New readers must be taught a variety of decoding skills to allow them to increase fluency and get on with the process of meaning making. Four of the most important strategies of decoding are: (1) using context clues; (2) developing a sight vocabulary of whole words; (3) analyzing the parts of words; and (4) attending to the letter-sound (phonics)…

This monograph is based on research designed to (1) identify the vocabulary words introduced at each grade level by the basal reader series adopted by the Georgia Board of Education; (2) determine the extent of overlap among the books is the series; (3) compare these lists with other recognized word lists; and (4) generated a list of words for the…

Compilation of a list of the most common phrases used in reading was begun with the rationale that the quick recognition of phrases would facilitate reading comprehension. These first efforts showed that categorizing phrases by parts of speech did not provide acceptable levels of accuracy. The system that was effective, however, used a computer…

This study investigated two approaches to vocabulary development with intermediate grade Menominee Indian children. Specifically, the differences in reading comprehension, writing vocabulary, reading vocabulary, and attitudes toward reading of students were examined. The two methods compared were (1) the Native American Culturally-Oriented…

Factors were investigated under acquisition and retention conditions which might be expected to counteract interference brought on by mixing sight and phonics methods. Experiment 1 dealt with training kindergarten children to attend to and encode letter pattern cues and the word's contextual cues. Subjects were trained individually in a series of…

The effectiveness of providing tactile-kinesthetic sensory input during reading instruction was investigated in a sample of 60 kinesthetic-preferring first-grade pupils. Children were randomly assigned to a method which was predominantly visual, predominantly auditory, or predominantly kinesthetic. Each child received three 20-minute, individual…

In an effort to determine whether the Dolch list of basic sight words continues to reflect the majority of the words in basic readers, this study was undertaken to calculate the percentage of Dolch words in four basic reader programs published since 1970. This would make it possible to decide whether the Dolch list is still viable for recently…

Argues that traditional sight word lists do not include many of the words young learners see on the computer screen. Presents a supplementary list that incorporates such words for computer-assisted instruction in the elementary school. (FL)

This report describes a program to increase sight/functional vocabulary to improve reading comprehension. The targeted population consisted of one 2nd-3rd grade and one 6th-8th grade cross-categorical self-contained class, located in an elementary school and a middle school. The schools were located in a northeast suburb of a major city in the…

Explains the use of a metronome to pace phrase reading, rate development, and eye-hand coordination exercises, and to time a sight vocabulary game. Bibliography. (MD)