During the last 2 decades, major advances have been made in understanding the development of executive functions (EFs) in early childhood. This article reviews the EF literature during the preschool period using an integrative framework. The framework adopted considers EF to be a unitary construct with partially dissociable components (A. Miyake…

Argues that Piagetian theory does not support the use of a code-breaking approach to teaching children to read prior to the advent of concrete operations. Suggests that primary instructional emphasis with these children should be placed upon the meaning-getting aspects of reading. (FL)

After considering the advent of knowledge about prereading from a longitudinal perspective, this report then reviews the research on preschool children's attempts to read and offers a discussion of cross-sectional research on both prereading and beginning reading. The discussion is organized in terms of three hypothesized strands of prereading:…

Reviews research pertaining to metalinguistic awareness in young children; examines issues related to the direction of cause between metalinguistic abilities and reading, disparities in research methodology between studies, and commercial instruments perporting to measure metalinguistic knowledge; and offers implications for reading instruction…

Notes that brain research completed in recent years has shed light on the process of learning to read, then reviews that research and makes suggestions about what it means for instruction. (FL)

Notes that little research has been undertaken into the effects of anthropomorphism on children's reading and presents questions concerning the use of this device in beginning reading materials. (FL)

Describes a procedure for assessing a beginning reader's knowledge of the spoken word/written word match in reading. (FL)

Presents an example of one five-year-old child's efforts to learn to read. Concludes that teachers can make learning to read easier by knowing the interests of their students and by providing them with books and other materials that stimulate those interests. (FL)

Reviews recent research and concludes that it supports a continued and pragmatic developmental analysis of the processes involved in beginning reading. Discusses the instructional implications of this research. (FL)

Explains new research findings about how children learn letter-sound correspondences, relates the findings to whole-language reading instruction, and outlines a theory for how children acquire the letter-sound system without direct instruction in phonics. Describes recent findings on phonological processes involved in learning letter-sound…

Noting that viewing reading as a communicative act can heighten educators' awareness of the ways in which one story can be embedded within another, this report presents and discusses several examples of stories within stories. The report discusses the various participants communicating in a story within a story--the real and implied authors and…

Jean Piaget's theory seems to lend support to reading specialists who believe that concrete operational thought constitutes a necessary and sufficient condition for learning to read. Preoperational children cannot deal with the complex relationships inherent in reading because they are tied perceptually to the immediate situation or…

Providing information about the interrelationships among learning, teaching, and the act of reading, this book serves as a guide for gaining an understanding of the psychological bases of the reading process. The 11 chapters discuss the following topics: (1) language and intellectual development during the formative years; (2) the aspects of child…

The development of certain cognitive skills to a certain level may be necessary to acquire beginning reading skills. A review of research on cognitive skill development and beginning reading revealed that only a few studies investigated the need for ascertaining the presence of some cognitive processing abilities before reading instruction is…

Reflecting the interdisciplinary emphasis that reading comprehension has received during the past decade, the articles in this volume deal with both the processes involved in reading and the instructional practices used in teaching it. The six articles devoted to reading processes deal specifically with the following topics: schemata,…