Comparison of 80 beginning first graders, half receiving phonics instruction and half receiving whole word instruction, found, for both groups, those above grade level in reading excelled in phonological recoding and application of grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules while those below grade level applied visual-orthographic knowledge more than…

This study with 12 2nd- and 3rd-grade students with mild disabilities compared memory for new reading words following instructional sessions in which either word meaning or phonic cues were emphasized. The phonic instruction resulted in a greater number of words remembered either within sentences or on word lists. (Author/DB)

This study compared the effectiveness of reading instruction at the onset-rime level, phoneme level, and whole word level with 48 first graders. Both phoneme and onset-rime groups were significantly more accurate than whole word groups, and there was a tendency for the onset-rime group to outperform all other groups. (Author/DB)

Comparison of "Distar Reading Mastery" and Addison Wesley's "Superkids" beginning reading programs with 81 children in transitional kindergarten special education classes found no significant differences at the end of the treatment year or at one-year follow-up. However, among children making the most gains, the Distar group…

Reports on a study of the relationship of both phonemic and musical sound discrimination to reading ability among 18 British first graders. Finds that discrimination of musical sounds is related to music performance but that the influential factor is a specific awareness of pitch changes. (CFR)

A study examined the hypothesis that if young children are immersed in a social and psychological setting appropriate for language learning they can learn to write simply by writing. Placed in a supportive classroom environment, 24 first grade students were expected to communicate in writing in any way they could from their first day at school.…