This paper presents three viewpoints of the coding of language in English spelling: the classical view (that letters are a code for phonemes but that English spelling contains much irregularity), the revolutionary position (that letters do not code phonemes at all), and the eclectic view (that English spelling does code phonemes but that it also…

This article discusses an aspect of the process of learning to read and write which has received little attention, that is, the ability of children to recognize and to distinguish clearly the sounds which correspond to the individual letters within each word. (Text is in Italian.) (CFM)

Phonetic content/handwriting instruction begins by teaching the sounds of, and letter formation for the 70 "Orton" phonograms which are the commonly-used correct spelling patterns for the 45 sounds of English speech. The purpose for teaching the sound/symbol relationship first in isolation, without key words or pictures (explicitly), is to give…

Investigated factors that predicted variability in responses to analytic and synthetic phonemic awareness training with kindergartners living in poverty. Found that spelling skills were the most consistent predictor of variability in phonemic awareness in response to instruction. Amount of exposure children had to the intervention contributed to…

Describes an action research project carried out by a kindergarten teacher as she incorporated phonemic awareness activities into the daily classroom routine. Discusses classroom activities, how she developed data collection processes, and how her data analysis showed systematic student growth in literacy and enthusiasm. (SR)

A study of 20 multiple birth children (MBC) (ages 7-8) and 20 controls found MBC performed significantly more poorly on some tasks of phonological processing, and early phonological skills of MBC were correlated with poor performance on visual rhyme recognition, word repetition, and phoneme detection tasks five years later. (Author/CR)

Positive long-term effects of phoneme awareness training in kindergarten were found in this study with children of dyslexic parents. Thirty-five at-risk children (attending 26 different classes) participated in an intensive 17-week program in their regular kindergarten classes designed to help them improve in phoneme awareness. Follow-up measures…

Recent national developments in the teaching of literacy in the early years in the UK mean that teachers need to have explicit fluent knowledge of the sound structure of the language and its relationship to orthography in order to teach reading effectively. In this study, a group of 38 graduate trainee primary teachers were given a pencil and…

Details study of 45 phonics generalizations written from a spelling perspective, 43 of which met a 75 percent or greater reliability usage level. Discusses a rationale for findings, which differ from past usage studies; instructional implications of the analysis; the movement toward word study; and the importance of teacher knowledge about the…

Components of first-grade intervention programs that addressed oral language and listening comprehension instruction within an intensive literacy intervention for native Spanish-speaking students struggling with reading difficulties are described. Findings for the intervention are based on 4 large-scale experimental studies (published elsewhere)…

Federal legislation mandates that local education agencies provide quality, evidence-based supplemental educational services to struggling learners. Nowhere is this more salient than in underperforming schools serving children from low-income backgrounds who are at risk for developing learning problems. The study described in this article…

An investigation was conducted into the visual and auditory temporal processing profiles of two groups of 4- to 6-year-old children: "pre-alphabetic" children, who showed no alphabetic ability (failing to read any non-words in a test), and those who demonstrated some alphabetic ability. This "alphabetic" group showed higher scores in reading and…

Research suggests that development of the alphabetic principle is a critical factor in learning to recognize words and becoming a successful reader. The alphabetic principle encompasses both the understanding that relationships exist between letters and sounds and the application of these relationships to reading words. This study investigated the…

Background: Both academic research and educational policy have focused on the diverse language resources of young schoolchildren. African American Language (AAL) in particular has a rich history of scholarship that both documents its historical evolution and sociolinguistic complexity and reveals the persistent lack of knowledge about AAL in our…

In the Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) Beginning Reading Program, vowels are color-coded so that different spellings, representing a single vowel sound, maintain some feature in common. Such color-coding imposes a structure which effectively reduces the uncertainty in associating visually different stimuli with a similar oral…