Ensuring teacher and speech and language pathology graduates are prepared to work collaboratively together to meet the diverse language literacy learning needs of children is an important goal. This study investigated the efficacy of a 3-h inter-professional education program focused on explicit instruction in the language skills that underpin…

Purpose: This study had 2 principal aims: (a) to examine whether children who spoke Nonmainstream American English (NMAE) frequently in school at the end of kindergarten increased their production of Mainstream American English (MAE) forms by the end of first grade, and (b) to examine concurrent and predictive relations between children's NMAE use…

To reach the national goal that all children in the United States will read at an appropriate level by the end of third grade, the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA) has studied the reading growth of children in preschool and primary classes, both in and out of school. Our framework suggests that children need to…

Discusses research supporting the connections between (1) early reading proficiency and listening to literature at a young age and (2) the nature of children's interactions with books before they read and later reading achievement. Indicates that story telling in the classroom represents a critical link between literature and literacy. (JD)

TO TEST THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE READING PROCESS IS A NATURAL EMERGENCE OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, A HYPOTHETICAL STRUCTURE WAS DEVISED TO RECAPITULATE THE PROCESS THAT IT IS ASSUMED THE CHILD GOES THROUGH. EACH OF 25 PRINTED WORD SYMBOLS WAS PRESENTED IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER--(1) A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SYMBOL IN ITS NATURAL SETTING, (2) A DRAWING OF THE…

This study compared 56 early and nonearly readers (matched individually on sex, age, and preschool and kindergarten attended) in terms of their language concepts and skills, as well as their reading achievement, in kindergarten through second grade. The early readers were found superior to nonearly readers on preschool measures of general language…

The 40 articles in this collection deal with issues and problems in the learning and teaching of reading and offer suggestions for future policy concerning reading. The articles cover the entire reading field, including the relationships among language, intelligence, and reading; early reading schemes; extending reading; reading difficulties,…

Verbal precocity at 20 months of age did not predict children's later precocious reading. Frequency of story reading in the home at 24 months predicted children's language ability at 2.5 and 4.5 years and, along with literacy instruction, predicted knowledge of print conventions at 4.5. (BC)

Reviews studies which demonstrate that exposure to children's literature encourages verbal language development and reading competence in particular. (TJ)

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 68 first graders to identify what ideas young readers hold about the reading process. Specifically, the study questioned whether good and poor readers held the same views about how they learned to read, what they and others did as they read, their reading ability, and why people read. The responses of…

Documents how a preschool child learns to read. Identifies what teachers need to know if they are to continue the reader's own discoveries and delight in language. (EL)

A study was conducted to determine if knowledge of the purposes of written language facilitated reading achievement in preschool children. The study also compared the performance of boys and girls to determine if boys' generally poorer reading abilities could be related to differences in print awareness. Scores from the comprehension subtest of…

The six articles in this journal deal with various aspects of early reading. The topics covered are: a preschool biliteracy project; early reading as language development; the techniques used in teaching children with normal hearing, hearing impaired children, and deaf children to read; preschool reading and speaking acquisition in two languages;…