In literacy education, neuroscience research has been alluded to increasingly in work meant to substantiate cognitive models of the reading process related to text decoding and its instruction. As a result, this material tends to focus on early reading or reading disability and dyslexia (e.g., Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007; Shaywitz, 2003). It…

In this critique of current reading research and practice, the author contends that the extreme ambiguity of English spelling-sound correspondence has confined reading science to an insular, Anglocentric research agenda addressing theoretical and applied issues with limited relevance for a universal science of reading. The unique problems posed by…

In these days of increased testing and continued failure of inner-city and poor rural schools to meet the grade, it is becoming more and more necessary to turn to the public library to help students reach the ever-increasing goals being set for them. It seems somewhat unfair to hold the schools solely responsible for continued failure when the…

Describes the development of one child's awareness of print and the stages he passed through while learning to read from birth to age two. (FL)

Argues that although Feitelson, Tehori, and Levinberg-Green raise important questions about early education in general and early reading instruction in particular, one major question remains to be answered: What sort of programs should group settings for young children provide? (MP)

Media reports are rife with claims that students in the United States are overtested and that they and their education are suffering as result. Here I argue the opposite--that students would benefit in numerous ways from more frequent assessment, especially of diagnostic testing. The regular assessment of students serves critical educational and…

An interview with David Olson concerning his current research on the relation between the oral conversational language of preschool children and the formalized language of written texts. (RAE)

Describes several techniques that enable parents to prepare their preschool children for the actual process of learning how to read that they will encounter when they enter school. (FL)

Outlines environmental factors associated with early reading, and describes an environmental framework which is conducive to learning to read. (CM)

Reviews the conception of early literacy acquisition as a social-cognitive activity, sketches the evolution of phonemic awareness, and discusses how psychological research might contribute to understanding and applying this construct. The paper suggests the importance of synergy between previously warring factions and highlights the need for…

This article comments on the discussion of S. A. Storch and G. J. Whitehurst's literacy development model in the article by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN). Specifically, this comment focuses on concerns raised by the NICHD ECCRN that Storch and Whitehurst's model does…

This report chronicles the record of the Reading First program as a research-based approach to teaching children to read, from early successes as a strict program whose funding would be distributed to states and districts using reading curricula whose effectiveness had been validated by scientific study, to one of eased eligibility that permitted…

Takes issue with articles appearing in "Reading Teacher" entitled "Portrait of My Son as an Early Reader." Argues that parents who teach their children to read at an early age may neglect or overlook other essentials of their physical, emotional, and social growth. (FL)

Discusses research and instances of children learning to read and or write in the home without formal instruction, tracing the development of such natural literacy. Argues that literacy is primarily a social process, involving both teaching and learning. (HTH)

Answers to two parents and a gifted fourth grader are given by two educators on questions of peer acceptance, a three-year-old who is reading, and communication skills. (CL)