Examines how the organization and content of basal reading programs may influence reading instruction. Concludes that: (1) basal programs differ in organizational complexity; (2) they differ in influence on the assignment and reading of material; (3) they emphasize skills; and (4) instructors rely on basal teaching guides to differing degrees. (RS)

Analyzes word recognition instruction in four first-grade classrooms. Finds that: differential instruction may be helpful in first grade; children who enter first grade with low literacy benefit from early and heavy exposure to phonics; and a structured phonics curriculum that includes both onsets and rimes and sounding and blending phonemes…

This document summarizes 599 reports of reading research published between 1 July 1975 and 30 June 1976. The research studies are categorized in six major areas, four of which have been subcategorized. The majority of studies reported were classified in the area of the physiology and psychology of reading. Large subdivisions under that major…

Examines the word-reading strategies of a sample of second- and third-grade students in normal classrooms, focusing on the students' relative reliance on decoding versus sight-word associations. Suggests that lack of efficient decoding skills will begin to take a toll on reading comprehension by grade 3. (SR)

An extensive case history of instructional environment and acquisition of reading skills by 50 first-grade students in ten classrooms indicates that the rate at which students mastered decoding depended on classroom instruction with direct instruction appearing most profitable for children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. (MKM)

Summarizes 554 reports of reading research, categorized into six major areas: summaries of reading research, teacher preparation and practice, sociology of reading, physiology and psychology of reading, teaching of reading, and reading of atypical learners. (AA)

Investigates differences in performance on a task involving judgments of word-likeness between a group of reading-disabled children and normal readers matched to them either in reading level or age. Shows that although the knowledge of orthographic structure of reading-disabled children matches that of younger normal readers, reading-disabled…

Examines the relationship between children's reading performance and their use of cohesion in writing. Finds that good readers achieved significantly more complex cohesive harmony in their writing than poor readers, who made significantly more inappropriate use of cohesive devices. Concludes that knowledge of cohesion is related to children's…

Investigates how a computer-based instructional intervention (creating multimedia reviews of books) might increase fourth and fifth graders' independent reading. Finds that the success of the intervention was related to the mediating effects of using technology, changes in the interactions among students and teachers, and students' engagement in…

Investigates the effect of vocabulary-based and generative-reciprocal inference procedure (GRIP) training on third grade readers' comprehension. Reports that the GRIP group outperformed control and basal inference groups on various inferential transfer tasks, indicating that strategies which help students attend to text clues aid in making…

Discusses some current concepts of the laterality/reading relationship. An overview of Samuel T. Orton's hypotheses of cerebral dominance and "strephosymbolia" is provided, and both visual half-field and dichotic listening studies as direct, empirical tests of laterality are discussed. (MKM)

Presents results of tested theoretical models of the development of print concepts and word reading. Indicates that children expand their knowledge in each of the following print components with age: print, graphic awareness, phonemic awareness, grapheme-phoneme correspondence knowledge, and word reading components. (NKA)

Investigates the effectiveness of a hierarchical summary procedure used after reading social studies material. Concludes that the procedure enhanced students' recall for relatively unfamiliar, but not relatively familiar, social studies text and had a positive effect on the quality of their expository writing. (FL)

Examines a program in Denmark that uses metalinguistic games and exercises to stimulate preschool children's discovery of the phonological structure of language. Concludes that phonological awareness can be developed outside the context of the acquisition of an alphabetic writing system, and that this awareness facilitates subsequent reading and…

Evaluates and compares English graphophonic and word knowledge of anglophone children in French immersion (FI) programs with those of children in regular English (ENG) classrooms. Reveals no differences between the FI and ENG children in kindergarten, but ENG students scored higher at the end of Grades 1 and 2 on most measures. (NKA)