This article introduces a way of seeing miscue analysis data through a "spider chart", a readily available digital graphing tool that provides an effective way to visually represent readers' complex coordination of interrelated cueing systems. A spider chart is a standard feature in recent spreadsheet software that puts a new spin on miscue…

This study considers the degree to which two quantitative indices--Lexiles and Coh-Metrix--discriminate across levels of difficulty and types of beginning reading texts. The database consisted of 444 texts, representing seven text types that are part of reading/language arts instruction. These text types were distributed across seven levels of…

We can improve reading instruction by using the strengths any child brings to the reading task. (Author)

Discusses how patterned reading materials may be used in initial reading to help students use their semantic and syntactic knowledge to predict meaning. (DD)

Considers solutions to beginning readers' problems with decoding, syntax, semantics, text organization, and differences between spoken and written language. (DD)

This study investigated kindergarten, first, and second grade children's ability to make linguistic judgments about sentneces that were either correct or disrupted along semantic or grammatical lines. Sentences on the judgment task were created according to clearly specified rules utilizing grammatical features that could be transformed into…

Discusses the effect of sentence structure on the reading acquistition process of beginning readers. (RB)

THE APPLICATION OF STRUCTURAL LINGUISTICS TO BEGINNING READING IS DISCUSSED. LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE AND THE METHODS USED TO TEACH LANGUAGE MUST BE DISTINGUISHED. LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE CHARTS ARE ONE ACCOMPANIMENT TO A READING PROGRAM. THE RELATIVITY OF LANGUAGE IS AN IMPORTANT CONCEPT FOR CHILDREN TO ACQUIRE. THE ROLE OF PHONICS AND BLENDING,…

Because vocabulary control in children's reading materials is largely based on vocabulary lists and studies which are now obsolete, new areas of learning are being considered for developing beginning reading materials. Instead of basing vocabulary lists on frequency counts and adult reading materials, the three approaches examined here are…

In teaching reading, teachers should understand the three categories of language information which all readers draw upon in the processing of information. These three categories are (1) grapho-phonic, the information from the writing system and from the phonological system of oral language; (2) syntactic information, the information from…

Four researchers discussed their studies of oral reading miscues within a round-table format. After each participant's description of the specific concerns and procedures of his study, the following topics were discussed: description and analysis of the miscue, correction strategy, relationship of the child's language to the language of the…

Skilled reading depends upon a multiplicity of perceptual, linguistic, and cognitive processes; inadequate development of one or more of these processes may in turn lead to reading difficulty. This report considers some of the processes that may be especially problematic for the young reader. After an overview in which skilled reading is described…

Successful reading is a complex, interactive process in which the reader's experience and information are as important to comprehension as the content of the printed page. This article describes several reading processes, discusses the problems involved for the beginning reader, and indicates some implications for reading instruction. Five…

Psycholinguists feel that the reading process and reading instruction should be reviewed in light of language and learning theories. (JH)

This study investigated whether the number of oral reading miscues differs for reflective and impulsive children, whether the proportion of miscues that are semantically appropriate, syntactically appropriate, or graphically similar differ for the two groups, and whether the two groups differ in their self-correction behavior as it relates to…