This study examined differences in oral reading strategies of 60 first-grade students attending school in two comparable Texas districts. One district provided beginning reading instruction through an eclectic basal approach; the second taught reading using a phonic emphasis approach. The Reading Miscue Inventory was used to analyze oral reading…

This discussion on spelling and phonics focuses on beginning reading vocabulary (phonology and graphemics of high utility words), factors in word perception (their recognition in teaching word perception skills), premises and principles of phonics (their relation to curriculum content and to methods), phonic rules or spelling patterns (their…

Controversies over the best way to teach word recognition in beginning reading instruction have raged for generations. The goal has been to acquire automatic skills for recoding written language into speech. At this time, a popular theory suggests that phonics is better than the look-and-say method; however the evidence does not support this…

When it is determined, as a result of testing or informal diagnosis, that a student is deficient in a particular reading skill, this taxonomy can help teacher and student together to select from a choice of materials, at the appropriate reading level, to correct the deficiency. The taxonomy is divided into five basic categories: beginning reading,…

This program, included in "Effective Reading Programs...," is designed to minimize initial difficulties in learning to read, to control early reading and word attack habits, and to meet a wide range of individual differences. Begun in 1966, the program serves an unselected cross-section of children in 110 kindergarten through third-grade…

The topic of illiteracy in the United States is discussed by five people in this transcript of "Options on Education." These five, each of whom approaches illiteracy in a different way, are George Weber, Associate Director of the Council for Basic Education; Mike Smith, Director for Essential Skills of the National Institute of…

The three main purposes for this study were (1) to determine what phonic generalizations were being taught in grade 1 in four of the leading basal reading series; (2) to determine the degree of utility of each generalization within the framework of the grade in which it was presented, after the initial presentation; and (3) to set up a comparative…

The investigation was concerned with the class of grapheme-phoneme correspondence called spelling patterns and was intended to broaden empirical understanding of grapheme-phoneme correspondences used in teaching initial reading. Twenty-five boys and 47 girls from three moderate-ability first grade classes were chosen as subjects. These students…

A lexicon of approximately 9,000 words classified into levels from kindergarten to grade 3 was compiled as a base for studying the spelling-to-sound correspondences needed in beginning reading. The spelling-to-sound correspondences were established for 69 grapheme units, resulting in a total of 166 correspondences for the one- and Two-syllable…

Concludes that spelling-trained kindergarten children learned to read a set of words more effectively than controls. Argues that their greater success was not because they had learned to sound out and blend words, but rather because they had become better at phonetic cue reading. (FL)

Noting that early reading achievement is increasingly being named as a top priority in venues ranging from national policy arenas to local schools and school districts, this book consolidates and summarizes research on early reading achievement, making it accessible to parents, teachers, administrators, and others concerned with children's reading…

Phonetic content/handwriting instruction begins by teaching the sounds of, and letter formation for the 70 "Orton" phonograms which are the commonly-used correct spelling patterns for the 45 sounds of English speech. The purpose for teaching the sound/symbol relationship first in isolation, without key words or pictures (explicitly), is to give…

This book about reading tracks and questions the 30-year campaign that has focused on testing, accountability, and federalization of education to demonstrate that it is not just whole language advocates who are having problems with the National Reading Panel report and the new education laws. The book gathers together a comprehensive collection of…

This paper urges primary grade teachers to be certain that pupils are off to a good start in reading. A fundamental goal of beginning reading instruction should be to move each child toward the understanding that readers reconstruct texts by using multiple strategies to interpret the language encoded in print and, at the same time, to make it…