This study describes trajectories of early literacy skill development of 99 children (n = 55 boys) in their first year of primary school in New Zealand (NZ). Children were assessed twice weekly for 8 weeks on Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS; Good & Kaminski, 2011) First Sound Fluency (FSF) and AIMSweb Letter Sound…

School efforts to engage parents are posited to influence whether and how they are involved in their children's schooling. The authors examined educators' engagement efforts in beginning reading, their subjective evaluations of engagement practices, and beliefs about parent involvement, in two stratified samples of New Zealand elementary school…

Beginning readers in shallow orthographies acquire word reading skills more quickly than in deep orthographies like English. In addition to extending this evidence base by comparing reading acquisition in English with the more transparent German, we conducted a longitudinal study and investigated whether different early reading skills made…

A New Zealand (NZ) version of Word Identification Fluency (NZWIF) was administered to 120 children in their second school year at the beginning, middle, and end of the year, along with a curriculum-based measure of oral passage reading fluency at mid- and end-year. Outcome measures included standardized and high-stakes school-used indicators of…

This study examined if professional development with teachers would increase children's literacy skills in low socioeconomic early childhood settings in New Zealand and would lead to changes in teachers' beliefs and practices and children's abilities over an 8 week intervention period. Research indicates that children who have alphabetic and…

Australia and New Zealand have a literacy rate of 99% (Human Development Index). Each country has a national curriculum where early literacy is the main emphasis. The author visited public schools in Australia and New Zealand to observe teaching methods utilized in teaching reading and writing. Some impressions were noted while observing in these…

Investigates how a select group of New Zealand teachers organize their classrooms for reading instruction to avoid the pitfalls that may be associated with ability grouping and yet meet the needs of students of diverse backgrounds and abilities. Offers 3 fundamental reasons why these groups may provide effective contexts for learning as one part…

This article presents an interview with Don Holdaway, early childhood educator and originator of "shared book experience." The article first provides a brief summary of themes embodied in Holdaway's first book, "The Foundations of Literacy." It then presents the interview with Holdaway, discussing literacy learning, big books,…

Results of a New Zealand survey showed that parents were interested in their children's reading progress but were not aware of the teaching strategies they could use to reinforce school learning. (GT)

Examines relations between academic self-concept (ASC) and measures of reading-related performance and self-concept in 60 beginning school children who were assessed as having positive, negative, or typical ASCs. Data reveals that children with negative ASCs performed poorly on reading-related tasks and reported more negative reading self-concepts…

Previous studies have shown that phonological awareness correlates with children's reading aloud and also adults' literacy experience. More recent research has further suggested that phonological awareness is associated with the processing of spoken language, which is a correlate of reading comprehension. In this paper, I argue that phonological…

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)

Taking into account what research says about getting all children off to a better start in becoming literate, this booklet discusses recent "cutting-edge" research in the area of reading and spelling acquisition, focusing on the practical implications. The first part of the booklet notes what happens in the homes of early readers,…

A case study of a New Zealand educator's 14-year efforts to apply reading theory to reading instruction is described in this paper. The project was begun in 1962 to find out if teachers could observe the process of learning to read going awry within a few months of the child's entry into school, and to seek ways of correcting that trend if…

A comprehensive overview of important contemporary issues in the field of reading research, this book presents 47 essays that examine literacy through a variety of lenses--some permitting microscopic views and others panoramic views. Essays in the book cover current methodology as well as cumulative research-based knowledge. Essays in Part I…