It has been more than twenty years since the National Reading Panel Report (2000) provided recommendations for the teaching of reading based on a meta-analysis of suitable research. The report was commissioned at the end of the 1990s, just as the "whole language" reading movement that advocated for analytic phonics instruction and having…

This study utilized a systematic review methodology to explore best practices in improving reading fluency. The literature was searched to determine how the current curricular trends of technology, phonemic awareness and phonics, independent reading, and complex text and vocabulary can improve reading fluency in K-12 students. Potential studies…

Features critiques from 10 literacy educators on the book "Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print" and a response from the author, Marilyn Jager Adams. (MG)

States that many American children have difficulty learning to read (44% read below grade level). Explains the viewpoint of the phonics group and what those involved with whole language believe. Calls for dispassionate inquiry into how to raise reading levels, instead of the battle of the two methodologies as exists now. (PA)

While the look-say versus the phonics controversy has existed for years in reading instruction, a similar debate regarding spelling instruction is only now emerging out of the literature and into the hands of the classroom teacher. "Subskill" spelling, most frequently found in current spelling programs, presumes that good spelling is achieved by…

This 25-chapter anthology includes the ideas of many of the leading authorities on whole language and contains chapters on the meaning of whole language, the skills movement, reading and writing development, and teacher autonomy. Chapters are: "Whole Language: What's New?" (Bess Altwerger and others); "Language Arts Basics: Advocacy…

A child's success in learning to read in the first grade appears to be the best predictor of his or her ultimate success in schooling as well as all of the events and outcomes that correlate with that. Yet, across the research literature reviewed for a recent book, "Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print," children's…

A number of issues in the reading curriculum need studying, analyzing, and synthesizing. Among them is the emphasis on definite scope and sequence in phonics versus individualized reading. A second issue in the teaching of reading involves the use of precise, measurably stated objectives versus flexible, general goals. A related issue involves…

This book presents state-of-the-science research on the components of successful literacy learning and how to target them in contemporary classrooms. The volume builds on and extends the work of Steven Stahl, whose pioneering contributions encompassed the key areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and assessment.…

Creating a link between current research findings and classroom practice, this book analyzes, compares, and critiques prevalent classroom strategies in beginning reading instruction in light of expertise available in other countries. The book begins with a section on "Points of Departure," consisting of three chapters:…