A group test and individual interviews were employed to investigate the relative size of the reading and listening vocabularies of 216 elementary readers at 3 age and ability levels, the depth of students' understanding of words, and the effectiveness of 2 word lists in identifying words that students don't know. (IAH)

Two intermediate elementary grade level learning disabled students deficient in reading skills participated in a study to explore the efficacy of utilizing a token reinforcement program combined with behavioral contracting to increase the acquisition rate of sight vocabulary. Word recognition behavioral data were collected by measuring the time…

To test three hypotheses concerning fingerspelling's contribution to word recognition, 24 deaf children in three age groups (7-9, 10-12, and 13-15 years) were administered a vocabulary recognition test and a lexical decision task. Subjects' performance was measured by the number of words accurately identified and the response latency. Results did…

The study involving 32 learning disabled elementary school students evaluated the effect of applying a mastery learning model to sight word instruction. Ss were taught 30 sight words in nine lessons over a period of 3 weeks. Lessons incorporated the following remedial principles: limiting the size of the teaching unit, giving discrimination…

Recognition and retention of high imagery nouns was significantly better than for low imagery nouns for both retarded and nonretarded Ss. Between-group differences were not observed except for delay recall. (Author)

After examining how Dolch developed his list of 220 basic sight words and identifying major criticisms of this list, the author reports two studies undertaken to revise the Dolch list. Five advantages of the revised Dolch list over the original are identified and discussed. The revised list is included. (Editor/SJL)

There is a significant relation between the ability to spell words and an understanding of their meaning. (JD)

Recent research on developmental dyslexia has suggested a phonological core deficit hypothesis (e.g., Manis, Seidenberg, Doi, McBride-Chang, & Peterson, 1996; Stanovich, Siegel, & Gottardo, 1997) whereby pure cases of developmental phonological dyslexia (dysfunctional phonetic decoding processing but normal sight vocabulary processing) can exist,…

Numerous instructional techniques have been used to teach sight word reading skills to individuals with developmental disabilities. The results of research incorporating paired associate instruction, in which familiar pictures are paired with unknown print stimuli, suggest that pictures ''block'' (i.e., interfere with) learners' ability to…

The study involving 11 reading disabled and 9 normal elementary school children evaluated the relative efficacy of practice with feedback on accuracy and practice with feedback on both accuracy and response rate related to response speed on word reading performance. Ss were exposed to randomized blocks of 10 high frequency words and 20 words which…

Five well-known spelling/reading lists were analyzed to create a new list of high-priority spelling words. Words found on at least three of the five lists were included to create Kinsey's 119 Most Common Words list. (Tables are included showing lists on which the words appear.) (TJ)

Two autistic children (5 and 13 years old) acquired functional sight-word reading skills in a play activity. Ss gained access to preferred toys by selecting toy labels in tasks requiring increasingly complex visual discriminations. Ss showed comprehension on probes requiring reading skills to locate toys stored in labeled boxes. (Author/CL)

This study reports the results of a peer-mediated intervention, total class peer tutoring, on the academic performance of six urban students at risk for reading failure. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to evaluate the effects of this intervention. The results showed that five of the six students significantly increased their…

This study was designed to rank the first 100 words of the "Great Atlantic and Pacific Sight Word List" according to learnability. The differences in the learnability rankings of the words due to the sex of the subject and the relationship between the learnability and frequency rankings of the words were also examined. Subjects in the study were…

Discusses the construction and testing of The Extended Basic Sight Vocabulary word list. Concludes that it provides educators with a unique instrument for the teaching and testing of words and for the preparation of instructional materials. Includes the word list. (FL)