The importance of letter sound knowledge (LSK) as a precursor to later literacy skills has been well-documented. Since English language learners (ELLs), or students who first acquired a language other than English, continue to underperform in reading compared to their English-speaking peers, they are particularly at-risk for reading and academic…

Fundamental research has indicated that (a) difficulties in reading are linked to a deficit in phonemic awareness and word reading and (b) in French, decoding and word reading are based on the syllable as a functional unit. A software program involving two tasks, namely, phonemic discrimination and grapho-syllabic segmentation, was proposed to…

Two groups of freshman students, enrolled in a Vocabulary I and Reading I courses, participated in the study. Before instruction, both groups took a recognition (vocabulary) and a production (oral reading) pre-test. Comparisons of the pre-test scores showed no significant differences between the experimental and control group in decoding skills…

The current study developed a taxonomy of reading skills and compared this taxonomy with skills being trained in 30 commercially available software programs designed to teach emergent literacy or literacy-specific skills for children in preschool, kindergarten, and Grade 1. Outcomes suggest that, although some skills are being trained in a…

The present study aimed to examine the relationship between letter processing and word processing skills in deaf and hearing readers. The participants were 105 students (51 of them hearing, 54 of them deaf) who were evenly and randomly recruited from two levels of education (primary = 3rd-4th graders; middle = 6th-7th graders). The students were…

The focus of the present study was on the mediation and moderation effects of reading processes as evidenced from eye movements on the relation between cognitive and linguistic student characteristics (word decoding, vocabulary, comprehension skill, short-term memory, working memory, and nonverbal intelligence) and text comprehension. Forty 4th…

In grade 1, Danish students used a talking book with TTS (text-to-speech) and participated in a learning design with emphasis on decoding and reading for meaning in written text. The students all read the same unfamiliar text, which for many of the students would traditionally be considered being at their frustration level. Basing the intervention…

This article presents results from an initial investigation of Greek oral reading fluency and prosody. Although currently held perspectives consider reading the product of reading decoding and reading comprehension, there is enough evidence (both Greek and foreign) to suggest that other variables may affect reading, as well. Such variables include…

The literacy skills of deaf children generally lag behind those of their hearing peers. The mechanisms of reading in deaf individuals are only just beginning to be unraveled but it seems that native language skills play an important role. In this study 12 deaf pupils (six in grades 1-2 and six in grades 4-6) at a Swedish state primary school for…

A phonics-based reading curriculum in which students used an iPad to respond was created for students with developmental disabilities not able to verbally participate in traditional phonics instruction due to their use of augmentative and assistive communication. Time delay and a system of least prompts used in conjunction with text-to-speech…

Many secondary school students struggle to read complex expository text such as science textbooks. This article provides step-by-step guidance on how to foster expository reading for struggling readers in secondary school science classes. Two strategies are introduced: Text-to-Speech (TTS) Software as a reading compensatory strategy and the…

Microsoft PowerPoint software is widely used in business and higher education and is growing in use with school-aged students. A small body of research has demonstrated that it can be effective in enhancing skill instruction for individuals with disabilities. PowerPoint is not a difficult program to learn, but it provides endless possibilities for…

This is the second of two issues focused on teaching beginning reading skills to adults--both native and non-native English speakers. According to the latest research in reading, one of the best strategies for improving reading skills is systematic, explicit instruction in decoding skills or phonics. Although many critics have argued that the…

This paper describes studies at the University of Colorado, where children with reading problems read stories/books on talking computers using DECtalk. Supported by accurate word feedback, the children's word recognition and phonological decoding have improved. Projects using computer speech programs in a spelling program, home-based reading…

This pilot study investigated the efficacy of "Phonics Alive 2: The Sound Blender", a computer-based phonological skills training program, delivered with both at-home and at-school components over a 10-week period, as a potential treatment of phonological dyslexia. Participants were 20 dyslexic primary students with an average delay of…