The application of learning styles to the teaching of reading to students with reading disabilities is critiqued in light of four factors: (1) inability to adequately assess learning styles; (2) failure to acknowledge the necessity of phonics instruction for beginning readers; (3) failure to consider the nature of reading disabilities; and (4)…

Ideas of educational psycholinguists Frank Smith and Kenneth Goodman can be combined with the ideas presented in current basal reader manuals to help teachers teach reading more effectively. Since reading and speaking are parallel processes, teachers may invite children to "read" with them, hearing the melody of language as they point to…

A sampling of over 100 ideas submitted by elementary school teachers at the Idea Exchange at the annual meetings of the National Council of Teachers of English are contained in this collection of teaching tips. The first chapter, "Getting to Know Each Other," includes games to help students learn each other's names, directions for making a…

The instruction provided by two beginning reading programs (the Ginn 720 and the Palo Alto 1973 reading programs) are analyzed and compared in this paper on the basis of such factors as phoneme-grapheme correspondence and phonics instruction, sight word learning, and the development of reading comprehension. The comparison focuses primarily on the…

Offered as a guide to the teaching of reading and the development of reading skills, this publication provides information on assessment, teaching methods, and published resource materials and is directed to elementary school teachers and reading specialists. The ten chapters include information on the stages of reading, reading readiness, the…

Investigation and coordination of research on various aspects of the reading process were the first purposes of Project Literacy. These programs in their various stages of development have been reported in nine issues of the Project Literacy Reports which are now available from ERIC. The development of a first-grade reading program was started…

This book is a collection of materials, activities, and suggestions for the teaching of beginning and developmental reading. Chapter 1, "The Problem," discusses the importance of early identification of children with possible reading problems, the reading program, and remedial teaching. Chapter 2, "A Selection of Reading Games and Activities,"…

Relationships existing between elements of intelligence, age, and environment and meaningfulness of materials were examined along with the hypothesis that an increase in meaningfulness of materials would cause the mean difference in learning scores for different intelligence levels to first increase, then decrease. In a paired-associate task,…

A special reading system was developed for elementary school children learning to read for the first time in their second language, English. This paper describes the reading system and traces its success over a four-year period as measured through standardized testing instruments. (Author)

Reading aloud to children is the most important step towards making a child a reader. It exposes them to print and excites their curiosity through intriguing story lines. Parents play an enormous role in this aspect of reading development, because it begins long before a child is in school. In the beginning of school, teachers spend time assessing…

In classrooms where all children become readers, teachers offer phonics, structured reading lessons, literature reading, story reading, and writing. Learning to read is influenced by frequent reading, knowledgeable teachers, writing, and discussing books. Parents can promote reading by providing language-rich environments, reading aloud, playing…

In response to a legislative mandate to teach phonics, a rural North Carolina school district devised a plan where at-risk children received small-group instruction in phonics, reading, writing, and spelling in addition to regular reading instruction. A local university trained teacher assistants to implement the plan. Reading, writing, and…

A study examined the relationship between reading instruction method, sex of learner, word learning proficiency and reading achievement in the first grade. Subjects were 78 males and 88 females chosen from two white, middle class suburban schools, one having a sight vocabulary instruction program, the other a phonic basal program. Students were…

A creative visualization approach to spelling and word recognition has been tried successfully with both adults and children. Unlike the traditional phonic approach to spelling, which is a left brain, analytical approach, the creative visualization approach uses the right brain. In addition, the approach eliminates the unpleasant associations with…

The Distar and Open Court reading programs illustrate contrasting definitions and emphases of reading instruction that are part of a larger concern--how children are expected to use their literacy skills. Both programs teach phonics, but they define phonics in different ways. Each relies on teacher-directed group instruction, but Open Court was…