Reading is a skill--learning how the alphabet works by using it. Learning how to do it involves practice in building letters into words. As the decoding process is practiced, phonics moves into long-term storage. Building the skill of reading has the same 4 aspects as developing other skills: (1) the beginner uses the motion of his vocal organs to…

Intended for the use of teachers or diagnosticians, this booklet presents charts that list various phonic patterns, word families, or "rimes" associated with specific vowel patterns. Lists in the booklet are arranged according to the 14 basic vowel phonemes in English (including long a, long e, long i, long aw, short ah, and short u).…

Suggests methods for improving blending skills and includes a review of the research on blending. (RB)

Compares two major methods for teaching phonics. (RB)

Concludes that monosyllabic words are easier for beginning readers to read than are polysyllabic words and that children just learning to read should be taught phonics skills with monosyllabic words. (RB)

Forty-five phonic generalizations were applied to 5,431 words selected from six spelling programs. Also examined was the grade level at which each generalization was introduced; and the applicability of phonic generalizations to the spelling vocabulary was compared to the applicability of the generalizations to reading vocabularies as determined…

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

It is time educators examined their phonics teaching practices and materials. (Author)

Reviews the literature on phonic generalizations and presents a formula measuring the usefulness of word recognition, concluding that further research is needed. (RB)

Reviews research findings that suggest the importance of systematic phonics instruction in beginning reading. Cites arguments against phonics teaching and indicates that they appear unsupportable since they are incompatible with research findings and since they make unwarrantedly negative accusations about the kind of teaching that must be used in…

Finds evidence for a relationship between children's ability to use word recognition generalizations and their reading achievement, although they may not need to be able to verbalize those generalizations. (Author/FL)

Concludes that children in grades two through six can learn sound-symbol relationships even though they cannot define phonics terms or give examples of them. (DD)

Criticizes a study by Joseph Fusaro published in a previous issue of this journal (see EJ 171 388), saying that it was not based on a realistic expectation that certain knowledge ought to be present among the subjects, that the procedure was not logically consistent, and that aspects of universality were unjustifiably inferred. (TJ)

Discusses the phonics v whole-word controversy in the teaching of reading and defends the use of the phonics approach for certain purposes. (DD)