Nursery rhymes and written phonics used in a meaningful context are valuable teaching methods which can be applied in a whole language classroom or in conjunction with a basal reading program. Because nursery rhymes are rooted in oral tradition they lend themselves to oral presentation. They provide forms for the oral beginnings of the best of…

The vocabulary lists from five basal readers were examined in an effort (1) to determine what information is taught in the form of phonic generalizations in current, primary-level basal readers; (2) to examine intraprogram reliability of those generalizations; and (3) to determine whether the content of generalization instruction had changed since…

This paper proposes that phonics and meaning instruction in beginning reading programs can be designed to be mutually supportive. The first section outlines attempts to modify a commercially available reading program in order to provide useful phonics instruction strategies. Students showed strong gains on achievement tests after implementation of…

The slide presentation depicts movement activities through which children can perceive and form concepts, thus building cognitive skills in certain areas. The presentation is based on the fact that children interact with their environments through all their senses and benefit from perceiving through their kinesthetic senses. The areas presented…

This program, included in "Effective Reading Programs...," serves 115 disadvantaged children in first through third grade and includes black, Filipino, white, and Spanish-surname students. Begun in 1965, Total Reading is a complete language arts program for the primary grades which integrates the teaching of reading, writing, spelling,…

Describes in detail a procedure that teaches childen to integrate two word identification strategies--use of contexts and phonics. Reports on a study showing the effectiveness of the strategy. (FL)

Designed to assist literacy volunteers, this handbook explains specific ways to guide a young child's successful journey into literacy. The handbook includes 10 specific ways of working with children, with guides and suggestions for each; many book lists, including multicultural titles at several grade levels; concrete suggestions; sample lesson…

Because students too often leave the public school system with weak or non-existent reading skills, the subject of how to teach reading is debated. Most children bring a considerable level of oral language ability to their first day of school. Development of spoken language skills seems to come without conscious, formal effort for most children.…

This book offers suggestions to help parents make their children successful readers and learners. The first chapter, Getting Started, discusses setting an example, being a tutor, creating a positive environment, and letting children be the stars. The second chapter, The Reading Process: Building Meaning, discusses setting a purpose, stages of the…

Investigates whether teachers behave in ways consistent with their theoretical orientation to reading during reading instruction. Finds that a majority of the teachers did not teach reading in a manner consistent with their self-reported theoretical orientation. (RS)

Reports a study that examined the usefulness of concept maps for detecting differences in kindergarten teachers' theoretical orientation (whole language versus phonics). Results revealed that content but not structure measures differentiated whole language from phonics teachers. Concept maps proved useful in measuring teachers' theoretical…

Various word-recognition tasks were completed by 54 second-grade students from classrooms where reading instruction followed the whole-language approach or the phonics/skill-based approach. A task involving a cloze procedure favored the whole-language approach, but there were no other significant differences between groups. Contains 30 references.…

This article reports on research on the effectiveness of a peer-assisted learning strategy (PALS) intervention to develop fluency in beginning readers with and without disabilities. Pairs of students complete phonically based activities and then repeated readings of a shared text. Evaluation indicated that the peer-mediated, repeated reading…

This study examined the phonics and reading achievement of 117 primary grade students in 14 schools and 42 classrooms. Students received instruction in one of six different reading programs or models based upon the school they attended. Through qualitative data collection and analysis of specific instructional practices, it was determined that no…

A study examined when young children begin processing phonetic cues for reading. Subjects were kindergartners selected and classified by their ability to read preprimer and primer level words on a 40-word list--prereaders (0-1 words known), novices (1-11 words known), and veterans (11-36 words known). Subjects were given reading practice with…