This study examined the cognitive skills associated with early reading development when children were taught by different types of instruction. Seventy-nine children (mean age at pre-test 4;10 (0.22 S.D.) and post-test 5;03 (0.21 S.D.)) were taught to read either by an eclectic approach which included sight-word learning, guessing from context and…

Although the research base is small on adult English language learners (ELLs) who are learning English while also acquiring basic literacy, this research can still guide instructional practices. The essential components of reading skills suggests that the Language Experience Approach has the potential to integrate relevant meaning-focused reading…

Reading is a multifaceted process consisting of many interacting components. A plethora of research is available on reading. Yet, there is inadequate exploration, which ascertains the effects of the interaction of different reading components and how they affect the reading performance of students with autism. This inter-correlational research…

Success for All (SfA) is a whole-school approach to improving literacy in primary schools. Teachers receive training in areas including group learning strategies, phonics, and assessment, and are provided with structured daily lesson plans and teaching materials. There is also support for school leadership in areas such as data management, ability…

A quasi-experimental research design was used to investigate the effectiveness of synthetic phonics in the development of early reading skills among struggling young English as a second language (ESL) readers in a rural school. The pretest and posttest, adapted from the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) for Preschool Students and…

The quick adoption of iPads into the classroom, coupled with the many apps targeting early literacy skills, offers a new way to build early literacy skills with emergent and beginning readers. However, young children may be more proficient with the technology than with the literacy concepts, and may not be maximizing learning, or even learning at…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of whole language instruction versus phonics instruction for improving reading fluency and spelling accuracy. The participants were the first grade students in the researcher's general education classroom of a non-Title I school. Stratified sampling was used to randomly divide…

In this article, the authors state that increases in technological capabilities are enabling more students to complete schoolwork in online learning environments--in addition to and sometimes instead of traditional classrooms. Teachers, parents, and learning coaches who are working with students using these online environments need to know about…

Early literacy and reading skills are both important predictors of an individual's future success in school and employment settings (Moats, 1999). Moreover, poor reading performance in elementary school has been associated with future conduct problems and juvenile delinquency by age fifteen (Williams, 1994). Research supports the notion that…

This research evaluated the effectiveness of reading instruction targeting oral reading and phonological awareness for children with Down syndrome (affecting chromosome 21). The participants were 7 children ranging in age from 2 years, 11 months to 10 years, 8 months. Each child acted as his/her own control, with assessments of language,…

As schools attempt to address the needs of an ever more diverse student population, many have turned to intensive interventions to improve reading performance. Reading First grants from the United States Department of Education encouraged schools to implement evidence-based instructional practices in elementary schools. However, for many schools,…

In October, 2011, Age of Learning, Inc., creator of ABCmouse.com "Early Learning Academy" conducted a nationwide survey of 500 kindergarten teachers on the subject of children's preparedness for kindergarten. The survey revealed that two-thirds of America's kindergarten teachers believe most young children are academically unprepared for school…

This research aims at investigating the influence of two methods implemented in primary reading and writing teaching programs--phonics-based sentence method and decoding (analysis) method--on primary school 5th grade students' reading comprehension achievement. Also, the study considers the relationship between socio-economic status and reading…

Reading in the second language (L2) allows learners access to new vocabulary and opportunities to translate from the L2 to the first language (L1) and vice versa. In this paper, we describe three studies that explored strategies for developing L2 Italian decoding repertoires. Participants were undergraduate students preparing for a short-term…

There is a considerable and growing body of research investigating reading development in children with Down syndrome. However, there appears to be a common gap between the research evidence and instructional practices. It has been argued that teachers have insufficient information to enable them to implement effective literacy instruction with…