This study reports the knowledge of text complexity held by preservice teachers prior to coursework. The goal of this research is to determine what strengths and what learning needs preservice teachers have related to text selection with the intention of informing programmatic redesign. In this preliminary component of a design-development study,…

Variations of supplemental flashcard drill and practice instructional procedures (i.e., massed practice and interspersal presentation arrangements of words) were examined for six kindergartners who struggled making letter-sound correspondences. Findings revealed that the children demonstrated the highest learning rates when the presentation…

This study tested a hypothesized model examining reading proficiency across first grade. It addressed how alphabetics at the beginning of the year were mediated by applied and automated skills at the middle of the year to explain actualized reading at the end of the year. The alphabetic skills of 102 first graders were measured in October and the…

Concept of word is a pivotal developmental insight that is reflected when preliterate learners are able to repeat a line of print and accurately point to the words while saying them (finger-point reading) and relocate a specific word within that line (word finding). Several studies have shown that letter knowledge, phonemic skills, one-to-one…

Two studies examined the efficacy of using computer-assisted instruction (CAI) to supplement a phonics-based reading curriculum for preschoolers and kindergartners in an urban public school system. The CAI programs provided exercises in phonological awareness and basic phonics skills. We compared treatment classes using CAI with control classes…

Reports the findings of a study that sought (1) to confirm for Australian children the pattern of print concept acquisition noted in North America and New Zealand and (2) to determine whether children of varying reading proficiency can be differentiated in terms of their print concepts. (FL)

Concludes that neither the focal attention nor contextual theory offers a powerful explanation for words learned through visual exposure. (FL)

Reports on a study in which high and low ability elementary school students pronounced synthetic words exemplifying certain phoneme grapheme correspondences. Compares these pronunciations to principle pronunciations indicated from type counts of letters and clusters appearing in a selected word corpus. Concludes that the technique led to greater…

Concludes that there may be differential effectiveness of method of reading instruction according to sex, with females finding letter training simpler than word training and males finding the reverse. (FL)