Prior studies suggest that teaching reading strategies promotes reading comprehension in adolescents who have difficulties with reading comprehension, yet the results of those studies are mixed. Individual differences in students’ vocabulary knowledge may explain these mixed results. This article examines to what extent vocabulary knowledge influences the effect of a two-year intervention program focused on teaching reading strategies to adolescents with low academic achievement in the Netherlands. We hypothesized that students (N = 310) with different levels of vocabulary knowledge would respond differently to the treatment, given that vocabulary knowledge is an important factor in reading comprehension. Results showed that vocabulary knowledge moderated the effect of the treatment, suggesting that low vocabulary knowledge negatively affected the impact of an intervention focused on reading strategies. Vocabulary knowledge, thus, emerges as a prerequisite for the successful leveraging of a reading strategy intervention. Students with low vocabulary knowledge may experience cognitive overload when attempting to apply newly learned reading strategies while simultaneously trying to find out the meaning of multiple unfamiliar words needed for successful application of reading strategies.

This study investigates the effects of instruction in genre writing with planning and revising activities (GWPR) on learning. This type of instruction appeared to be successful in promoting learning in several types of education. However, there are few studies on the effects on low achievers. Therefore, two studies were conducted with low-achieving students, each comprising a quasi-experimental study and a small-scale think-aloud study, both of which were embedded in regular education for low-achieving adolescents. The first study took place in biology classes (grade 7, three lessons); the second study was in mathematics classes (grade 10, six lessons). The researchers co-created writing-to-learn tasks with the teachers. The results showed positive effects on learning in mathematics classes as compared with the control group, but not in biology classes. The think-aloud study in the experimental mathematics class condition provided evidence of the learning by writing process. In the experimental biology class condition, such evidence was barely present. The results suggest that the experimental intervention in biology classes was too short for the students to grasp the essentials of learning by writing. This paper also discusses suggestions for further research and pedagogical implications.

It is hypothesized that variability found in the effects of family literacy programs results from differences in implementation by parents. In this study, the implementation and effects of a Dutch program were examined in a sample of 207 kindergarteners (mean age at pre-test: 64 months). No main intervention effects on children’s literacy development were found. The quality of implementation proved to be higher for high-SES and native Dutch (speaking) parents than for low-SES, ethnic-minority parents with other home languages. Parent SES, ethnic-minority status, and home language did not moderate the program effects on child language scores and the program failed to impact targeted parental attributes, namely, the home literacy environment and parent self-efficacy. Finally, children’s development proved unrelated to implementation variables. Our results stress the importance of delivery for adequate implementation.