This reader-friendly text examines the key foundational studies in early literacy. It addresses such essential questions as how research informs current practices and where the field still needs to go to provide the best learning opportunities for all children. Each chapter describes the methods and findings of one to five seminal studies,…

Explores how the preschool child identifies distortions which are similar to hand-drawn letters, and accounts for children's performance in recognizing such forms. (RB)

Reports on a study that examined patterns and interrelationships in the development of print awareness over the preschool years with results indicating that preschool children do not acquire such skills and concepts in a fixed order. (MKM)

This study, using the Visual Pattern Recognition Test for Prereading Skills, found that beginning readers improve in word recognition if they are given training in identifying essential components of letters. (HOD)

Investigates the development of word consciousness prior to first grade and the relationship between word consciousness and reading ability. Finds that word consciousness develops through gradual extension and refinement of concepts about and awareness of print, and that a strong relationship exists between word consciousness and beginning reading…

This handbook contains brief essays concerning aspects of reading and reading skills, activities designed to promote those skills, and biographies of reading specialists. The first section of the handbook discusses reading readiness, word recognition, word analysis, word meaning, comprehension, and content area reading. After discussion of each…

Effects of 2 types of oral language training programs on development of phonological awareness skills and word learning ability were examined for 48 kindergartners. Children receiving analytic and synthetic training improved significantly on both types of skills, but children receiving synthetic skills training alone improved only in blending…

The development of four-year-old children's knowledge of letters and printed words was studied to determine if preschool children begin reading, and if so, how. A natural hierarchy of knowledge was noted. (MKM)

The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate the metalinguistic knowledge children have acquired from their environment before formal instruction, and (2) to examine the relationship between evolving writing and reading behavior. Twenty middle-class children ranging in age from 4.1 years to 5.11 years were selected. The Goodman and Cox…

A study examined the interrelationship among print-related skills developed prior to formal reading instruction and social class differences in these skills in 33 middle-class and working-class children attending one of two high quality, reading-oriented kindergarten classes. Two hypotheses were generated: (1) that correlations would emerge among…

A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of predictable stories given to children from low-income families over a two-year period. Phase one subjects were all the children (N=52) from four Headstart classes; phase two subjects were all the children who had participated in phase 1 and who entered kindergarten after their last year in Headstart.…