Provides an alternative explanation of the divergent findings appearing in the literature on conceptual tempo and reading acquisition. (HOD)

In these three experiments with kindergartners, comparisons were made on subjects' acquisition of nouns under three conditions: no picture; picture related to word; and unrelated picture. It was concluded that pictures could be used with advantage, if the child was aware of the relationship between word and picture. (Author/SJL)

Short, sight-word vocabulary lists derived from the spontaneous speech of four different groups of children are compared with the vocabulary in six beginning reading series. Very high levels of agreement were found for function, but not for content, words. (JMF)

Shows two major handicaps in the anti-phonics movement which suggest that the future of the movement is doubtful: (1) the demonstrable weakness in both the theory and method of anti-phonics; (2) the increasing confidence that publishes and editors of widely used basal readers are placing in phonics. (BF/JH)

Considers how public opinion and entire theories of teaching reading are based in the false Just So story--Just Sound Out, and you can read. Explains why sounding out is a handicap. Suggests a better alternative, teaching by recognizing words. (SG)

The study compared the effectiveness and efficiency of concurrent and isolation-intermix instruction in teaching four preschool children to read common words in their environment. Concurrent instruction resulted in students learning conditional discriminations in fewer trials and minutes of instructional time suggesting the value of teaching…

Distinguishes four phases in the development of sight word reading: prealphabetic, partial alphabetic, full alphabetic, and consolidated alphabetic. Suggests that this system represents the regularities that underlie the written forms of English words that all learners must internalize to build a fully functioning sight vocabulary. (RS)

Two experiments were conducted to investigate possible deficiencies in strategies used for decoding words by 20 children (ages 20-12) with intellectual disabilities. Results indicated that subjects did not make use of information in words (specifically letter position cues) to aid in their identification, whereas beginning and experienced…

Suggests that the majority of poor readers are poor at discriminating similar letters/words and at letter recognition. Argues that general sensory perceptive training does not improve subsequent reading development but that specific letter/word training in discrimination and recognition has a favorable effect. (RS)

Provides convergent evidence of a developmental sequence in kindergartners' emerging knowledge of word: beginning consonant knowledge facilitates a child's concept of word in text, which in turn facilitates phoneme segmentation, which in turn facilitates word recognition. (SR)

Compares two views about the importance of environmental print in children's learning experiences. Assesses environmental print knowledge in non-reading preschool children and relates it to word recognition training. Finds words from the known logos were more readily learned than the matching control words, but only in Study 1 were the known logo…

Study uses predictable books to compare three reading treatments reflecting different components of a whole-to-part instructional model. In three first-grade classrooms, beginning readers working with isolated words in a modified word bank activity learned more words than when they worked with sentence strips. Discusses implications for the use of…

Examines beginning readers' reported word identification strategies for identifying unfamiliar words in text in relation to reading achievement, reading-related skills, and academic self-perceptions. Indicates that children who reported using word-based strategies showed superior reading and reading-related performance, and reported more positive…

Investigates first graders' use of analogy in word decoding. Finds students read more words correctly after exposure to analogous clue words, and a dictation task accounted for large proportion of variance on decoding of analogous words. Suggests results clarify previous research, specifically, the helpfulness of clue words in decoding by analogy…

In this study, we explored the relationship between beginning readers' phonological awareness and other aspects of phonological processing, specifically as manifested in short-term memory and comprehension tasks. The theoretical questions underlying the study were (a) what roles phonological processes play in children's beginning reading, from…