Discusses a rationale for reading aloud in language classes. (RL)

Reviews the development of Recovery Reading. Addresses two questions: (1) which features of the program embody Vygotskian notions? and (2) how effective is the program at improving literacy skills? Finds that Reading Recovery increased reading attainment and argues that future research should address the sociocultural context of the program. (DSK)

Investigated five-year-olds' abilities to determine the reference of anaphoric pronouns. Children had difficulty when a sentence contained more than one pronoun, especially when assigning the reference of a pronoun requiring an inference. The children's difficulties stemmed from forgetting premise information and from having problems in carrying…

An historical investigation into how and why a literate culture came into being in England during 1500-1850. Examined are industrialization, economic necessity, schooling, writing diaries and family histories, access to books, property inventories, political protest, ballads, communication network, universal language, and cultural hegemony. (ND)

Concludes that the regularity effect is phonologically, not orthographically, mediated; that good readers use a predominantly phonological strategy in lexical decisions, while poor readers do not; and that for the best readers-spellers, orthographically and phonologically irregular words have a special status, allowing them to gain fast and…

We investigated the effects of rime consistency on reading and spelling among dyslexic children and a group of matched reading age skilled readers by manipulating consistency of orthography-to-phonology (OP) mappings and consistency of mappings from phonology-to-orthography (PO). For both dyslexic and control children we found feedforward…

This study examined whether parents who lack numeracy, literacy, or writing skills transmit their difficulty to their children. The study also sought to determine whether other family or child characteristics relate to children's basic skills; if child outcomes or predictors display between-family variation; and if child outcomes display any…

Discusses problems of teaching reading skills in English schools when budget cuts reduce the number of available textbooks. Non-print, technologically advanced, instructional media also compete for what funds there are. The impact of economic and technological trends on future teacher education and the development of reading programs are examined.…

Describes recent, major contributions to both sides of the debate between phonics instruction and the "meaning-based" approaches. Argues that it is too early to evaluate the debate, but that a tentative evaluation of the evidence favors meaning-based approaches. (RS)

A three-month extensive reading program in England, inspired by Krashen's Input Hypothesis, used graded readers to improve English as a second language learners' linguistic skills. Program results showed a marked improvement in the subjects' language skills, especially in writing. (Author/CB)

This naturalistic inquiry evaluated the impact of early literacy intervention on children in London schools. The progress, in the 2005-06 school year, was compared for 234 of the lowest-achieving children in 42 schools serving disadvantaged urban areas. The children, aged around 6 years who received Reading Recovery in their schools, were compared…

We use a genetically sensitive design to examine the relationship between language and nonverbal ability at 4 and a half and reading skills at 7 years of age in a sample of more than 1,000 children participating in the Twins Early Development Study. We find that nonphonological as well as phonological measures of early language make significant…

A second study was conducted in a middle school in England to assess the effects of reading while listening: students read a text while listening to a recording. The value of teacher involvement and use of the technique with remedial students and better readers were studied. (SW)

Suggests that when miscue analysis is associated with remedial techniques, computer-assisted learning constitutes a viable method of remediation. (NH)