In its current adoptions of reading series for the elementary grades, California has chosen literature-based programs rather than the more traditional basal readers. A study investigated whether the contents of such readers for grades K-3 truly consist solely of literary selections, since it is well-recognized that quality books carry heavy…

This paper summarizes the successes and failures of the Plato Elementary Reading Curriculum Project, a computer-assisted instructional system funded by the National Science Foundation from 1971 to 1976. The paper discusses what the project did, the types of hardware that were used, how lessons were designed, the two approaches that were taken…

Japanese preschool children begin to read at home at age four without any formal instruction or reading readiness programs, and the development of their reading abilities in the preschool stage is mainly up to the parents. A new reading program will be needed for the sake of children with parents who are not sufficiently concerned about reading.…

The voice of the government via the Reading Excellence Act gives the message that direct systematic intense phonics instruction will solve the reading problem, end debate, lead to student success in life beyond school, and provide teachers with the prestige of successful reading instruction. This paper takes a close look at systematic direct…

While vowels are not consistent at the single-letter level, they tend to be more consistent in letter clusters or higher order units. Therefore, a program designed to teach reading without resorting to teaching single-vowel mappings has been developed. The reading program involves teaching single consonants, selected whole words, and higher order…

An elementary school in Texas has developed a program of reading instruction that immediately provides early readers with ample reading opportunities and materials rather than constraining them with "reading readiness" assessment. Initially, the absence of sufficient reinforcement material in the basal readers required increased amounts of reading…

The development of a psychology of instruction calls for qualitative, as well as quantitative, information about curriculum components. An analysis of selected instructional sequences of the New Primary Grades Reading System, a reading acquisition curriculum for five and six year olds, was performed by applying appropriate category systems from…

This paper is a discursive presentation of results of an examination of comprehension instruction provided by widely used basal reader series. Focusing on selections in the first three grades of the 1976 Houghton Mifflin Reading Series, the analyses looked at the sorts of selections the students are asked to read, at the amount of text which they…

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…

Studies by the Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction and others reveal that teacher characteristics account for beginning readers' performance more than do program characteristics. To be most successful in acquiring reading skills, pupils need teachers who provide enough time for practice in skills, who can prompt (model, demonstrate) the…

An attempt to build on oral language programs--such as the language experience approach--by adding a written language component and a phonics component, to make transition to reading more meaningful and reading skill development more systematic, was undertaken in the study described here. The program, called DIREKT, was conducted by two…

Data are presented on the use of the Monterey Reading program, a multilevel individualized approach to teaching basic reading skills and improving decoding skills, with 21 hearing impaired students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) school system. The Monterey program is further explained to provide built in reinforcement, measurable feedback for…

Intended to help educators explain an instructional program to parents, this document presents and discusses the following ten statements reflecting traditional views about teaching reading: (1) Reading is a simple, passive mental process. (2) An efficient reader pronounces every word in the passage. (3) When children come to an unfamiliar word,…

Monster Moose (MM) Reading is a program specifically aimed at improving children's language, beginning reading, and self-concept development through the creation and utilization of student-authored reading materials which feature a series of wordless picture books about a magical moose. The MM Program is based on the following general principles…

In an effort to determine differences between the reading scores of students taught by a traditional basal approach and a more structured direct instruction approach, 31 problem readers from two first grade classrooms in a low income Southeastern rural community were examined and tested over a year-long period. The two groups were found to be…