Reading comprehension is a complex task which depends on a range of cognitive and linguistic processes. According to the Simple View of Reading, this complexity can be captured as the product of two sets of skills: decoding and linguistic comprehension. The Simple View explains variance in reading comprehension and provides a good framework to…

Knowledge about preschool predictors of later reading comprehension is valuable for several reasons. On a general level, longitudinal studies can aid in generating understanding and causal hypotheses about language and literacy development, both of which are crucial processes in child development. A better understanding of these developmental…

Early comprehension is an important, but not well-understood, contribution to early literacy and language development. Specifically, research regarding the nature of skills representative of early comprehension, including how they contribute to later reading success, is needed to support best practices to adequately prepare students. This article…

Early comprehension is an important, but not well-understood, contribution to early literacy and language development. Specifically, research regarding the nature of skills representative of early comprehension, including how they contribute to later reading success, is needed to support best practices to adequately prepare students. This article…

"Shared book reading" (also known as "interactive shared book reading") encompasses practices that adults can use when reading with children, which are intended to enhance young children's language and literacy skills. During "shared book reading," an adult reads a book to an individual child or a group of children…

Discusses the importance of learning to transform the visual representation of language into meaning during beginning reading. (RB)

Suggests placing phonological awareness in the context of the problems of reading and the symptoms of reading disability. Considers how reading builds on the foundations of the child's development of primary language. Contains eight assertions about the development of reading and its difficulties. (SC)

In attempts to understand the process of literacy acquisition, many researchers have devised models of reading. The basic elements of most reading acquisition models include word, or print knowledge and comprehension. The inadequacy and global nature of the conversational model of language proficiency provide impetus for C.E. Snow's development of…

This study investigated the effect on the reading comprehension of preschool children of matching syntactic patterns in written materials to patterns in their level of language acquisition. It also examined whether a language experience method or a prescribed vocabulary method had different effects on the results. Eighty randomly selected subjects…

Examines the relationship between stages of orthographic development and writing fluency. Finds that the graphemic output lexicon of beginning readers and writers is not sufficiently detailed to allow a fluent output. (PRA)

Discusses the need for systematic exploration of claims about the advantages of language experience dictations; recommends that teachers guide the rereading and editing of early dictations to facilitate comprehending behaviors, and that they help children explore writing conventions as their dictations indicate a readiness to learn them. (ET)

A longitudinal study investigated the effects of an early intervention program with students who were identified as being at risk for developing reading disabilities. Intervention effects on reading comprehension and the developing relationship between reading comprehension and the linguistic processes of students were studied. The intervention…

The relationship between speech and print is essentially asymmetrical and changes as the reading ability of the child improves. For the child who has succeeded at decoding, the asymmetry implies that commonalities between speech and print are more important than their differences. Three hypothetical observation points illustrate the similarity…

In this study, the Peabody Language Development Kit, originally designed for culturally deprived and mentally retarded children, was tested to see how it affected the psycholinguistic abilities and beginning reading development of normal children. Ninety-seven kindergartners were randomly divided into an experimental group who used the Peabody Kit…

This monograph points out the difficulties in language development of which teachers should be aware, suggests some methods through which children may be helped to overcome comprehension problems, and presents bibliographies helpful for persons who wish to undertake further reading. Chapters include "Some Possible Origins of the Prevalence of…