"Sounding out" is a cultural model capturing an image of reading that parents and children share, is found to enhance reading ability. The role played by "Sounding out" in parent's experiences with reading is described and how they apply their understanding of sounding out words to instructional interactions with their own children is described.

In this book the authors note that for too long teachers have been at the mercy of government programmes, which have emphasized the acquisition of literacy as a set of skills. They suggest that an exciting new theory coming out of the New Literacy Studies actually helps students to access literacy skills. They attempt to bridge the gap between…