The authors suggest that children's knowledge that the words they use are made of discrete sounds may be as important as understanding grapheme-phoneme correspondences for the beginning reader. Evidence is cited to show that children who demonstrate this insight perform better in learning to read and that metalinguistic insight can be taught.…

Discusses experiments that provide information about the reading processes involved in mapping phonemes onto alphabetic symbols; suggests several techniques for helping children both to differentiate among the short vowel sounds and to associate sound and symbol. Focuses on the needs of beginning readers who are experiencing reading difficulties.…

Examines evidence supporting the view that speech recoding is necessary prior to lexical access, explores an alternative view (that speech recoding occurs in working memory), describes an experiment suggesting that meaning analyses during reading can occur without speech recoding in working memory, and discusses models of reading. (GT)

A survey of the training literature on phoneme awareness suggests that help for slower readers comes in the form of a focus on phonemes through stretched sounding and phoneme isolation in a careful progression that considers the number and choice of phonemes and position in syllables. Stretching and isolating phonemes allows beginners to explore…

In the hope of filling in a missing link for experimental psychologists' research on reading, this paper provides a general review of research on the issue of orthography and its relation to reading. The traditional classification of logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic modes are examined to see how much orthographic variations affect the…

This review of the literature on reading theories is built around three components: an explication of each theory, an evaluation of the theory based on an examination of its internal and external coherence and correspondence, and an application of the theory to a child's reading. The literature is organized around discussions of 12 benchmarks…

Focusing on phonograms and generalizations about phonics, this paper presents a comprehensive letter-sound study. The first chapter discusses the phonogram component of phonics, the Arthur Gates study of phonograms in l928, the phonics generalizations studies of the l960s, and the lack of a comprehensive study of the letter-sound relationship. The…

The phonological information provided by written words may be used by the reader as a convenient temporary storage medium and as a way of gaining access to the lexicon. Beginning readers should be able to exploit the sound-based patterning of the orthography in reading single words and to bypass it on occasion. Some words do not conform to English…

Focusing on research about children's acquisition of reading and spelling skills, this paper discusses the larger picture of reading acquisition, issues addressed by research, and results of this research. The paper cites numerous studies on the subject, including studies on whether environmental print experiences enable young children to process…