This article reviews literature on normal and impaired spelling development, and discusses the influence of consonant clusters, phonetic influences, and the role of letter names. Research that underscores the importance of fine-grained linguistic analyses of spelling performance is described. It is concluded that such an approach holds promise.…

This article briefly reviews recent research on teaching phonological awareness skills to preschoolers as well as the benefits of different types of bilingual education. A more in-depth analysis of research on cross-language transfer of phonological awareness/metalinguistic skills follows. The major recommendation resulting from this review is…

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…

Tagmemic theory, with its insistence on the necessity of three perspectives--particle, wave, and field--can be used to provide a more accurate statement of a contrastive analysis of phonemes in two languages. Examples illustrate how teachers can use these three perspectives in their work. (CB)

Discusses the hazards that the English language contains for children learning to read, reports the Bullock Report's recommendation to judge I.T.A. on its merits, and describes research findings suggesting that the probability of reading failure is considerably greater when T.O. is used than when I.T.A. is used. (GT)

Evaluates the methodological quality of 39 studies of phonological-awareness interventions in children. Finds only seven studies met two-thirds or more of all the evaluative criteria (internal and external validity), although all of these investigations demonstrated at least one fatal flaw. Suggests improvements for future intervention research.…

Study examines first-grade students' growth in oral reading fluency as predicted by their kindergarten letter-naming and letter-sound fluency using growth curve analysis. Results reveal that kindergarten letter-naming fluency uniquely contributed to the prediction of first-grade reading growth. Findings also reveal that Native American and…

Various lines of research demonstrate that children do not need intensive phonics instruction to develop the functional command of letter/sound patterns that they need as readers. The fact that children normally learn highly complex processes and systems by merely interacting with the external world is perhaps the most important reason why…

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…

Research literature is reviewed that shows a relationship between phonemic skills and learning to decode written words. Several tests that can be used to assess phonemic skills are described. The role of the school psychologist in screening and monitoring kindergarten and first grade children for possible deficits in phonemic skills is discussed.…

This manuscript is the outcome of the first year of a two-year project designed to explore what works in reading instruction for students who are highly mobile. The project includes several components. The first was to conduct an extensive literature review to identify what is already known (the focus of this document). In addition to the…

Jorm did not, as Ellis (TM 504 892) implies, propose that developmental and acquired phonemic-deep dyslexia are functionally equivalent. Rather, Jorm identified functional similarities. Most of Ellis' criticisms are irrelevant because they are directed at this equivalency. (Author/CP)

Cued speech is presented as a system of phonemes and mouthshapes which can supplement speechreading. Research findings are presented on cue reception, cue comprehension, and development of sensory aids for cue presentation. Also discussed are research needs, and applications of cued speech for hearing-impaired speechreaders and for hearing…

This article reviews research on training phonological awareness in kindergarten and first grade children and describes research-based intervention and assessment activities applicable to classroom and clinical settings. Intervention applications described include categorization activities, phoneme segmentation, and metalinguistic games. (DB)