A recent article by Stuebing, Barth, Cirino, Francis and Fletcher critiqued the findings of Camilli, Vargas, and Yurecko (2003) and Camilli, Wolfe, and Smith (2006). With a methodological argument, they attempted to resolve the conflict between these studies and the original report Teaching Children to Read (National Reading Panel, 2000). In…

As a result of the Reading First Program of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the view of reading has narrowed. Individual state's Reading First professional development programs, and hence reading teachers across the United States, have spent the six years since the funding of the program in 2002 focusing beginning and developmental reading on…

For 60 years, confusion and misinformation have reigned supreme whenever the subject of teaching phonics comes up for discussion. The paper considers various phonics programs, both old and new, and appraises their effectiveness. It also discusses works on phonetics by some well-known researchers and experts in reading, among them Frank Smith,…

This essay argues that sense depends on the circulation of nonsense. A realisation of the reciprocal relation can result in a micro-level praxis that helps us, as educators, to free ourselves from the polarisations that have occurred in the field of literacy, such as the phonics/whole language debate, replacing the antagonism with a more…

At a literacy conference in December 1998, British Prime Minister Tony Blair defined phonics as "the skilled process of teaching children how the 44 sounds in the English language are represented by a letter or group of letters." But 4 years down the track, several recent reports from both national and international bodies continue to…

Recommends a constructivist approach to reading instruction. Argues that (1) ownership is the overarching goal of the curriculum; (2) constructivist approaches improve word identification and higher-level thinking; (3) phonics instruction should be properly timed; (4) writing makes a significant contribution to children's learning of phonics; and…

To answer the question of how phonemic awareness works to facilitate reading acquisition, this paper explores the fundamental connection between phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, and phonics in learning to read. The paper undertook a literature review to prove that phonemic awareness is an essential element in the path to literacy. It…

Reviews the report of the Commission on Reading, concluding that it can become the antidote for the pessimism generated by the status quo found in the schools by a number of researchers. (FL)

Shared reading involves reading aloud, making a variety of print materials available, and promoting positive attitudes toward literacy. Shared reading experience simulates the bedtime reading experience. It is a happy, secure situation that invites participation by children. Shared reading materials often use enlarged print which allows every…

This list of year-by-year statements has been drawn together from England's National Literacy Strategy Framework for Teaching, with a particular focus on reading. The statements also take into account the stages set out in "Progression in Phonics" and the criteria for assessing reading in National Curriculum assessment at Years 2 and 6.…

Addresses the issue of what happens to developing readers and spellers when they are given phonics instruction by describing the experiences of one six-year-old girl who received phonics instruction in kindergarten. (BB)

A "national cry" has gone out that phonics and phonemics awareness must again be taught. True literacy involves much more than merely reading. Students need to be equipped to think, write, spell, and express themselves orally and on paper. This helps them to clarify their own thinking. The English alphabet is a sound/symbol system, not a…

Elaborated by a group of teacher educators and reading researchers, this monograph serves as a forum for responses to the federally sponsored 1985 report, "Becoming a Nation of Readers." It consists of the following essays, listed here with their authors: (1) "Reading Instruction and Underlying Metaphors in 'Becoming a Nation of…

This collection reflects the stance that a truly balanced approach to reading instruction will focus not only on reading but on literacy; integrate language and literacy across disciplines; attend to reading, writing, and other skills and strategies in context; and reflect a coherent integration of as broad a research base as possible. Following a…

The author endorses the approach to teaching phonics set out in recent documents (e.g. Progression in Phonics) that extend and supersede the approach set out earlier in the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) Framework for Teaching. Proposed are minor, evidence-driven amendments to this approach. The assumption that failure to achieve continuing…