The effectiveness of prephonic training between kindergarten and first grade levels as a tool for acquiring reading skills was explored throughout the public school system in the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts. A sample population of 260 kindergartners was identified as having potential learning difficulties by the results shown on the…

A study conducted in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, elementary schools, the first schools to adopt the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.) approach to teaching basic reading in this country, revealed that children who started with i.t.a. had significantly less reading failure than children with traditional orthography (T.O.) training. Although the i.t.a.…

Recent research on reading reveals many methods work for teaching reading. There are three individual reading styles: (1) those who need phonics, (2) those who can learn it but don't need it, and (3) those unable to learn phonics. The level of reading achievement depends on how well instructional program accommodates to an individual's reading…

A study compared the benefits of phonological awareness instruction along with and without a phonics computer software program to improve phonological and reading skills in elementary students with mild mental disabilities. During the eight weeks of the study in the fall of 1999, elementary resource students were taught phonological awareness…

This report stresses the need to incorporate various methods of teaching as a means of developing an integrated curriculum to address the lack of phonetic skills amongst second grade and kindergarten students. The target population of Site A consisted of a kindergarten classroom in a medium-sized district of a growing middle class community…

Extensive research and practical experience demonstrate that learning to read comes less naturally than learning to speak. Although half of all children intuit the alphabetic system from exposure to print and context-driven activities, many (particularly dyslexic, low-socioeconomic, and second-language kids) need an organized program that teaches…

Finds that six low-income children in two different instructional settings (skills-based and whole language) learned alphabetic concepts and skills necessary for successful reading and writing. Notes that both instructional settings provided explicit phonics instruction (albeit contextualized differently) and time for self-selected reading and for…

Observes low socioeconomic-level learners during literacy instruction for two years. Finds similarities in learner concern about accuracy. Notes that cross-curricular differences centered on applications of phonics knowledge, responses to literature, coping strategies, and learner perceptions of themselves as readers and writers. Finds a…

Describes first-grade children who completed a battery of tasks that included standardized measures of word recognition and spelling, measures of phonological and orthographic processing skills, and a short indicator of exposure to print via home literacy experiences. Finds that phonological and orthographic processing skills are separable…

Targeted to a wide audience, this book is a highly readable, nontechnical work without sacrificing the informative value offered by the relevant empirical research. The book is organized into three sections that discuss why it's difficult to learn to read; existing scientific evidence in reading research; and practical solutions, based on the…

A study tested the usefulness of the Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (TORP) in terms of its accuracy in measuring preservice teachers' change in theoretical orientation to reading as a result of having taken a reading methods course. Subjects, 27 upper division elementary education majors (the experimental group) and 15 upper division…

A study determined classroom teachers' opinions of causal factors of reading failure and reported their attitudes on the major issues in reading instruction as suggested in current research. A representative sample of 100 elementary classroom teachers from School District #299 in the Chicago, Illinois area were sent the Ross Reading Survey. A…

Research-based reading instruction could reduce recidivism and increase employment opportunity for incarcerated juvenile offenders. Reviews of the research literature provide ample evidence of the link between academic failure, delinquency, and reading failure. A re-examination of the research literature and interviews with reading instructors…

A study examined 78 experienced Northwest Ohio elementary school teachers' orientation toward whole language, teacher-made, and state-mandated tests. The teachers also described their grading policies and distributions and their attitudes toward basal readers and phonics skills. The majority (56%) labeled themselves as over 50% "whole…