A study examined whether parents begin to diminish the amount of time spent reading aloud to their children once the children begin to learn how to read. Subjects, 395 parents with children in first through fourth grades, responded to a survey about their read aloud sessions with their children. Results indicated that as children began to learn…

A study investigated whether trade books labeled "easy reader" consistently conform to specific sight word lists and to what degree the vocabulary in those books matches that in K-2 basals. Ten "easy reader" books were chosen at random from each of three publishers. Three popular sight word lists were matched separately to…

A language screening test and a standardized reading test were administered to 41 first grade children to determine if there was a significant correlation between language ability and reading achievement as measured by the tests. The tests were hand scored and the results analyzed using the Pearson product moment correlation. The findings…

Repeated readings are a common, recommended practice for beginning readers. A study compared the gains made by high level and low level ability first grade readers in reading fluency. An initial reading of text at a second grade reading level was audiotaped and analyzed for rate and accuracy. This was followed by four readings, including a…

Results of the examination of teacher's manuals, grades one through four, that accompany a number of basal reading series used in schools in Staten Island, New York, indicated that although teacher's manuals included many phonic rules, none of the examined texts gave any utility or frequency data or cited any research studies to support the…

This study investigated the effect on word recognition of supplementing a beginning reading program with instruction in distinctive features of alphabet letters. Subjects, 11 first grade students in the experimental sample and 10 first grade students in the control sample in Short Hills, New Jersey, were administered a test of word recognition (20…

A study examined whether the use of a listening station (comprised of books on tapes) would have a positive effect upon the reading interest of first graders. Subjects, 18 first grade children who were randomly selected from three reading groups in a suburban community school, were equally divided into an experimental and a control sample. While…

Selections from the last three basal reading series produced by the Houghton Mifflin Company were examined to determine what improvements were made. One of the fundamental changes occurring in the 1971 revision ("Readers") was the replacement of grade designations with numerical levels that provided a better match between student and…

An action research project described a program for teaching students beginning reading strategies that will help them to become independent readers. The targeted population consisted of first grade elementary students in a growing middle class community located in a suburb of a large metropolitan area in the Midwest. The problems of beginning…

This study investigated parents' knowledge of their child's emergent literacy development by administering parent questionnaires that examined parents' beliefs of literacy learning and the early writing and reading experiences of preschool children in their home. A total of 115 questionnaires were administered to parents with children enrolled in…

An experiment was developed under the assumption that learning about word families could help ease the introduction of short vowels to first grade students. The hypothesis was that teaching the word families would increase students' reading vocabulary, in contrast to the learning acquired by students taught only phonetic analysis. The control…

A study was conducted to determine whether the expressed reading interests of third grade students corresponded with the topics in their basal readers. Students indicated on an interest survey the kinds of stories they liked to read. Two fourth grade basal readers were analyzed--"Time to Wonder" by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, and "Clearing Paths"…

In order to see if an extended-day kindergarten program has a greater effect than a half-day kindergarten program on reading achievement in the first-grade, a study compared standardized test scores of two different groups of first-grade students. Subjects, a group of 44 students who had participated in a half-day kindergarten program and a second…

A study was conducted to determine the effects of word imagery on the retention of sight vocabulary. It was hypothesized that in an urban, low income area first grade class there would be no significant difference between the acquisition and retention rates of high imagery words and those of low imagery words. Using one group of high imagery words…

Twenty-four beginning readers participated in a study of the effectiveness of cued learning. The study was carried out in two phases--a letter-learning phase and a word-learning phase. The children were taught one at a time by the same teacher over a four-year period. During the word-learning phase, one fourth of the children used a vowels-only…