Examines the influence that oral language deficits exert on children's ability to learn to read and to develop reading skills. Discusses evidence that points to deficient phonological awareness as the variable that best discriminates children with reading delay. The effects of deficit phonological awareness are described. (Author/CR)

Examines the interrelationships among different enabling skills among children in Latvian kindergartens, and considers how various enabling skills (phonemic awareness, naming, and short-term memory) contribute to explain unique variance in early reading acquisition. Concludes that phonemic awareness seems to be the paramount skill related to…

Elaborates the view that phonological recoding, or print-to-sound translation, is a self-teaching mechanism enabling learners to acquire the orthographic representations necessary for visual word recognition. Discusses developmental properties of phonological recoding, reviews evidence on the importance of cognitive abilities underlying the…

Maintains that practitioners have a goldmine of evidence upon which to design effective educational programs for beginning and problem readers. Outlines current knowledge of the beginning stages of reading acquisition for both normal and problem readers and relates this knowledge to current language arts curricular practices. (BS)

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)

Discusses three children who successfully learned phonics in three very different instructional settings (conventional, whole language, and tutoring in a learning center). Notes that the children developed in similar ways, yet at different rates; the teachers nudged the learners toward literacy development; and writing was a part of the curriculum…

Using an identify matching-to-sample procedure, three typical prereaders who matched individual letters with high accuracy did not show high accuracy in matching three-letter printed words that differed only in the first letter. Teachers cautioned against assuming the children who can discriminate between individual letters can also discriminate…

Examined effectiveness and feasibility of phonological awareness training, with and without a beginning decoding component. Teachers were assigned randomly to three groups: control, phonological awareness training, and phonological awareness training with beginning decoding instruction and practice. Group differences were identified at the end of…

An extensive research base on beginning reading acquisition and reading difficulties, developed over the past few decades, has important implications for the teaching of reading. Unfortunately, much of this research does not appear to be reaching teachers, whose knowledge is essential for scientific findings about reading to benefit children. This…

Many individuals who work with young children between birth and age 8 assume that literacy activities must be planned and executed as elaborate, formal lessons. The increasing pressure seeping through national accountability measures and the renewed focus on early literacy is trickling down to this age group. The Division for Early Childhood of…

This article considers the role of the basic cognitive unit, called the "story engram," in young children's learning to read, including children ranging in ability from severe mental retardation to giftedness. It illustrates how the "Ball-Stick-Bird" method of beginning reading can facilitate this process because of the…

The primary task of all teachers at all grade levels in all disciplines should be to identify the poor reader and find assistance for that student. "Sink or swim" thinking, which permits nonreaders to advance through the school grade hierarchy and into society, must be phased out of the educational consciousness of the nation. Recent research has…

The three articles in this monograph describe and analyze the graphoneme (a closed syllable that begins with a vowel and ends with a consonant, semivowel, or silent "e") and its usefulness in the teaching of reading. The first article discusses the graphoneme concept as a systemized approach to initial reading instruction, while the…

To determine the degree of emphasis on phonics instruction necessary for beginning readers, a study was conducted involving five pairs of four-year-old monozygotic twins. Randomly selected twins from each pair were exposed to two different levels of phonics instruction. In one group, the reduced treatment group, only one sound equivalent per…

The purpose of this 233-item annotated bibliography is to present relevant research addressing the primary subskills in the word decoding task. The topical areas of investigation are auditory discrimination, visual discrimination, auditory-visual integration, blending, and cognitive processing of information. An introduction and a cross-referenced…