"Houghton Mifflin: Invitations to Literacy," developed by the Houghton Mifflin Company, is an integrated K-8 reading and language arts program. The philosophy behind the program is that literacy instruction should stimulate, teach, and extend the communication and thinking skills that will allow students to become effective readers,…

Relations between preservice teachers' guided field observations of primary literacy instruction and knowledge about effective beginning reading practices were explored. Preservice teachers (n = 48) participated in a Directed Field Experience course including instruction on and observations of exemplary teaching practices promoting student…

This article describes a questionnaire survey of 747 students enrolled in a graduate school of education, who are currently teachers or prospective teachers. The Literacy Habits Questionnaire, developed by Applegate and Applegate, was administered in September 2006. Findings suggest a high prevalence of aliteracy, the ability to read but a…

New spellers, adults just beginning to learn to read and write, face daunting problems with English vocabulary. Teachers use varying approaches to help these students, including published lists of Words Most Frequently Used. This paper provides an inventory of words used in letters to syndicated columnist "Dear Abby" as published in a…

Discusses the positive effects that can be gained from using the initial teaching alphabet in beginning reading instruction. (RB)

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

Argues that reading research studies should be more widely disseminated so that teachers may apply the latest information in teaching reading. (RB)

Concludes that word blending is a controversial issue and questions its usefulness. (RB)

Reviews the literature in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) on models describing the reading process. (RB)

Concludes that the diacritic e generalizations formulated on graphics research have value for use in decoding programs as early as the first reader of typical basal series. (RB)

Discusses the results of research on the effect of readiness training for preschool youngsters. (RB)

Research supports Samuels' focal attention hypothesis for acquiring reading responses to novel words presented in isolation. (RB)

Describes a beginning reading program based on the child's language and experience. (RB)

Brief discussion of readiness experiences including listening, asking questions, viewing interesting things, and writing about class experiences. (BRT)