilities urgently need for attaining academic language proficiency."--Elaine R. Silliman, PhD, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Florida

"This little book is a gem. It shows how teachers can teach word meanings so powerfully that students of all ages will be able to grasp an author's meaning or communicate their own more effectively. The book offers a well-organized and first-rate plan for teaching vocabulary, presented by a team of researchers with a genuine grasp of the practical."--Timothy Shanahan, PhD, Center for Literacy, University of Illinois at Chicago

"This book succinctly addresses the challenges of teaching and developing vocabulary, providing research-based, clearly spelled-out strategies and many, many rich examples. It gives teachers the tools they need to effectively increase students' vocabularies. Reflecting the authors' own expertise with words, the book is written clearly enough for undergraduates, yet has a level of depth that will lend new insights to even the most advanced student of language and literacy. This book should be required reading in teacher and reading specialist preparation programs and should be used in in-service programs with reading, language arts, and English teachers as well as with content area teachers. If the strategies and suggestions offered in this book were widely and intensely implemented, we would see significant increases in students' verbal abilities and reading comprehension scores."--John J. Pikulski, PhD, School of Education, University of Delaware

"Bringing Words to Life lives up to its title. It made me want to gather a group of kids immediately, so I could start putting these sensible, practical, novel, and intriguing ideas about building vocabulary into practice. Beck, McKeown, and Kucan show how much fun learning words and teaching words can be. Every early childhood and elementary teacher should have this book on their bedside table for inspirational reading."--Catherine E. Snow, PhD, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University

"All educators who are lovers of the English language will thoroughly enjoy and reap the benefits of this articulate book. The authors present a brilliant rationale for delivering lively and direct vocabulary instruction. They offer excellent advice on how to select rich words, present them to students, and help them revel in their usefulness!"--MaryAnne Rossbach, MEd, sixth-grade teacher, Sunrise Valley Elementary School, Reston, VA

"This wonderful book provides a very practical introduction to effective vocabulary instruction.This book is an excellent example how "research-into-practice" should be done -- it is very readable, informative, practical, and concrete."--BalancedReading.com

"This is a wonderful book for teaching and learning the complexities of reading assessment. McKenna and Stahl's model presents a fairly comprehensive view of reading and the multiple factors that can contribute to reading fluency or failure. They strike a good balance between theory and practice, explaining a wide range of tools and purposes for assessing reading so one not only understands what to use for evaluation, but also why. The book provides numerous practical charts, checklists, tables, and surveys that can be used to assess aspects of reading for emergent through advanced readers. A definite 'must' for any course in reading assessment!"--Janet A. Norris, PhD, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Louisiana State University

"This book offers a well-organized, up-to-date, and comprehensive discussion of classroom and clinical literacy assessment. The strong focus on the components of early reading and strategic knowledge will add to the expertise of teachers, education students, and clinical personnel, and will be particularly helpful in undergraduate and graduate reading assessment courses. The many ready-to-use assessment instruments and recommended techniques create a complete resource for field experiences or clinical use. Especially helpful features are the examples of individual students at a reading clinic and the chapter on preparing a reading clinic report."--Kathleen A. J. Mohr, EdD, Department of Teacher Education and Administration, University of North Texas

"This book provides practical information that teachers can readily apply in the classroom. Covered are just about all of the assessments that have been used through the years, in one volume. The writing style is accessible and all terms are accompanied by clear and concise definitions. Information on basic reading skills is provided to help teachers understand why different assessments are important and how to link assessment to instruction. This is a very useful 'how-to' book for teachers at all levels of expertise, and preservice teachers will find it an informative text."--Carmelita K. Williams, EdD, Education Consultant and Professor Emeritus, Norfolk State University

"The information in this book is essential for classroom teachers. McKenna and Stahl provide a framework of questions to guide teachers' thinking, straightforward explanations of assessments to address those questions, and instructional suggestions based on the results. This is the realistic, step-by-step text I've been seeking for my university-level assessment and intervention courses. It would be a useful resource for inservice training, too. Any classroom teacher, reading specialist, special education teacher, or paraprofessional who works with struggling readers should read this book."--Brenda L. Sabey, PhD, Dixie State College

"This is a wonderful book for teaching and learning the complexities of reading assessment. McKenna and Stahl's model presents a fairly comprehensive view of reading and the multiple factors that can contribute to reading fluency or failure. They strike a good balance between theory and practice, explaining a wide range of tools and purposes for assessing reading so one not only understands what to use for evaluation, but also why. The book provides numerous practical charts, checklists, tables, and surveys that can be used to assess aspects of reading for emergent through advanced readers. A definite 'must' for any course in reading assessment!"--Janet A. Norris, PhD, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Louisiana State University

"This book offers a well-organized, up-to-date, and comprehensive discussion of classroom and clinical literacy assessment. The strong focus on the components of early reading and strategic knowledge will add to the expertise of teachers, education students, and clinical personnel, and will be particularly helpful in undergraduate and graduate reading assessment courses. The many ready-to-use assessment instruments and recommended techniques create a complete resource for field experiences or clinical use. Especially helpful features are the examples of individual students at a reading clinic and the chapter on preparing a reading clinic report."--Kathleen A. J. Mohr, EdD, Department of Teacher Education and Administration, University of North Texas

"This book provides practical information that teachers can readily apply in the classroom. Covered are just about all of the assessments that have been used through the years, in one volume. The writing style is accessible and all terms are accompanied by clear and concise definitions. Information on basic reading skills is provided to help teachers understand why different assessments are important and how to link assessment to instruction. This is a very useful 'how-to' book for teachers at all levels of expertise, and preservice teachers will find it an informative text."--Carmelita K. Williams, EdD, Education Consultant and Professor Emeritus, Norfolk State University

"The information in this book is essential for classroom teachers. McKenna and Stahl provide a framework of questions to guide teachers' thinking, straightforward explanations of assessments to address those questions, and instructional suggestions based on the results. This is the realistic, step-by-step text I've been seeking for my university-level assessment and intervention courses. It would be a useful resource for inservice training, too. Any classroom teacher, reading specialist, special education teacher, or paraprofessional who works with struggling readers should read this book."--Brenda L. Sabey, PhD, Dixie State College