In this critique of current reading research and practice, the author contends that the extreme ambiguity of English spelling-sound correspondence has confined reading science to an insular, Anglocentric research agenda addressing theoretical and applied issues with limited relevance for a universal science of reading. The unique problems posed by…

Describes the development of one child's awareness of print and the stages he passed through while learning to read from birth to age two. (FL)

Argues that although Feitelson, Tehori, and Levinberg-Green raise important questions about early education in general and early reading instruction in particular, one major question remains to be answered: What sort of programs should group settings for young children provide? (MP)

Describes several techniques that enable parents to prepare their preschool children for the actual process of learning how to read that they will encounter when they enter school. (FL)

This report chronicles the record of the Reading First program as a research-based approach to teaching children to read, from early successes as a strict program whose funding would be distributed to states and districts using reading curricula whose effectiveness had been validated by scientific study, to one of eased eligibility that permitted…

Takes issue with articles appearing in "Reading Teacher" entitled "Portrait of My Son as an Early Reader." Argues that parents who teach their children to read at an early age may neglect or overlook other essentials of their physical, emotional, and social growth. (FL)

Discusses what it would take to end reading failure in the U.S., examining what is already known, looking at the problem of early reading, and presenting a comprehensive strategy for reading by age 9 that involves dissemination of existing best practices, basic and applied research on beginning reading, and development and evaluation of new…

Critical lessons that share a transactional view of early literacy development are synthesized. A transactional view of reading and writing means that literacy as a meaning construction process, and that within a given literacy event, both the text and the reader are changed.

Concludes that potential users of the Clymer-Barrett Readiness Test should exercise caution in drawing inferences or conclusions about children on the basis of anything other than raw score data associated with the measure. (FL)

Examines the history of preschool reading instruction, what researchers recommend, and what is actually happening in preschools, then asks whether reading should be taught to young children. (FL)

Everything a persons needs to know in life is learned in Kindergarten is a popular adage among teachers. In this article, the author relates how everything she needed to know about teaching she learned from her own children. She relates that from the moment of their birth, she had determined that her four children would learn to read before they…

Presents the ideas of three people highly visible in the field of reading, each of whom holds different views about reading and reading instruction, in an effort to help teachers clarify their own thoughts. (FL)

A position paper which discusses different aspects of reading and its relation to school, home, and lifelong activities, and suggests instructional implications. (CM)

There are at least two kinds of phonetic knowledge: phoneme synthesis and analytic knowledge. In phoneme synthesis a person demonstrates phonetic knowledge by being able to assemble segments into larger units. With analytic knowledge one knows that syllables or words are analyzable into constituent segments. One type of knowledge enables learning…

To identify the profile of the active older reader, indepth taped interviews were conducted with 23 retired individuals for whom reading was an important part of daily living experience. Demographic data indicated that the highest education level attained varied from grammar school to a master's degree. Developmentally, the lifetime reader…