Reviews the conception of early literacy acquisition as a social-cognitive activity, sketches the evolution of phonemic awareness, and discusses how psychological research might contribute to understanding and applying this construct. The paper suggests the importance of synergy between previously warring factions and highlights the need for…

Educating parents through outreach and public library programs is essential if children are to be given a head start at reading. However, once they are enrolled in school, it is important that education staff use the resources at their disposal to expose children to a book-rich environment and have them engaged with books for the sheer fun of it.…

New brain research reveals that synapses, the connections between neurons, are twice as plentiful at 24 months as in adulthood. Reading to babies helps "wire in" those synapses so that babies get an early intellectual boost. This article discusses early reading for babies as it promotes early literacy. Sharing picture books is a wonderful way to…

The effective classroom reading instruction and early reading interventions is routinely misrepresented and exaggerated by the federal officials. Individual tutoring that produces on-level reading achievement is presented based on the misinterpretations of the research.

In the current climate of accountability and research-based practices in reading instruction, professional development is often identified as one of the key elements needed to change the trajectory of progress for struggling readers and to ensure their ongoing success. Research on teacher quality and its impact on student achievement seems to…

This article comments on the discussion of S. A. Storch and G. J. Whitehurst's literacy development model in the article by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN). Specifically, this comment focuses on concerns raised by the NICHD ECCRN that Storch and Whitehurst's model does…

This article reviews the Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment second edition (ERDA-2). The Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment, second edition (ERDA-2; The Psychological Corporation, 2003) assesses the acquisition of reading skills in children from kindergarten to Grade 3. The ERDA-2 is a collection of subtests adapted primarily from the Wechsler…

This paper reports two studies of young English-speaking children's ability to cope with changes to the metrical stress pattern of spoken words and the relationship between this ability, phonological awareness and early reading development. Initially, 39 children aged 4 and 5 years were assessed on their ability to identify mispronounced words,…

A large cohort of 200 eleven-year-old children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) were assessed on basic reading accuracy and on reading comprehension as well as language tasks. Reading skills were examined descriptively and in relation to early language and literacy factors. Using stepwise regression analyses in which age and nonverbal IQ…

This article investigates the ways in which alphabetic print concepts govern a sense of natural and appropriate early reading development, and juxtaposes the concepts found in early literacy curriculum and assessment with hypertextual elements found in new forms of texts written for children. Using a theoretical approach that combines…

Precocious readers represent a small portion of children who enter school each year. Researchers have investigated the environmental characteristics, acquisition process, psycholinguistic and neuropsychological characteristics, and academic skills of these children. Despite the research findings in the area, researchers and clinicians are still…

"Dialogic Reading" is an interactive shared picture book reading practice designed to enhance young children's language and literacy skills. During the shared reading practice, the adult and the child switch roles so that the child learns to become the storyteller with the assistance of the adult who functions as an active listener and…

Problems which will fact reading teachers in the future are discussed, and innovative possibilities are described. The following conclusions are reached. Varying environments create greater differences in children than existed previously, making individualized instruction necessary. Technological progress has opened new fields to education which…

A disproportionate emphasis on mechanics impairs students' reading by detracting from the focus they should have on making sense of the world. (DD)

By observing children who learn to read by themselves, teachers may learn some important aspects of beginning reading. (JM)