A hallmark of skilled reading is recognizing written words automatically from memory by sight. How beginning readers attain this skill is explained. They must acquire foundational knowledge, including phonemic segmentation, grapheme-phoneme knowledge, decoding, and spelling skills. When these skills are applied, spellings of words become bonded to…

The statutory "phonics screening check" was introduced in 2012 and reflects the current emphasis in England on teaching early reading through systematic synthetic phonics. The check is intended to assess children's phonic abilities and their knowledge of 85 grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) through decoding 20 real words and 20…

The ability to flexibly approach the pronunciation of unknown words, or set "for variability", has been shown to contribute to word recognition skills. However, this is the first study that has attempted to teach students strategies for increasing their set for variability. Beginning readers (N = 15) were instructed to correct oral…

Reports on a study that investigated the ability of second grade students to listen to, infer, and produce the correct pronuciations of high-frequency words in a story-like context. (FL)

All consonant sounds involving the sound /y/ omit the letter Y, such as few, cute, immune, and view. Perhaps 75% of high school students whose formal reading level is below seventh grade will not be able to pronounce these words that contain the "invisible" Y sound. Good students usually do not have to be taught this pattern, but average…

Results refute current claims that words are read aloud by retrieving a single pronunciation from memory and that pseudowords are pronounced by using abstract spelling-to-sound rules. Instead, it appears that words and pseudowords are pronounced using similar kinds of orthographic and phonological knowledge. (Author/CP)

The literature dealing with the identification process in beginning reading is surveyed. The first major section presents a review of the basal, Language Experience Approach, Phonic Word Method, linguistic, and i/t/a programs. Questions are raised about the empirical investigation of the subject matter and the instructional procedures used in…

Some tips can assist teachers in guiding each pupil to achieve more optimally, with respect to the ability to read well and reading comprehension. Among these 10 specific tips are: (1) teach individualized phonics in context; (2) assist the student to read in proper thought units by covering up words in sentences for clarification; (3) assist…

The rationale, development, and implementation of a reading program designed to teach disadvantaged children the skills prerequisite to learning to read are discussed in this paper. Of particular importance are skills in the recognition and manipulation of basic speech sounds, phonemes. The first of the program's three parts takes two and one-half…

CONTAINED IN THE GUIDE IS INFORMATION ON THE BASIC SKILLS TO BE INCLUDED IN ANY INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM IN READING, ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A GUIDED PROGRAM FOR INDIVIDUAL AND PERSONAL READING, AND ON THE EVALUATION OF A READING PROGRAM. THE OBJECTIVE IS TO HELP EACH CHILD BECOME AS EFFICIENT AND DIVERSIFIED A READER AS HIS ABILITIES PERMIT. NO LESSON…