In a test-driven educational environment, teachers see a great need for more engaging resources that produce the literacy results needed for students to thrive academically. In 2015, The National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that only 36% of fourth graders scored at or above the Proficient level of reading. This statistic was…

The genetic factor structure of a range of learning measures was explored in twin children, recruited in preschool and followed to Grade 2 ("N"?=?2,084). Measures of orthographic learning and word reading were included in the analyses to determine how these patterned with the learning processes. An exploratory factor analysis of the…

First grade children were the subjects for this investigation which focused on the role of meaning in the learning of sight vocabulary. (HOD)

There are basically two different models for the word recognition process. One model postulates that a reader primarily uses sound/symbol cues to recognize a word; a second model states that a reader focuses mainly on whole-word characteristics. To determine which model best fits beginning and adult readers, a multiple regression analysis was…

Describes encoding and decoding processes as related to the true code of sounds and sound groupings in words. (MD)

Research investigating vocabulary and comprehension achievement, intelligence quotients, and reading error analysis indicates that dependence on within-word (intraword) characteristics is more important for beginning reading success than is reliance on between-word (interword) analysis. (CJ)

The grapho-linguistic approach to teaching reading involves the labeling of self-initiated graphic images reinforced by the copying of the written labels, which helps the child to understand the transference of meaning from the object to its name to its written name. The best time to start labeling strategies is when the child draws recognizable…

The effects of phonic blend training on word decoding were compared in two groups of 4-year-old children, one that was proficient at segmenting syllables into individual phonemes in terms of the Fox-Routh test and another group that did not have this proficiency. (BJG)

Studies the graphemic-phonemic associations that are formed during the acquisition and subsequent retention of beginning reading responses and evaluates the heuristic value of viewing the formation of these associations as a classical conditioning response. (HOD)

Submits that children recognize their first words in a different way than they later decode. Compares the hypothesis that sight words are recognized as wholes to the hypothesis that sight words are recognized as parts. Finds support for the idea that first words are recognized by "selective association." (BS)

The relationship between paradigmatic and syntagmatic oral associates and reading readiness test scores was investigated. Paradigmatic associates were defined as responses demonstrating superordinate, coordinate, contrast, or part-whole relationships, and syntagmatic associates were defined as any other responses. Subjects were 52 first graders…

Points out that oral reading involves visual, auditory, and kinesthetic perception and that it is impossible to divide reading methods into auditory and visual categories. Discusses the need to discover whether a child's perceptual abilities are directly related to his learning propensities and lists several other areas of needed research.…

Because vocabulary control in children's reading materials is largely based on vocabulary lists and studies which are now obsolete, new areas of learning are being considered for developing beginning reading materials. Instead of basing vocabulary lists on frequency counts and adult reading materials, the three approaches examined here are…

A no-cost, easy to use technique for increasing the reading vocabulary of beginning readers is described in this report. A large number of common words can be elicited from children in a word-association game, to which children respond with words that are highly meaningful to them, and often to their culture. The children then use these words to…