There are 26 letters in the English language. These letters, in various combinations, represent the 44 sounds in the language. Teaching students the basic letter-sound combinations gives them access to sounding out approximately 84% of the words in English print. There needs to be equal amounts of time need to be spent on teaching the meanings of…

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…

Two hundred and eight first graders were assigned to one of three treatment groups. Treatment A received initial instruction in letter names followed by sight words; treatment B received initial instruction in letter names and sounds followed by sight words; and treatment C received initial instruction in sight words followed by letter names and…

The purposes of the study were to determine whether phonic analysis training could be used to prepare children to be successful on the Auditory Analysis Test (AAT) of phonic skills and to then relate phonic knowledge to reading performance. Subjects were 40 first graders in suburban Pittsburgh who had attended kindergarten together. A group of 16…

Investigated three aspects of children's early language knowledge: (1) comparison of preschoolers response to written stimuli in familiar environmental contexts (on signs and billboards) with responses presented in a traditional reading task format; (2) developmental changes in preschoolers' knowledge of written language; and (3) preschoolers'…

The premise of this book is that parents should help their child learn to read at home in order to individualize reading skill instruction better than may be possible at school alone. A reading readiness checklist is offered as a guide to determining if one's child is linguistically, behaviorally, and perceptually ready to begin to learn to read.…

Noting that parent involvement could be the single most important factor in children's success in school, this book helps parents act as tutors in reading and writing for their kindergarten children. It offers both general guidelines and specific strategies and activities to use for accomplishing specific objectives, such as improving decoding…

Concludes that, of several reading readiness factors, knowledge of alphabet letter names is the best predictor of phonics skills other than vowel recognition and of reading abilities involving words in insolation, and that number knowledge is the best predictor of reading abilities involving words and syntax. (FL)

A study was conducted to explore how children learn to read in kindergarten. The study employed a heuristic model that included entering ability, home background, instructional processes, home support for literacy development, and measures of student ability at the end of kindergarten. Children were tested, whole-day classroom observations were…

The effects of the use of traditional series readiness workbooks and subsequent delay in beginning reading instruction on reading achievement at the middle and end of first grade were investigated. Fifty-seven percent of the children in a suburban school district used traditional readiness workbooks and of the remaining 43%, some used non-series…

There are physical, social, emotional, mental, and language factors influencing the development of readiness for independence in word recognition. It is important to let the chld gain a variety of experiences prior to school entrance, such as the parents reading aloud to the child and allowing him to follow the lines with his eyes while listening.…

A study examined when young children begin processing phonetic cues for reading. Subjects were kindergartners selected and classified by their ability to read preprimer and primer level words on a 40-word list--prereaders (0-1 words known), novices (1-11 words known), and veterans (11-36 words known). Subjects were given reading practice with…

Reports on a study of the relationship of both phonemic and musical sound discrimination to reading ability among 18 British first graders. Finds that discrimination of musical sounds is related to music performance but that the influential factor is a specific awareness of pitch changes. (CFR)

A structured tutoring technique utilizing the services of parents and high school students was devised. A study was carried out in Provo, Utah, with 10 children in each of six groups--three kindergarten and three first-grade groups consisting of one control group, one with parent tutors, and one with student tutors. The tutors were given a manual…

A study demonstrated that young children who have difficulty with phonics can be taught to read through other methods, that phonics is only one of the many useful strategies that a child can employ, and that many contextual strategies are easier to learn and more reliable than phonics. A case study was conducted during an intervention with a young…