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…

Some of the basic sight word lists which are being used or which might be extensively implemented in the future are described in this paper. The basic criterion used to define a good sight word list is that it contains words which appear with high frequency in children's materials at the beginning reading levels as well as at higher levels. In…

This paper analyzes evidence related to the effectiveness of vowel generalization from two viewpoints: the nature of letter-sound and sound-letter relationships as derived from Dewey, Hanna, and Hillerich, and the nature of these relationships as derived from results of teaching vowel generalizations to children. From the evidence and the research…

Reports three experiments conducted to examine the ability of beginning readers (in kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2) to categorize short front vowel sounds in familiar spoken words and to determine whether learning spellings of these vowel sounds improved the accuracy of their classifications. Discusses implications for learning to read and…

Claims that even though teaching phonics is an effective method of reading instruction, the skills taught by phonics have little to do with the process of reading acquisition. Offers two methods of resolving the paradoxes generated by this situation. (NH)

Compares the ability of children at three different levels to use analogy in reading both real and nonsense words. Shows young children can successfully use analogy to decode new words. (HOD)

This study examined the effects of phonemic analysis and synthesis on a reading analog task. Kindergarteners (n=31) who could not segment syllables into phonemes were assigned to a control group, segmenting training, or segmenting and blending training. Results suggest phonemic awareness skills are causally related to learning to read. (Author/BS)

This paper describes the results of a study assessing the impact on field independence-dependence of decoding as a component of reading instruction for 225 first graders. Such drill appears to affect the ability to disembed, a component of field independence-dependence, but not to affect the ability to identify vertically. (Author)

Educators and politicians in Texas have played significant roles in pushing early reading instruction from one extreme position to another through shifts in textbook adoption requirements. These policy actions are shaping a national curriculum for reading. The current study looks at changes in texts for beginning reading instruction that resulted…

To help teachers understand the cognitive development that occurs as children learn to read, the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) has created The Cognitive Foundations of Learning to Read: A Framework. It describes the various cognitive domains that research has shown to be necessary for reading acquisition, and also illustrates…

The ABDs of Reading program provides explicit training in phoneme analysis and phoneme blending, letter-sound correspondences, and decoding to learning disabled children. No extensive teacher-training, teacher-aids, or other unusual classroom support is required. (Author/CP)

The hypothesis that Black English-speaking children of low socioeconomic status would match spoken and written words when final spoken consonants were deleted, was not supported. Decoding errors revealed that race and social class influenced word strategy. (Author/CP)

Three experiments were conducted to explore the effect of word training on interference patterns in the picture-word task. Subjects were first and second graders. (MP)