Compares British and Finnish reading instruction in the primary grades. (RB)

Students individually need to experience success in reading, be it a systematic approach in phonics or in whole language procedures. Quality action research, conducted within the local school/school system, needs to be conducted to notice which of these two procedures of reading instruction best meets student needs. Each student needs to achieve…

A study evaluated reaching achievement for three groups of first-grade students: (1) those receiving phonics instruction utilizing the "Open Court" phonics materials integrated with the District's language arts curriculum; (2) those receiving phonics instruction in the context of guided and shared reading activities ("Phonics in…

A study investigated the effectiveness of Emergent Reader Literacy Instruction (ERLI), an eclectic approach to teaching reading which incorporates phonics, basal texts, quality literature, and writing instruction through daily inclusion of guided reading, word wall/making words, self-directed reading, and writing. A preliminary investigation,…

A study compared the effects of a modified whole language approach with those obtained from a pure whole language approach on the decoding abilities of 20 kindergartners, assessed using Darrell Morris's Early Reading Screening Instrument. Subjects were selected from two similarly composed schools located in Albemarle County, Virginia. Ten students…

A study examined whether children learn phonic decoding skills by reading without direct phonic instruction; compared the effects of a whole language first grade reading program with the effects of a traditional basal reading program; and determined whether there was a difference in decoding and comprehending abilities across levels of ability.…

This study examined the differences in total number of eye movements, direction of the reading scan, and total scanning time of good and poor second-grade readers who were being taught reading by either the phonics or sight-recognition method. (HOD)

A child's ability to read is at the very foundation of his or her learning in school and plays a significant role in scholastic success. Although no one literacy model can ever represent the range of diverse learners in our schools, Cunningham, Hall, and Defee's literacy model known as Four-Block attempts to meet the needs of as many learners as…

This article documents evaluations of the New Primary Grades Reading System (NRS). NRS was implemented in a variety of settings. Evaluations track implementation from early stages of pilot testing through large-scale adoption of NRS. Accumulation of evidence regarding success of innovation across settings allows greater confidence in conclusions…

Results of two experiments involving kindergarten and first grade students indicate that oral blending of dictated sounds into consonant-vowel-consonant words was markedly and significantly better when no pauses intervened between sounds than when pauses of one or three seconds intervened. Interactions between pause interval and word familiarity…

A study examined the position of phonics instruction or direct skill instruction within the context of a whole language, meaning-based approach to reading instruction. A total of 22 first-grade students participated--12 students received instruction in phonics while 10 followed a meaning based curriculum. All were administered a phonics test and a…

A year-long study examined how phonics or whole word instruction affected first graders' progress in reading and spelling words. Subjects, 80 Houston, Texas students of average reading and intellectual abilities from three classrooms receiving phonics instruction and three classrooms receiving whole word instruction, were administered a phonemic…

Compares the effectiveness of word box instruction and word sort instruction on 42 first-grade children's phonemic awareness, word identification, and spelling performance. Finds significant differences favoring (1) word box instruction over traditional instruction on all measures except spelling; and (2) word sort instruction over traditional…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of whole language versus phonics on reading achievement. Four second-grade students participated--two were chosen for a control sample in which they were taught using the modified whole language approach; and two were chosen for the experimental sample and were taught using the modified…