Summary The paper reports the results of a longitudinal case study conducted in Australia and New Zealand. The study compares the reading and comprehension age of children in their fifth and sixth years in school. Reading and comprehension ages of 121 children who had Reading Recovery intervention at age 6 were compared with those of a Comparison group of 121 children, drawn from the same classes who, at age 6 years, had been better performers in literacy. Reading and comprehension assessment (...) was conducted with the use of the Neale Analysis of Reading and analysed by means of a t?test. Results show that the mean reading age of ex?Reading Recovery children was nearly 12 months superior to that of the Comparison group and that the mean comprehension age was nearly 13 months superior at very highly significant levels. The results strongly suggest that Reading Recovery tuition at age 6 years enabled the 121 ex?Reading Recovery children to make greater progress in literacy than children in the Comparison group. (shrink)

Summary Attitudes to poetry teaching in schools are investigated and relevant studies are shown to highlight reluctance to teach poetry. The study reports an exploratory questionnaire of middle school teachers which reaffirms teachers? lack of confidence in encouraging classroom work on poetry. A sample of 100 middle school pupils, on the other hand, indicate interest and receptiveness towards poetry despite its neglect by their schools. Implications are raised for in?service training and for the implementation of National Curriculum requirements.