Emergent reading attempts of 24 children at the beginning of their kindergarten year are content analyzed in light of theoretical considerations about general and language development. In addition, the reading attempts of two-, three-, and four-year olds are examined. Comparison of data reveal a developmental progress across age-levels. (HOD)

Lists 27 suggestions for improving reading, including asking for educated guesses at unknown words and reading with children while holding the book so that children can see the words. (DF)

Explains some of the objectives for a pre-first-grade reading program, describes what children know about oral and written language before they come to school, expresses some professional concerns about pre-first-grade reading programs, and offers recommendations for improvement. (HOD)

This report presents results from an analysis of the long-term benefits and costs of Success for All (SFA), a school reform program that focuses on promoting early reading success among educationally at-risk students. The program was piloted and implemented in Baltimore elementary schools. This analysis tracks the educational outcomes through…

A study of young children's use of literature during free play, of the physical design of library corners, and of teacher's literature activities found positive correlations among these elements. Observations of nursery school classrooms revealed that many lacked inviting library corners and that many teachers did not sufficiently encourage…

The "shared book experience," a teaching model developed in New Zealand to introduce Pacific Island children to literacy education, is described. The model, based on use of popular children's books, teaches children to master literacy skills the way they master spoken language. Research on early pre-reading behavior is discussed. (PP)

Reviews research pertaining to various aspects of early cognitive development in deaf children. (CM)

Reports findings from 2 studies investigating the social practice of book reading in the homes of 10 mainstream New Zealand families. Finds that with unfamiliar storybooks both adults and children aged 3 and 4 initiated insertions most often focused on the meaning of the immediate text rather than on print or illustrations. (KEH)

One hundred thirteen kindergartners and first graders completed phonological awareness (PA) tasks designed to separate task difficulty from linguistic complexity. Comparison of these results with measures of early literacy suggests that PA measured by differences in linguistic complexity seems more closely related to the single factor on which…

Examined a kindergarten teacher's implementation of a whole-language program and her students' responses to questions about reading, such as, Can you read? What can you read? What is reading? and When did you learn to read? Seventy-five percent of the children indicated that they had learned to read during kindergarten or when they were…

At 30 months, children who were later considered dyslexic were deficient in length, sytactic complexity, and pronunciation of spoken language. At three years, children were deficit in receptive vocabulary and object-naming, and at five years, in phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge. These deficits were not found in normal reading children…

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the effect of American Sign Language (ASL) instruction on typical hearing kindergarten children's literacy in four specific areas: receptive English vocabulary, expressive English vocabulary, ASL ability, and English emergent reading level. The research was specifically modeled after a 1997 United…

The aim of the current research was to examine pre-service, general and special education teachers' attitudes to and knowledge of metalinguistics (awareness of language structure) in the process of learning to read. Effective teachers of reading, writing, and spelling need to understand the relationship between speech and print because these basic…

The purpose of this report is to provide education professors teaching early literacy methods courses with information for beginning teachers to support struggling first-grade readers. This analysis identifies the specific word structures children are expected to know by the end of first grade, and shows the actual learning rates of these…