The basic reading skills learned in the primary grades do not equip students with sufficient skills to read everything they need to read through school. Hence all teachers, regardless of the grade level or subject they teach, should know what the fundamental reading skills are and how to teach them to children who need help with increasingly more…

The Wisconsin Design for Reading Skill Development is a skill-centered approach to reading instruction in the elementary school. Skills in six areas have been identified: word attack, comprehension, study skills, self-directed reading, interpretive reading, and creative reading. The Design provides behavioral objectives and criterion-referenced…

Employee and facilitator manuals are provided for two courses developed for a workplace literacy program: Communications on the Job I and II. Each 10-session course begins with a preassessment and ends with a postassessment. Components of each 2-hour session are objectives, informational materials, and problems or exercises. The facilitator copies…

Originally developed as part of a project for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on the role of vocabulary in reading and learning is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes an overview of the project; a comprehensive search of the ERIC…

This guide, developed in British Columbia, is intended to help tutors teach literacy skills to adults. In nine chapters, it covers the basics of teaching reading and writing to adults, through short case histories, anecdotes, and information about adult learning. The chapters cover the following topics: (1) the joys of tutoring; (2) getting to…

This test is intended to assist teachers and volunteer tutors working with adult beginning readers in assessing students' reading needs when beginning a reading program and determining their progress after receiving reading instruction. The three-part pretest and three-part posttest each include sections to assess students' sight vocabularies and…

Focusing on research about children's acquisition of reading and spelling skills, this paper discusses the larger picture of reading acquisition, issues addressed by research, and results of this research. The paper cites numerous studies on the subject, including studies on whether environmental print experiences enable young children to process…

The report drawn from the third annual conference that was designed to provide professional dialogue for those concerned with the improvement of college reading programs, this volume contains ten papers that deal with the following topics: the certification of reading teachers, diagnosing the reading needs of college students, a multimedia…

The findings of several tests are used to describe some learning disabilities and patterns common in lower-class Puerto Rican and Negro children. In particular, perceptual dysfunction is pointed to as a major causal factor in the reading problems of the disadvantaged. In one urban slum school, 40 percent of first graders showed serious dysfunction…

The instructional concept guide is part of a system developed for tutor training and support. It is primarily designed for volunteers, but it can also be adapted to the training of paraprofessional tutors for any type of adult literacy program. A key component in the system is the Tutor Support Library, consisting of Instructional Concept Guides…

After a brief review of some of the literature in the teaching of language arts skills to disadvantaged children, suggestions for classroom activities are offered that lead to the following objectives: (1) Listening Skills--to develop the ability to perceive words, comprehend oral language, and evaluate information presented; (2) Oral Skills--to…

Use of the syllable as a unit for initial acquisition of reading is advocated. It is argued that since English alphabetic writing is based on a mapping between sound-stream and symbol, a decoding approach is necessary at early stages of the acquisition process. However, conventional phonics methods confound two very difficult tasks in initial…

Approximately 100 national spelling bee finalists and their parents were surveyed concerning their early literacy experiences and spelling practices. The fourth-eighth grade spellers showed an early interest in language activities; passed through developmental spelling stages earlier than average; and mastered words via visual memory strategies,…

A curricular and instructional framework for increasing the vocabulary skills of diverse learners is described. Areas of convergence in research literature on vocabulary learning and diverse learners are noted, and two recommendations based on these areas of convergence are offered: interventions to address the vocabulary delays of diverse…

Developed by the ABCs of Construction National Workplace Literacy Project, these seven workbooks are designed to enhance the basic skills of pipefitters. Reading and Solving Basic Pipefitting Problems #1 defines and uses eight basic terms pipefitters need to know, reviews steps a pipefitter must take to identify and solve a simple pipefitting…