Outlines the story of one first-grade student's successful struggle with learning to read. (MD)

Compares a traditional basal approach with a guided reading approach. Demonstrates that the fundamental difference between the two approaches lies in pitching instruction to the child's literacy level and the need for dynamic grouping of children for instruction. Gives a Vygotskian perspective of the transactions that occur between the teacher and…

Presents the 38 most common phonograms (rhymes or word families) in rank order based on frequency. Notes that these 38 phonograms with added beginning consonants can make 654 different one-syllable words, and that teaching phonograms can be a definite help in teaching students to decode and thus to read and write better. (SR)

Presents a step-by-step method for teaching difficult function words to slower readers. (FL)

Examines the effectiveness of strategy training for younger readers. Discusses strategies for development of comprehension, including making predictions (both before and during reading), question generating, and summarization. Offers examples of how these strategies can be embedded through literature-circle discussions and gives a suggested…

Reviews the philosophy of the language experience approach to reading instruction and presents a condensation of a lesson that was developed in a basic reading class. (RB)

Presents five basic decoding patterns which can be applied in a linguistic approach to teaching reading or spelling. (JM)

Three unjustified assumptions are often made about young beginners in reading: they all are acquainted with books and reading, the children and the teacher are thinking in the same terms when each talks about reading, and children understand the technical terms of literacy. Reading authorities refer to this lack of understanding of what the…

Shared reading involves reading aloud, making a variety of print materials available, and promoting positive attitudes toward literacy. Shared reading experience simulates the bedtime reading experience. It is a happy, secure situation that invites participation by children. Shared reading materials often use enlarged print which allows every…

Focuses on the development of and research into well-articulated models of reading fluency instruction that make fluency an integral part of the regular reading curriculum. Brings to light ways in which reading fluency instruction can be made an important part of and an achievable goal for the general reading curriculum. (SR)

A combination of case study observation and mini-experimentation techniques were used to examine a number of issues of relevance in the study of the acquisition of beginning reading skills. Six children were divided equally among three instructional modes: phonics, whole word, and mixed. They were asked to decode and encode words, and their…

Proper application of the alphabetic principle rests on an awareness of the internal phonological (and morphophonological) structure of words that the alphabet represents. Unfortunately for the would-be reader-writer, such awareness is not an automatic consequence of speaking a language, because the biological specialization for speech manages the…

Discusses the importance of reading aloud to young children. Suggests several books for reading aloud at the elementary level. (MM)

Numerous controversies pertain to the psychology and pedagogy of reading. Among the more important controversies are questions pertaining to the existence of a hierarchy of reading subskills and the advisability of using a subskill approach. Several influential writers have warned that when the process of learning to read is fractionated into…

The purpose of this study was to examine the interrelationships among five measures of aided reading comprehension (reading to each subject while he silently reads or follows along), intelligence, and three measures of cognitive style variables in first grade children. Thirty-four first graders, 13 boys and 21 girls, served as subjects. It was…