The major theory examined in this paper is that the increasing problem of illiteracy in the United States may be due to a faulty method of teaching reading. The causes of the illiteracy problem and possible solutions are explored using evidence from reading research and classroom results. The following topics concerning the teaching of reading are…

A study examined the role of phonics instruction in beginning reading and culminated in a report which has been published as a book entitled "Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print." The study centered around the debate over whether phonics instruction promotes or impedes development of the attitudes and abilities required…

While the look-say versus the phonics controversy has existed for years in reading instruction, a similar debate regarding spelling instruction is only now emerging out of the literature and into the hands of the classroom teacher. "Subskill" spelling, most frequently found in current spelling programs, presumes that good spelling is achieved by…

In discussing word recognition, Kenneth Goodman argues that preoccupation with words, leters, and sounds cuts off children from the meaning-seeking function of reading; that oral and written language are parallel modes of obtaining meaning from language; and that reading is a selective rather than a precise process of word perception. A review of…

A study of 141 children (ages 4-5) with language impairments and a study of 120 children (ages 7-12) with oral language and/or reading problems, indicate a relationship between the processing of phonological and semantactic linguistic information and performance on oral language and reading tests three years later. (Author/CR)

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…

The "Phonic Remedial Reading Lessons" is a systematic, comprehensive phonics program designed for reading-disabled children. The 77 lessons teach about single letters and single sounds, two-letter sounds, consonant blends, graphemes, exceptions to configurations, and word building. The program's underlying strategies and other…

Analyzes research reports that describe specific corrective feedback techniques. Notes effects for comprehension and for accuracy of word recognition among remedial and average readers and discusses instructional implications of the findings. (FL)

Beginning readers and proficient readers can be characterized by using research found in professional journal articles and other educational sources. Learning to read requires numerous abilities, several of which are acquired before a child begins school; this time period between birth and when a child begins school is called the "emergent…

A study examined the effects of daily journal writing on kindergarten children's phonics acquisition. At St. Joseph School in Carteret, New Jersey, 21 kindergartners kept daily journals in addition to normal classroom instruction over a period of 4 months, while the 20 kindergartners in another class received only the normal classroom phonics…

Within the fundamental context of "how children learn to read," attention is drawn towards an understanding of the "components" that are necessary for the child to move from oral language to early literacy. Looking at this transition requires the educator to consider whether literacy can develop as naturally for the child as speaking, or if not,…

In the form of a statement to United States Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, this paper presents an overview of reading and literacy initiatives. It begins with a brief discussion of the seriousness of reading failure in the United States and then discusses longitudinal studies conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and…

This article examines characteristics of low-performing readers, especially their poor word recognition skills; compares approaches to teaching word recognition to slow-learning children; identifies characteristics of successful methods of teaching word recognition; and concludes that phonics-based, thoroughly systematic, direct instruction is…

Reviews significant findings from the author's research and speculates on differential responses to his work. Argues that appropriately chosen direct instruction in the spelling-sound code is the reality that will enable the romance with whole language to be a long-lasting one and that educators must let scientific evidence answer questions about…

Hypothesizes that developing an understanding of the connections between oral and written language rather than phonemic awareness per se, is essential to learning to read. At the macrolevel this involves an understanding that written words represent words in oral language, and at the microlevel that letters in written words stand for phonemes in…