US government mandates to implement intensive phonics instruction in elementary classrooms invoke an alleged scientific superiority of this approach over more meaning-centered models. But curiously absent from this scientific enterprise is a study of the phonics system itself. Advocates of intensive phonics have not demonstrated that the commonly…

Investigates the nature of the spelling lag existing in the development of English spelling in early French immersion students. Results reveal in grade three a tendency to employ French orthography to spell English words, a tendency that increases as words become less familiar. By grade eight, this tendency diminishes greatly but remains evident…

Intended to answer questions from practicing teachers, concerned parents, and college students about the sounds and spelling patterns of English, this book presents an overview of the structure of written words that shows readers how the sounds of English are paired with their spelling patterns. The book delineates the task of decoding written…

Comparison of Italian and English-speaking children's (N=200) segmentation abilities indicated that the discrepancies between the language groups reflected the children's phonologic and orthographic differences. (CB)

Compares the phonetically regular orthography of Spanish with the phonetic inconsistencies of English. Reports on the role of phonics in six popular Spanish reading programs. Notes that the regularity of the Spanish language is compatible with the use of systematic phonics for reading instruction. (MM)

This book addresses the problems of reading and the teaching of reading in the United States, where 43% of children test below grade level in reading and 42 million adults are functionally illiterate. The book contends that both the whole language approach and phonics are not viable methods of teaching reading and explains why. It argues that the…

AS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE LEARNING PROCESS AND OF THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF SPOKEN AND WRITTEN AMERICAN-ENGLISH INCREASES, SPELLING INSTRUCTION IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IS UNDERGOING A DRASTIC CHANGE. RECENT RESEARCH HAS REVEALED A BASIC LOGIC BEHIND THE SOUND-TO-LETTER RELATIONSHIP HITHERTO THOUGHT TO BE HAPHAZARD. BASED ON THE PREMISE THAT…

In order to determine whether bilingual (Spanish/English) readers of English are less efficient in using language cues than are monolinguals (English), the Reading Miscue Inventory (RMI) was used to analyze the reading performances of 60 subjects--ten bilinguals and ten monolinguals each in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. Subjects read orally at…