Discusses aspects of phonological processing and linguistic awareness that may set the stage for initial reading development. Hypothesizes about the distinctness of phonological representations. Distinguishes phonological representations of high distinctness from other representations by many features. Compares the distinctness hypothesis to the…

Explores the nature of illiteracy for adults who have made no or minimal progress in learning to read or write. Finds further support for using the whole language approach and the language experience approach for adult beginning readers. (RS)

Examines the relationship between word recognition ability, knowledge of orthographic structures, and use of orthographic knowledge in word recognition. Finds that children with a second grade reading vocabulary demonstrate a generalized effect of orthographic structure when searching for multiple word targets and when searching for members of a…

Addresses native monolingual U.S. and Chinese incipiently bilingual children's ability to detect and identify inter- and intraword boundaries. Young children demonstrate similar patterns in their segmentation behavior and there is a developmental progression in this behavior. Mandarin Chinese subjects learning to read Chinese and English…

Demonstrates how cognitive style can be a useful construct in understanding why some children learn to read easily while others do so with great difficulty. Overviews relevant findings from cognitive style research in areas related to both acquisition of word recognition skill and the development of comprehension processes. (MG)

Takes a closer look at the reading skills of beginning readers who are able to read words by analogy. Finds that reading unfamiliar words by analogy to known words is an easier process and can be executed by beginners more readily than reading unfamiliar words by phonologically recoding the words. (MG)

Investigates whether the prelexical phonological route develops prior to the visual route while learning to read Greek. Finds reading accuracy unaffected by the main psycholinguistic properties of words; chronological age did not influence long-term reading acquisition; and beginning readers used phonological information in reading but started to…

Discusses how all children must learn to work to overcome a difficulty, take initiative, and make links with what they already know. Illustrates these actions with instructional interactions in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. Notes how teachers can establish a pattern of expectations. Outlines ways teachers can foster active learning, and…

Investigates the relation between phonological awareness, sound-to-letter mapping knowledge, and printed word learning in novice five-year-old readers. Explores effects of visual memory and of teaching methods. Finds mental representations of printed words are more easily formed by beginners who are able to match at least some of the phonological…

This article proposes a neurobiological account of reading and reading disability suggesting that for normally developing readers, the dorsal (tempo-parietal) circuit predominates at first, and in conjunction with premotor systems, is associated with analytic processing necessary for learning to integrate orthographic with phonological and…

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…

Designed for the grades K-2 literature-based classroom, this reading assessment kit includes 6 books which represent the stages most developing readers pass through as they move from being emergent to fluent readers. The kit also contains reading ladder assessment tools and reproducible charts and checklists. The literature selections in the kit…

Picture books enable children to experience "reading" from a very early stage in their lives. Although readers in the early part of this century were trained to read heavy books full of fine print, nowadays readers are being trained to read using intellectually and emotionally challenging picture books. Such books (particularly those by…

In an updated edition, this book is intended to provide a solid, but accessible, introduction to what is known about the psychology of reading. The book is not aimed at cognitive psychologists, but at those who have had an academic background equivalent to the introductory course in psychology. The guiding purpose of the book is to address what…

Some researchers believe that phonics is the more natural way to teach reading because, instead of requiring the learner to memorize whole words, phonics shows the learner the process by which alphabetic writing is converted into speech. The human baby babbles more than enough phonemes for any language. Before there was an alphabet, humans drew…