The aim of the current research was to examine pre-service, general and special education teachers' attitudes to and knowledge of metalinguistics (awareness of language structure) in the process of learning to read. Effective teachers of reading, writing, and spelling need to understand the relationship between speech and print because these basic…

The purpose of this report is to provide education professors teaching early literacy methods courses with information for beginning teachers to support struggling first-grade readers. This analysis identifies the specific word structures children are expected to know by the end of first grade, and shows the actual learning rates of these…

Third in a series of four articles devoted to parents and reading. Focuses upon parental involvement in reading and examines research and activities that can be beneficial at home and at school. (HTH)

Enumerates ways to help early readers without negatively affecting their development in other areas, such as: (l) providing an atmosphere rich in environment print and positive role models, (2) using encouragement rather than praise as a means of reinforcing their progress, (3) exhibiting respect for the child, (4) eliminating criticism and…

Argues that while many publishers may simplify the sentence structure in the basal reader to facilitate the process of learning to read, this practice may result in texts with stylistic features and text formats that are unnatural and uncharacteristic of written English or the language development level of the children. (FL)

Discusses an approach to early reading instruction that emphasizes "real" books and parental involvement. Contains a list of "dos" and "don'ts" for use by parents in helping their children read. (DF)

Early reading for deaf and hearing-impaired children using the natural reading method inspired by Doman is advocated. The Doman method is described. What educational research on deaf and hearing-impaired children says concerning the process of reading acquisition is discussed. (RM)

This study attempted to identify elements accounting for reading proficiency among poor Black children. The expectation that teacher's style was important was not supported. Important elements seemed to be early reading, family encouragement, teachers' positive expectations, and placement with other good students. (CJM)

Twenty ideas to motivate reluctant young readers in kindergarten and elementary school classrooms are presented. The ideas include reading contests, prizes, classroom decor, and community involvement. (PP)

Outlines the most important 20th century developments in reading instruction for young children, analyzing why an approach was tried, and presenting results of these instructional efforts. It is concluded that the current perspective that seems to meet the needs of most children is that of emergent literacy. (SLD)

Examines the relationship between reading ability and home environment to determine what variables most accurately predict reading achievement. Finds that the father's education level, the amount of reading done to children before school entry, and the variety of print materials read in the home are highly significant predictors of reading…

Discusses the observation and assessment of literacy development of young children in child care settings, and describes literacy goals and performance indicators for three- to five-year-old children. Introduces the "literacy album" as a means of gathering, observing, and interpreting information about children's literacy behaviors; and…

Background: Phonological awareness is known to be an excellent predictor of later reading acquisition. It remains unclear, however, whether phoneme manipulation alone best explains this association or whether an additional direct contribution of onset-rime awareness is predictive. This issue is explored here. Method: A longitudinal study is…

High/Scope's approach to education is a blend of Jean Piaget's constructivist theory of child development and the best of traditional teacher experience. The High/Scope approach is about helping students gain knowledge and skills in important content areas, such as language and literacy, initiative and social relations, movement, music, and…

Using an ecological model, this study explored the effects of distal and proximal sources of influence on students' learning. We first examined three markers of teacher qualification--elementary education credential, years of education, and years of experience--on observed classroom practices across three dimensions--warmth/responsivity,…