A behavioral genetic analysis of general writing ability was conducted using teacher assessments based on UK National Curriculum criteria for a sample of 3296 same-sex pairs of 7-year-old twins. Writing was highly heritable within the normal range (0.66) and at the low extreme (0.70). Environmental influences were almost all non-shared, with…

"Reading Mastery," one of several curriculum components that constitute the "Direct Instruction" curriculum from SRA/McGraw-Hill, is designed to provide systematic instruction in reading to students in grades K-6. "Reading Mastery," which can be used as an intervention program for struggling readers, as a supplement…

THE FINAL REPORT OF A STUDY CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE (1) WHETHER CRITICAL READING SKILLS CAN BE TAUGHT TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN WHILE MAINTAINING PROGRESS IN OTHER BASIC READING SKILLS, (2) WHETHER THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CRITICAL READING ABILITY AND SUCH CHARACTERISTICS AS GENERAL READING ABILITY, INTELLIGENCE, AND PERSONALITY FACTORS,…

The Progress in Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) was developed to help improve the teaching of reading and the acquisition of reading skills around the world, and was approved by the IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) General Assembly as an essential component of the IEA's regular cycle of core studies,…

Words were taught, using picture cues and no-picture cues, to four elementary learning disabled students. Results in three of four cases indicated that illustrations were related to lower reading performance rates, leading to a conclusion that illustrations interfere with the acquisition of new words in isolation by disabled readers. (Author/CL)

Poor readers, good readers, and normal readers (N=15 each, 8 to 11 years old) referred for school problems shadowed single prose passages presented to one ear and competing prose passages presented simultaneously one to each ear. Results suggested that a specific attention deficit may account for poor readers' performance on verbal tasks. (Author)

In the author's experience, a significant source of reading difficulty for many beginning and struggling readers are misconceptions about print concepts so basic teachers assume their students are aware of them. Many children fail to grasp implicit principles of print such as the following: the reader cannot make up the words, the order of letters…

The SUMMER HOLIDAY was used as a device for holding steady the school-based variable in order to investigate a possible connection between pupils' home/neighbourhood backgrounds and their ability to retain reading skills. (Editor)

Two studies are reported in which the relationship between sound blending and auditory closure and reading performance (word analysis skills, oral reading, and silent reading) was explored in learning disabled youngsters (6 to 11 years old). (Author)

Presents seven issues in reading skills management. (DD)

The suggestions in this document are designed to help teachers do a better job of teaching reading. They include suggestions for setting up specific lesson objectives, teaching skills in a developmental sequence, developing lessons within a term- or year-long comprehensive plan of reading goals, conducting ongoing evaluation of pupils' skill…

Presents 21 ideas for teachers to consider in developing children's vocabulary. (MKM)

Suggests that elementary school students could benefit from Readers Theatre, a dramatic procedure in which the roles are read by individual performers without conventional staging. Readers Theatre is more formal than activities such as group reading or library playreading as students practice and interpret roles. Positive educational outcomes are…

Dictation provides practice in concentrated listening and understanding, increases the attention span, strengthens the memory, and provides training in accurate recording. (DD)

A study involving 18 dyslexic, 18 reading retarded, and 18 normal children (eight to 10 years old) concluded that, on anagram tasks, dyslexic Ss differed sharply from normal children in terms of quantity of answers, relationship between correct and incorrect answers, and strategies. (CL)