Current reading research largely focuses on word reading. This study complements that focus by considering what children do when encountering unknown words and how that problem-solving changes over time. We used overlapping wave theory to describe how children who were having difficulty with reading changed their word-solving actions across nine…

This article describes nine tips for implementing a word study program in the K-2 classroom. These tips are based on the results of four classroom-based qualitative research projects collaboratively conducted by a university professor and four primary-grade teacher-researchers. The article suggests that through small-group word study instruction…

The purpose of this study was to determine if differences existed between second- and fifth-grade students' word recognition errors, and if differences existed between the word attack strategies utilized by them. Using the Informal Reading Inventory, a random sample of twenty-five second graders and twenty-five fifth graders was taken from three…

The purpose of this article is to describe the professional development plan for an elementary school receiving federal funding through the Reading Excellence Act (REA). The Reading Excellence Act provided the school with a two-year plan for literacy improvement. During the first year of the grant, assessment-driven instruction and flexible…

A study discusses the effects of a second year of one-on-one intervention on the literacy development of struggling second graders. Twenty-six children participated in the study and were assigned to either a second year of intervention or a control group that received no further intervention services. Participants in the intervention group…

This paper presents two case studies that illustrate the multiple uses of word sorts, a word study phonics technique. Case study children were Sara, a second grader, who had difficulty with reading basic words and John, a third grader, who had difficulty with spelling basic words. Multiple baseline designs were employed to study the effects of…

A study was conducted to examine (1) the type of instruction most likely to help both normal and learning disabled readers use the analogy strategy in reading novel words, and (2) how fifth grade disabled readers compared with normal second and fifth grade readers. Analogy strategies, the most abstract of the reading strategies, are generally…

The materials in this teaching unit are designed to improve the skills of second grade students in following directions, understanding and following a sequence of actions, and recognizing common word structures (compound words, prefixes, and suffixes). Each section of the unit contains a brief overview of the skill area, a list of performance…

The applicability of phonics generalizations, particularly the rule "When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking and the second one is silent," is examined in this paper. The first section reports on a study of the applicability of the two vowel rule to words in first- and second-grade basal readers and on a core vocabulary list; the…

A 6-year ex post facto study compared the word study skills, word reading/reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, and total reading achievement of Choctaw Indian first and second grade classes that participated in the Sing, Spell, Read, & Write (SSRW) program and classes that had not participated in the program. Subjects were 84 students in…