Concludes that potential users of the Clymer-Barrett Readiness Test should exercise caution in drawing inferences or conclusions about children on the basis of anything other than raw score data associated with the measure. (FL)

Discusses a model of the reading process drawn from ideas used in foreign language instruction and resting on the distinction between reading acquisition and reading learning. Explains how the model can be applied in the classroom. (FL)

Presents evidence that reading can be learned by the same informal and unstructured methods as speech, and calls for a concentration on slow readers. (CRH)

Notes that, while the test is not recommended for children at the lower and extreme upper levels, it does provide a valid and reliable measure of some of the abilities that may be involved in the reading behaviors of five- and six-year-old children. (FL)

Highlights the importance of the father in children's early reading and writing experiences, explaining the need for both planned events (i.e., nightly stories or weekly library visits) and unplanned events (i.e., spontaneous trips or playing games) and emphasizing the need for nurturing children's natural curiosity about print. (SM)

Relates the belief that "shared reading" using big books will provide children with a meaningful introductin to reading. (DF)

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)

Details events from the experiences of two young children as they learned written language. Concludes that children need to have a say in why and what they are reading. (FL)

Documents how a preschool child learns to read. Identifies what teachers need to know if they are to continue the reader's own discoveries and delight in language. (EL)

Presents a summary of the deliberations of a primary school teacher concerning her use of an "apprenticeship approach" to beginning reading instruction. States that it is the teacher's role to use a child's pleasure in a book as a key to the development of reading skills. (RS)

Suggests that remedial reading teachers deemphasize skill building in favor of reading aloud to children, replicating the experience of children raised in a book-reading family. (AEA)

The progress, development, and evaluation of the Writing to Read computer program developed by John Henry Martin are detailed in the three sections of this paper. Describing the program as a writing-to-read system that relies initially on children's phonetic spelling--letting the sounds uttered be coded without attention to the inconsistencies of…

Stressing the importance of understanding child development, this paper first describes the writing of several children in a kindergarten class who represent various levels of emerging literacy. Based on the descriptions of classroom activities, the paper argues that with a developmental perspective the teacher can build instruction on what the…