The British experiment with the Initial Teaching Alphabet was in its third year at the time of this report on the effectiveness of i.t.a. as a beginning reading program. Two groups of students were compared; one that started learning to read with i.t.a. and one that started with t.o. (traditional orthography). Reading and spelling tests were…

Describes a reading program for disadvantaged students that utilizes the child's background and experiences and language in beginning reading instruction. (TO)

Television output in the United Kingdom is limited to three main channels. Two of these are controlled by a public corporation, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC); one is operated by a number of commercial companies under the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). Both the BBC and IBA have expanded their educational output in recent…

Examines the relationship between pre-school reading and reading achievement among 343 seven year-old students. Pre-school reading scores were significantly related to word matching ability, concepts about print, letter identification, word reading, and oral vocabulary. (RKM)

Reports on the use of reading schemes in British infant schools, as indicated by survey responses of 631 infant school heads. Notes that most schools adopt a similar policy to beginning reading, using one principal reading scheme that is supplemented by a varying number of other schemes. (GT)

Describes LETTERLAND, a unique teaching model that blends a structured phonics approach with whole-language teaching and is widely used in British classrooms as an initial approach to literacy as well as in special needs contexts. (HTH)

Within alphabetic languages, spelling-to-sound consistency can differ dramatically. For example, English and German are very similar in their phonological and orthographic structure but not in their consistency. In English the letter "a" is pronounced differently in the words "bank," "ball," and "park,"…

The 1993 Education Act in Great Britain presents classroom teachers and special educational needs coordinators with fresh challenges with students who have reading and writing failure. Improved initial training of primary teachers is needed so they are equipped to address manifest reading and spelling difficulties, predict where problems can…

Describes a teacher's development of a "book-share" reading program for nursery school children which involves students, parents, and teacher in a process of sharing books, responses to books, and concerns about reading skills. Suggests that such a program increases children's confidence about reading. (ARH)

Contends that the methods used to measure literacy development of young British children lag behind understanding of how that literacy develops. Argues for new measures to assess children's early literacy, including their ways of responding to environmental print, sharing books and stories, and early writing. Discusses the placement of assessment…

The 38 essays in this book look back at language experience as an educational approach, provide practical classroom applications, and reconceptualize language experience as an overarching education process. Classroom teachers and reading specialists describe strategies in use in a variety of classroom settings and describe ways to integrate…

Describes a project in which parents were asked to write comments about the picture books their children were reading at home. Contains samples of parent comments. (DF)

Reports on a study which investigated the possibility of improving five-year-olds' critical thinking skills in reading and mathematics by using computers. Results indicate improvement in the reading area but not in the mathematics area. (RKM)

This pack provides material for new tutors who are beginning to be involved in literacy work with adults. The activities can be used in one-to-one or small group situations and include a range of suggestions for beginning learners and those needing to brush up on their skills. This pack contains nine sections. Section 1 provides ideas for helping…

The vocabularies of five- to eight-year-old blind children were sampled to help develop a graded series of braille reading books. Lists of words in alphabetic and frequency order are presented. (See TM 504 595 for availability). (Author/CTM)