Students enrolled in six developmental reading classes offered during a 16-week semester or a 6-week summer session at El Camino College (California) were pre-tested with the California Phonics Survey (form 1) to determine their phonic abilities. Students enrolled in eight concurrent developmental writing classes were similarly tested. Those from…

Second-grade pupils using the Ginn "Reading 360" or the McGraw-Hill "Programmed Reading" were compared in their reading and retelling of the story "King Alfred and the Cakes." Analysis, using the Reading Miscue Inventory, of the performance of 20 selected pupils indicated that those taught with "Programmed…

A status report on the use of the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.) is presented by the i.t.a. Foundation, an independent, non-profit organization which conducts and supports i.t.a. programs and research. In reviewing the 70 studies which compare i.t.a. programs to traditional orthography (T.O.) programs, it has been found that two-thirds of the…

Contends that children need to learn phonic skills, not necessarily through early direct teaching, but through reading experience. Suggests using Paired Reading, which is validated by psycholinguistic reading theory and provides opportunities to learn to read from context and use innate syntactic and semantic knowledge. (SKC)

Despite six decades of leading researchers' research findings upholding progressive, whole-language reading approaches, consensus is lacking. Pundits tend to discredit educational research. News media promulgate tougher standards while overlooking progressive classroom successes. Parents may fear children's exploration of a wide variety of books…

Looks at how "scientifically based" literacy research promoting the direct, explicit, and systematic use of phonics and related word skills in beginning reading instruction is having a massive effect on policy and practice. Examines what this research claims to have found and what it actually shows. Discusses how it harms research,…

Reports on a nationwide survey of instructional beliefs and practices of elementary public school teachers. Finds that teachers generally do not assume a polar, either/or approach to phonics and whole language, but instead provide children a balanced eclectic program involving both reading skill instruction and immersion in enriched literacy…

Investigates primary classrooms where teachers implemented recommended literacy practices such as: (1) frequently using children's literature; (2) integrating reading and writing; and (3) teaching skills in context. Finds students developed reading and writing skills at higher levels than students in classrooms where teachers used other practices.…

Providing an international perspective on how children learn to read, this first of 2 volumes presents research studies and classroom experiences from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Jamaica, and Israel, drawing on evidence from 18 countries. Essays in the volumes highlight implications for design, implementation, and…

A study compared an integrated language arts reading program and a strong phonics basal reading program. Subjects were first graders from five eastern Greenbrier County schools in West Virginia. The control group consisted of students in 15 classrooms, during the 1994-95 school year, when a strong phonics basal reading program was taught and…

A study examined two 1989 basal reading series' (published by McGraw Hill and Holt) readiness/priming sequences in order to ascertain the theoretical bases of each and then compared the findings with those of an earlier study. All pages of the readiness/priming sequence student texts and workbooks of both basal reading series were analyzed using…

A study examined the usefulness of two rules of syllabification: (1) if the first vowel or vowel digraph in a word is followed by two consonants that are not parts of a consonant digraph, the first syllable ends with the first of the two consonants, such as, nor-mal; and (2) if the first vowel or vowel digraph in a word is followed by a single…

A study evaluated the phonics performance of skilled adult readers using the D. Durkin phonics test, which was also used in 1984 to measure the phonics ability of children. The test, which was given to 25 college juniors and seniors, consisted of 29 regularly spelled pseudo or nonsense words to be pronounced aloud by the subjects. Results…

Investigating how good and poor readers process words, a study examined the spelling and reading processes of 80 middle-class first grade students from three schools in Houston, Texas, 40 who were receiving whole word instruction, and 40 receiving phonics instruction. Based on scores from the Gates-McGinitie Reading Test, Basic R (administered in…

A study was conducted to determine if verbs were learned as easily as other words by primary school children. One hundred eight kindergarten children were divided into high, medium, and low I.Q. ranges and each range group was further divided--one group for each of three testing methods at each intelligence level. A list of words including 25…