Analysis of the babbling of five infants indicated that between 14 and 40 percent of utterances recurred in particular contexts with a greater than expected frequency, suggesting that babbling is not entirely random but contains consistent sound-meaning relationships that are not adult-modeled. (Author/CB)

This literature-based review examines the relationship between the acquisition of segmental awareness and the acquisition of alphabetic literacy. Cited studies show that the segmental analysis ability of most dyslexics is very poor and suggest one factor may be related to the conscious representation of speech on which the analytic capacity…

Investigates the reliability and validity of tests that have been used to operationalize the concept of phonemic awareness. Indicates that a combination of two tests, one related to each factor, has greater predictive validity for the beginning steps in reading acquisition than does one test alone. (JK)

The phonemic-based view of teaching second language pronunciation is contrasted with a discourse-based view comprising segmental, voice-setting, and prosodic features. Research is surveyed on first language influence, the acquisition processes operative in second language phonology, psychosocial and individual factors, and the role of instruction.…

Concludes that there may be differential effectiveness of method of reading instruction according to sex, with females finding letter training simpler than word training and males finding the reverse. (FL)

Concludes that less proficient readers, in general, are less able to use graphophonic cues and may rely more on contextual cues than proficient readers.

Discusses the literature on children's early thinking about written symbols and offers suggestions for teachers seeking to extend that thinking. (FL)

In the traditional alphabet, 26 letters represent 40 different and distinct sounds of the spoken English language in transcription. This prevents a one-to-one phoneme-grapheme correspondence since some of the written symbols represent more than one sound. These inconsistencies in the writing system, recognized as the source of difficulty in…

In order to help kindergartners and first graders who need extra work on their literacy skills, this book offers a plan for teaching phonemic awareness and letter sound correspondence. The plan in the book is a developmentally sequenced, 11-week program to give students repeated opportunities to practice and enhance their beginning reading and…

This final report, covering the period September 1, 1997 to August 31, 2001, discusses the development, activities, and outcomes of Upgrading Preparatory Work To Augment Reading Development: UPWARD for Students with Disabilities, a multi-faceted program for providing children with disabilities intensive, phonological awareness and other early…

This thesis examined variations in the word decoding skills of children with reading disabilities. These variations were related to possible cognitive, developmental, and environmental causes of reading disability. Possible implications for educational interventions were also analyzed in the five studies. The thesis critically examines the…

Highly skilled and less skilled readers read words and numbers aloud as rapidly as possible. Less skilled readers were slower and less accurate on both tasks showing that the need to encode and process order information may be related to reading disabilities. This hypothesis was tested by using paired-associate learning. (Author/RD)

Cites the case of Hebrew learning in Israel to show that, contrary to popular belief, the complexity of grapho-phonetic relationships is a minor or nonexistent factor in learning difficulties. (FL)

An experiment in which teachers attempted to read basal readers encoded in Greek orthography suggests that using such materials helps teachers consider ways of fostering reading strategies, think about the nature of reading as a psycholinguistic process, and remember how it feels to be a beginning reader. (GT)

Using a multiple baseline across students design, the effects of an integrated picture mnemonic strategy on the letter-sound acquisition of three transitional first-grade students with special needs were investigated. Follow-up data indicated the method was an effective instructional technique and that results were maintained over time. (Author/DB)