Investigates the validity of the assumption that prerequisite skills to reading competence have been identified; presents a study based on student test scores and a survey of teachers' evaluations of these students. (Survey responses are appended.) (MAI)

Learning disabled and behaviorally disordered third and fourth grade students were taught test taking skills such as attending to appropriate stimuli, marking answers carefully, using time well, and avoiding errors. These students scored significantly higher than their untrained peers on the Word Study Skills subtest of the Stanford Achievement…

Describes semantic mapping, an effective strategy for vocabulary instruction that involves the categorical structuring of information in graphic form and requires students to relate new words to their own experience and prior knowledge. (HOD)

Creative ways of teaching alphabetizing, spelling, identifying parts of speech, and using reference works are offered. (DF)

This study explored the nature of dictionary instruction in several basal reading series. Three basal reading series from major academic publishers (Scott Foresman, Ginn, and Holt) with 1989 copyrights, were selected for detailed analysis. Results indicated that even where the professed aim of the basal reading series was to incorporate dictionary…

This phonics outline is designed as a guide for parents, as a manual for teachers, and as a handbook for those who wish to improve their reading pronunciation skills. The purposes of the handbook are: (1) to show parents what a person needs to know to become a good reader; (2) to provide a convenient source of words that follow rules of phonics;…

The reading games presented in this book involve listening, speaking, writing, and reading and can help students to develop positive attitudes toward working with words to increase their vocabularies, and to be motivated to read. The book describes a variety of activities designed to stimulate student curiosity and suggests ways of using these…

The Wisconsin Prototypic System of Reading Skill Development is described. The sequential arrangement of behavioral objectives in the word attack component is discussed. Basic linguistic concepts underlying the specification of these behavioral objectives are also considered. (Author)

The purpose of this study was to determine if differences existed between second- and fifth-grade students' word recognition errors, and if differences existed between the word attack strategies utilized by them. Using the Informal Reading Inventory, a random sample of twenty-five second graders and twenty-five fifth graders was taken from three…

This report describes field test activities for the Wisconsin Design for Reading Skill Development and for CEMREL's Aesthetic Education Program. The word attack element of the Design was implemented in schools in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia in the 1970-71 school year. The analysis of progress in word attach and other reading skills of children…

Lists 38 ways to more effective teaching of word attack skills. (MKM)

Describes a procedure for teachers to follow when engaging in diagnostic testing in reading. Presents a method for analyzing word recognition samples relative to applied information in word attack skills. (FL)

Offers suggestions from six contributors regarding a variety of classroom activities, including the use of high interest-low vocabulary books with gifted and average readers, an exercise in sequencing, a Halloween project to improve students' grammar, a technique to improve students' dictionary skills, and methods for helping students write books.…

This article details a strategy to help students work out unknown multi-syllabic words. The strategy encourages the student to apply phonics skills together with context skills when pronouncing an unknown word. The article includes suggestions for teaching the strategy, for providing daily practice in strategy use, and for adapting the strategy to…