A 2-YEAR LONGITUDINAL STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO EVALUATE THE "EARLY-TO-READ I/T/A PROGRAM." THIRTY-FOUR PUPILS RAMDOMLY ASSIGNED TO ONE FIRST GRADE WERE TAUGHT USING THE "EARLY-TO-READ I/T/A SERIES," AND 26 PUPILS RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO ANOTHER FIRST GRADE WERE TAUGHT USING THE "GINN BASIC READERS" AND TRADITIONAL…

The conclusions and recommendations drawn from a 7-year study of the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i/t/a) made by the Reading Research Unit of London University are reported. The British research showed conclusively that traditional orthography (TO) is a major handicap for teachers and students of reading. Students taught with i/t/a made…

Collection and evaluation, using both measurement and judgment techniques, of the available evidence relating to the use of i/t/a as a means of beginning reading with children between the ages of 5 and 7 were presented. The specific terms of reference were threefold: (1) to evaluate published research material on i/t/a from both Great Britain and…

This study compared the relative effectiveness of the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i. t. a.) program for teaching beginning reading with a matched program using traditional orthography (T. O.). Three waves of first grade students in ten predominately white elementary schools were randomly assigned to i. t. a. and T. O. classrooms. Summary evaluation…

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.…

First graders taught with the initial teaching alphabet showed superior word recognition when compared with matched subjects taught in the traditional English alphabet instructional format. Retesting in third grade showed no significant differences between the groups, but indicated that auditory memory affected reading performance in both…

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THREE APPROACHES TO TEACHING BEGINNING READING AND THE INFLUENCE OF AN ORAL LANGUAGE STIMULATION PROGRAM ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IS REPORTED IN THE FIRST-YEAR REPORT OF A 2-YEAR INTERVENTION STUDY. SUBJECTS WERE 608 FIRST-GRADE PUPILS FROM 12 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN AN INNER-CITY AREA. THE THREE EXPERIMENTAL…

THE PEABODY-CHICAGO-DETROIT READING PROJECT, A 3-YEAR PROJECT, COMPARED SIX APPROACHES FOR BEGINNING READING INSTRUCTION TO YOUNG EDUCABLE MENTAL RETARDATES--(1) THE LANGUAGE-EXPERIENCE APPROACH (LE) USING TRADITIONAL ORTHOGRAPHY (TO), (2) LE USING I/T/A, (3) THE BASAL READER APPROACH (BR) USING TO, (4) BR USING I/T/A, (5) BR USING THE REBUS, AN…

In discussing instructional approaches to reading, this book offers several definitions of reading and discusses teaching techniques, including early methods, the basal approach, and recent trends, among them the phonics approach, the linguistics approach, the language experience approach, the initial teaching alphabet, individualized reading,…

The Cooperative Reading Project was a 2-year study designed to test the effectiveness of three initial reading approaches and an oral language stimulation program with inner-city Southern disadvantaged children. This followup study looked for differences among the treatment groups after pupils had completed their third school year. The 354…

Two topics related to teaching reading are presented. The first reports findings of research on the initial teaching alphabet (i.t.a.). Between September, 1961, and April, 1963, four- and five-year-old children were introduced to the new medium in six termly intakes. Data on the first three groups to enter are reported. After 1 year of being…

This study investigated (1) whether symbol-symbol correspondences are learned better when imbedded in whole words or when presented individually and (2) the effect of these two instructional methods on transfer from an experimental transitional writing system (TWS) to traditional orthography (TO). Thirty-five undergraduates were randomly assigned…

This publication contains pa ers contributed to the fifth Perspectives of Reading conference of the International Reading Association which focused on the teaching of beginning reading. The following approaches are described and evaluated: (1) individualized reading, (2) basal reading, (3) linguistic approach, (4) phonics approach, (5) new…

Five hypotheses were tested in two longitudinal studies involving i/t/a used with primary-grade children in the Lompoc Unified School District of California. Parents were allowed to request i/t/a training, teachers were given instruction in i/t/a, and children received i/t/a training in first grade. Reading sections of the Stanford Achievement…

This publication is designed to acquaint reading teachers with various approaches and media in beginning reading instruction. The nine broadly based innovative aspects considered are Using Language Experiences, Individualizing Beginning Reading, Using Color, Applying the Linguistics of Sounds in Words, Using i.t.a. in the United States, Using…