Examined impact of phonological-awareness training with or without explicit attention to articulation and with or without manipulation of sounds. Subjects were 7- to 11-year olds with reading difficulties. Found that children in all training conditions outperformed controls on all tests except math. Individual differences in response related to…

Twenty-six Finnish at-risk first-graders received practice in linguistic awareness. When compared to controls on phonological awareness, listening comprehension, and WISC-R scores, the intervention group showed a more rapid building-up of phonological awareness, especially phoneme-blending ability, as well as superiority in word recognition,…

Discusses the long-standing tension between code emphasis and meaning emphasis approaches to reading instruction. The swing from phonics to whole language and back again is described. Collaboration between remedial specialists and regular education teachers to reduce the incidence of children who require special help is urged. (Author/CR)

Presents evidence of learning outcomes in reading from the use of software incorporating two very different styles of learning, structured sub-skills tutoring (using an Integrated Learning System) versus free reading (using a talking book), but which both heavily exploit multimedia presentation. Shows that current debates about whole-word versus…

A study explored the effectiveness and feasibility of phonological awareness (PA) training with and without beginning decoding components for 25 kindergartners with disabilities in inclusive schools. Students with special needs participating in PA with beginning decoding instruction did better than those just receiving PA and controls. (Contains…

The first-grade components of three textbook programs--mainstream basal, combined phonics and literature, and phonics emphasis--were compared on cognitive load (e.g., number of different words) and linguistic content (e.g., number of monosyllabic, simple vowel words). Three levels of three components of a program--literature anthologies, decodable…

American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students are often labeled as struggling readers based on the results of large-scale standardized tests yet little empirical data about specific strengths and needs exists. In the present study we looked beyond high-stakes assessment to highlight reading strengths and needs for a group of fourth grade American…

This study compared the efficacy of two decoding skill-based programs, one based on explicit orthographic rime and one on grapheme--phoneme correspondences, to a control group exposed to an implicit phonics program. Children in both explicit decoding programs performed consistently better than the control group in the accuracy with which they read…

The authors conducted a synthetic review of the research literature on the reading development and reading instruction of deaf students and compared their findings to the review of research literature conducted by the National Reading Panel (NRP) on four topic areas: (a) alphabetics (phonemic awareness instruction and phonics instruction); (b)…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a phonologically based reading program delivered to first- through sixth-grade impaired readers (N=115) in small groups. Post-tests after program completion found the program resulted in significantly better phonological awareness, decoding, reading accuracy, comprehension, and spelling. Improved skills…

The Ministry of National Education in Turkey initiated a new early reading instruction method in 2004. Analytical approach (Whole Language), as defined in the curriculum, was abandoned and phoneme based approach (Phonics) was introduced. This research has a two year longitudinal perspective and aims to collect the opinions of teachers about the…

CD-ROM storybooks can support the development of the five essential elements of reading instruction identified by The National Reading Panel: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Specific features inherent in these texts, audio pronunciation of text, embedded vocabulary definitions and animated graphics can be used…

The purpose of this article is to question the amount of time that beginning readers should spend reading connected text in school. Based on a study of 66 children in 26 classrooms, the authors found that children in first-grade classrooms with "less" reading of connected text achieved more in their phonics learning than children in classrooms…

Based on the research on invented and developmental spelling, this book provides a practical way for teachers to study words with students. The framework of the book is keyed to the five stages of spelling or orthographic development so that it complements the use of any existing phonics, spelling, and vocabulary curriculums. The book presents…

Intended for those practitioners and parents who have heard the term "whole language" but who really know little or nothing about it, this booklet looks at the learning or acquisition of language, which includes the processes of thinking, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Chapters in the book, after an introduction, are, as…