In order to understand teachers' perceptions of their school, students, and community, a questionnaire was administered to 125 teachers in the Canutillo (Texas) school district and 25 teachers in the adjacent Anthony (Texas) school district. The questionnaire elicited information of teachers' perception with regard to content knowledge, classroom…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Phonemic Awareness and Phonics module clarifies that skilled readers are accurate and automatic decoders (i.e., they have the alphabetic principle). Phonics instruction must empower all…

This kit presents the "Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing (LiPS) Program for Reading, Spelling, and Speech," a program designed to promote the development of an oral-motor, visual, and auditory feedback system that enables all students, including students with learning disabilities, to prove the identity, number, and order of phonemes in…

Analysis of research on reading instruction for children with moderate mental retardation indicated that word analysis instruction is a feasible option; word analysis is the most effective method of oral reading error correction; and the strongest sight-word instruction methods include those that use picture integration, constant delay, and the…

Elementary learning-disabled boys (N=48) were randomly assigned to four feedback treatment conditions that involved orally reading nonsense words. Results demonstrated significant differences for: any type of feedback compared to no feedback, corrective feedback (modeling and sound-it-out) compared to general feedback, and modeling compared to…

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…

Explores and enumerates best practice in the upper elementary and middle grades regarding word identification, including phonics and other subskills. Identifies 16 word identification strategies to attain eventual comprehension, including focusing on consonants, word sorting, chunking, and word building. Identifies less effective strategies such…

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…

Examined the joint and unique predictive significance of emergent literacy skills for later emergent literacy skills and reading in two samples of preschoolers. Structural equation modeling revealed significant developmental continuity of these skills, particularly for letter knowledge and phonological sensitivity from late preschool to early…

This article discusses different approaches to reading instruction for EFL learners based on theoretical frameworks. The author starts with the bottom-up approach to reading instruction, and briefly explains phonics and behaviorist ideas that inform this instructional approach. The author then explains the top-down approach and the new cognitive…

Intended to discourage classroom reading teachers from relying on "phonics instruction" as a remedy for students' inadequate reading performance, this pamphlet presents reasons why phonics drills should not be taught at all in the classroom and offers a set of practical phonic awareness activities to help poor readers overcome reading…

Twenty first grade children were videotaped during their first six weeks of learning to read in a study of the modified synthetic phonics program and the four progressive stages of oral reading behavior (emergence, contextual, nonresponse, and postresponse). The approach used by the teacher emphasized learning new words through the concurrent…

Twenty-four first-graders who were taught reading skills using the "Language Basics: Elementary" program, which incorporates the Orton-Gillingham-based Alphabetic Phonics Method, made statistically significant gains in phonological awareness, decoding, and reading comprehension. Thirty-two controls taught with the Houghton-Mifflin Basal…

This What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) topic report addresses reading interventions for students in grades K-3, including core reading curricula, programs, or products to be used as supplements to other reading instruction, programs that focus on staff development, and literacy software. The WWC review on beginning reading focuses on programs…

This book is designed to give parents and teachers of children with Down syndrome and other developmental delays an alternative reading program. The program is based on a functional, language-experience approach which attempts to compensate for common deficits in auditory memory and verbal skills. The seven chapters of Part 1 describe how children…