This study aimed to enhance seventh-grade students’ reading comprehension of expository texts through an instructional program specifically focused on text structures. The program incorporated graphic organizers and notetaking strategies to increase students’ awareness of various text structures and their ability to identify key content within texts. Conducted at a junior high school in northern Taiwan, the study involved 234 seventh-grade students, divided into 118 with high reading abilities and 116 with low reading abilities. The instruction consisted of five lessons on text structures. Students were required to read an article and take notes before and after the instruction. Their performance was measured by evaluating their note organization and the extent to which they captured key ideas. The results indicated significant improvements in the students’ abilities to organize their notes by using graphic organizers and to identify key content, regardless of their initial reading ability levels. However, all students exhibited low performance in understanding sequence structures, presumably because of the inherent complexity of these structures or the difficulty of recognizing their cue words. Taken together, these findings underscore the effectiveness of combining graphic organizers with notetaking strategies in reading instruction, providing empirical support for future educational practices and instructional designs in this field.

　　This study explored the text types and text structures in Mandarin Chinese textbooks for upper elementary students. The research addressed two main questions. First, what are the common text types in Mandarin Chinese textbooks for upper elementary students? Second, what are the prevalent text structures and characteristics in these textbooks? A total of 53 texts from four volumes of version A of a Mandarin Chinese textbook for upper elementary students were analyzed. Content analysis was employed to determine the proportion of each text type and structure. The results indicated that literary texts dominated the majority of text types, with narrative prose being the most common text type among literary texts and subjective commentaries being entirely absent from nonliterary texts. Text structures were categorized into three types on the basis of shared characteristics, and distinctions were made between basic and advanced structures. Notably, narrative structures were the most prevalent, followed by explanation structures and discussion structures. Overall, this study suggests providing additional opportunities for students to read and write commentary texts in nonliterary contexts, adjusting the learning timeline for text structures, rebalancing the proportions of basic and advanced text structures, and guiding elementary school text reading and writing instruction through a main structural axis and text structure.

　　Given that questioning catalyzes thinking, an examination of the types of questions presented in educational materials can provide valuable insights into the development of students’ thinking abilities. However, few studies have examined the types of questions embedded in educational materials. This study aimed to address this gap through a content analysis of the Philozenfants series, a nine-volume series of philosophical picture books for children, focusing on the distribution and application of various question types within the book series. Questions in the series were classified on the basis of four principal domains: clarity, accuracy, depth, and breadth. These four domains were further subdivided into eight subcategories. The findings revealed a diverse variety of question types used throughout the series. Notably, breadthrelated questions appeared most frequently, underscoring the importance of encouraging multiple viewpoints from students when teaching philosophy to children. In addition, the texts demonstrated the application of various question types and their adaptable applications. In the series, both visual and textual elements were integrated such that their complementary roles were reinforced. Overall, this study provides valuable insights and recommendations for developing and implementing curricula that incorporate questioning frameworks.

　　In this study, a quasi-experimental design was adopted to examine the effectiveness of a Chu-Yin-Fu-Hao (CYFU, Chinese phonetic symbols) program. A total of 216 first-grade students were included in the study and divided into two groups: an experimental group (109 students) and a control group (107 students). A 55-session program was conducted over the first 10 weeks of the semester, during which the experimental group received a differentiated-instruction-oriented program and the control group followed the teacher's manual for a textbook. All students completed standardized CYFU and character recognition tests before and after the intervention period, with an additional picture-talking test administered as a posttest. The main findings of the study were as follows. First, the experimental group achieved a greater overall improvement in CYFU proficiency compared with the control group. Second, the effects of CYFU instruction extended to character recognition, with the experimental group achieving significantly higher scores for character recognition. Third, in the picture-talking test, the experimental group demonstrated a significant increase in the number of words expressed, indicating that exposure to narrative structures enhanced their oral expression. Fourth, the experimental group exhibited more positive learning behaviors, namely improved focus, motivation, and self-confidence. In summary, the differentiated-instruction-oriented program was effective in improving all outcome measures examined in this study.