The Report of the National Reading Panel (2000) explains that phonemic awareness instruction and phonics instruction are highly beneficial for students learning to read. In the updated second edition, Edmund V. Starrett provides educators with guidance on teaching phonics as part of a well-planned reading program. This reference book presents the…

This book uses phonics to teach reading in a complete manual for beginning and remedial readers of all ages. The book builds sounds and spelling patterns slowly and systematically into syllables, phrases, and sentences of gradually increasing complexity, presenting only one sound per lesson--each new sound builds upon previously learned skills for…

This digest discusses some of the ways children develop functional phonics knowledge in the context of authentic reading and writing, as well as some of the ways teachers can foster such development. The digest suggests that children develop phonics knowledge by: having familiar stories or poems read to them repeatedly; discussing letter/sound…

Concludes that the ability to detect small differences in pairs of pictures, letters, or words does not change beyond grade 3, but the ability to recognize sound-alike words improves through the grades. (RB)

Designed for use in the home, this booklet describes how someone can be taught how the alphabet works; that is, by decoding the ABC's into spoken language. Among the steps to decoding discussed in this booklet are these: (1) teaching the sounds of individual letters; (2) teaching the different sounds of the vowels; (3) sounding out little words;…

A study examined the degree of relationships between scores on each of three locally developed reading subskills tests and overall reading success as measured by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS). Subjects, 758 students from grades 1 through 6, grade 8 and grade 10 from three different southern Indiana school districts, were given locally…

Large differences exist among individuals in their ability to process speech sounds within syllables and words, and this ability is crucial for reading and spelling alphabetically beyond a very elementary level. The conception that speech is made up of segments (phonemes) is natural to those who read and spell alphabetically, but arguably: (1)…

Noting that "every pupil response" (EPR) techniques allow for all students in a group to respond to each question asked by a teacher, this paper explains how EPR techniques may be incorporated in a reading lesson to help students develop decoding ability. The paper offers a justification for using these directed teaching strategies based on…

This study was designed to answer two questions: Will the percentage of utility for a group of phonic generalizations in a college-level vocabulary sample be similar to generalizations in a primary-level sample? Will qualitative differences in the types of phonic generalizations be apparent? A 1,495-word sample was selected from George Feinstein's…

The games presented in this manual are based on the Spin-A-Test game making technique, are applicable to the complex area of phonics, and are intended to provide teachers of reading with an almost unlimited source of circular games which meet prescriptive objectives. Contents of the manual consist of (1) a description of the scope of the game…

A limited analysis of alternative approaches to phonemic-level word attack instruction is provided in this document. The instruction segment begins with training in letter-sound correspondences for which mastery of certain skills is assumed. Instruction ends with the decoding of novel items having a consonant-vowel-consonant construction. Contents…

Training tasks that comprise the word attack component of phonics reading programs are discussed. Tasks that reflect phonics subskills are drawn from the literature, and variables that appear crucial in distinguishing these tasks are discussed. The analysis is viewed as necessary to generating research questions in a program attempting to assess…

One hundred thirty-eight second graders, identified by their teachers as "poor readers with incomplete phonics skills" were given four specially constructed tests of phonics skills: a context test over meaningful but visually unfamiliar words, an isolated sounds test, a McKee type multiple choice test, and a word completion test. Eighty…

Seven studies of the usefulness of 45 phonic generalizations were selected for comparison on the basis of similarity in research design. Combining the results into a single summary table, 25 of the 45 generalizations were found to be useful. The authors suggest that, where possible, these generalizations should be consolidated to simplify the…

Suggests that the cloze procedure be used as an instructional strategy; includes a rationale for using cloze tasks in reading instruction, descriptions of various cloze activities, and guidelines for implementing cloze exercises in an instructional setting. (TJ)