Examines computer modeling of the reading process and the instructional technology of basals, the two pillars of Marilyn Adams text, "Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print." Explains why the author believes Adams is fundamentally wrong in her theoretical approach to reading instruction. (MG)

Interviews Marilyn Jager Adams about her book "Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print." Discusses the critical issues of phonics versus whole language and what she hopes teachers will gain from the book. (MG)

This interview with Dr. Michael Pressley discusses the hurdles that struggling readers confront when comprehending text, teaching methods that can be used for improving reading comprehension, the role of special educators and reading specialists in the education of struggling readers, and the need for teachers to teach reading comprehension…

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…

Advocates of high standards and expectations usually believe that gaps in reading achievement can be eliminated with good teaching, but slow readers need a specially designed reading curriculum. The teacher first needs to use an informal reading inventory to determine the student's reading level. Functioning generally on a higher level than…

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…

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,…

The years when a young child's language skills are "exploding" are the years between three and five. What can make a dramatic difference in a child's life is if parents take a few minutes a day to read to him or her. Reading to a child helps him or her become a successful reader. The child develops a sense of phonics and learns that stories have a…

This article proposes that meaning and form (the sound-letter correspondences) are both important in beginning reading, but that initially they should be taught separately. Support for this position is provided, and a two-stage model of preliteracy development is offered, with the first stage emphasizing meaning and the second stage emphasizing…

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…

This interview with Dr. Candace Bos, a professor of special education at the University of Arizona, discusses the need for informed, flexible teaching when working with students with learning disabilities, and the importance of addressing phonological awareness, decoding and fluency, comprehension, and content area reading. (CR)

It is upon a positive literature-based foundation that educators must build excellent curriculum and teaching strategies. It is the job of educators to be trained to integrate the concepts of whole language and direct phonetic instruction so children have the advantage of both schools of thought, to be aware of how children learn most efficiently,…

There is continuous debate about which word recognition techniques should be taught, especially to early primary grade pupils. All learning activities provided in reading instruction should: (1) be meaningful; (2) have perceived purpose; (3) be interesting; (4) stress understandings, skills, and affective goals; (5) provide for individual…

Focusing on phonograms and generalizations about phonics, this paper presents a comprehensive letter-sound study. The first chapter discusses the phonogram component of phonics, the Arthur Gates study of phonograms in l928, the phonics generalizations studies of the l960s, and the lack of a comprehensive study of the letter-sound relationship. The…