Today's most promising techniques for differentiating reading teaching are noted to be those which focus upon the individuals within the classroom. Short descriptions are given of nine programs which differentiate reading instruction, and the reader is urged to adopt their most promising features. Programs described are intraclass grouping…

This book focuses on how individuals learn to read, how motivations for reading or avoiding reading are built, how the cognitive characteristics of the learner can be used to select the most promising beginning approach, and how self-directed reading extends the cognitive and the affective world of the reader. The book covers the interaction of…

Presents the results of a questionnaire sent to teachers using the initial teaching alphabet (i.t.a.), and their principals. Generally favorable effects were reported by both groups, with the great majority of teachers indicating they would choose to continue using i.t.a. (DLG)

Examines five factors common to elementary schools that serve as major barriers to improved reading achievement: (1) grouping practices and the inappropriate use of instructional time, (2) low teacher expectation for student learning, (3) inappropriate instructional strategies for teaching reading, (4) differential curricula, and (5) inadequate…

This article overviews a summative evaluation of the School Advisory Center's innovative initial reading curriculum program from 1972 to 1978 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The evaluation design used was Stake's "countenance model" with description and observation matrices. Reading achievement results were disappointing and were attributed…

Draws upon research, theory, and experience to support six changes in the way reading comprehension is taught. (FL)

Suggesting that empirical work in the field of reading has advanced sufficiently to allow substantial agreed-upon results and conclusions, this literature review cuts through the detail of partially convergent, sometimes discrepant research findings to provide an integrated picture of how reading develops and how reading instruction should…

This bulletin is concerned with how children learn to read. It describes as simply as possible the teacher's part in the reading experiences children have, and the ways parents can help in making the learning-to-read years of the child's life both happy and successful. Learning to read is not limited to the first grade. During each year a child…

Offers several suggestions for activities to be used with Big Books, including: tracking print, thinking along, cloze activities, and examining text features. (MG)

The application of learning styles to the teaching of reading to students with reading disabilities is critiqued in light of four factors: (1) inability to adequately assess learning styles; (2) failure to acknowledge the necessity of phonics instruction for beginning readers; (3) failure to consider the nature of reading disabilities; and (4)…

Study investigated which teacher activities related to differences in kindergarten students' reading performance. Teacher observation and fall and spring tests of reading performance indicated that what happened in the classrooms, rather than length of school day, determined children's reading ability at the end of kindergarten. (SM)

It is argued that attention to effective evidence-based early reading interventions are a co-requisite to genuinely inclusive education, with implications not only for reading acquisition, but also for a range of other social and academic domains. This paper briefly describes some of the recent developments in reading research that have the…

During a time of reform and accountability, school districts are closely monitoring teachers' instructional decisions, practices, and classroom environments. In this paper, we apply neocolonial theory to describe the experiences of elementary grade teachers in one California school district who are required to follow a scripted basal reading…

Concern about the high percentage of underprepared minority students in American schools and the increasing demand that schools educate them to a level never before attained are discussed, and a study of reading disabled bilingual students is reported. It is noted that continuing to allow a disproportionate number of minority or disadvantaged…

The book summarizes the current state of knowledge concerning language development in children with Down Syndrome (DS). The first chapter reviews language development in normal children, noting such stages as gestures, first sounds, development of understanding, first spoken words, and the two-word stage. The next chapter examines language skills…