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…

Offers ideas for teaching young readers to appreciate books. Suggests creating activities, such as reading contests, book theater, book reviews with a twist, character essays, and game shows. Intended as a starting point to help inspire Catholic educators to come up with more ideas of their own. (NB)

Ascertains whether there were any significant differences in the early reading ability of kindergarten children who received direct instruction with environmental print, those who received indirect instruction, and those who received no instruction. Uses analysis of covariance to ascertain differences. Reveals that the control group and the…

Reviews the reading process in Arabic as a function of vowels and sentence context. Reviews reading accuracy and reading comprehension results in light of cross-cultural reading to develop a more comprehensive reading theory. Presents the phonology, morphology and sentence context of Arabic in two suggested reading models for poor/beginner Arabic…

Discusses the development of infant and toddler board books (books printed on heavy cardboard and laminated for durability) featuring African Americans and published from 1990 to 2002. Provides a brief overview of the development of board books in general, and suggests criteria for evaluating board books that feature African Americans in…

Observations of spontaneous behaviors and comments of one child pertinent to emergent literacy are reported. The following areas are addressed: letter/numeral naming; the meaning of print; the communicative function of print; conception of meaning-units or words; language games; awareness of the sound of language; and the relationship between…

Developed a computer-based assessment of the use of beginning and end analogies based on clue syllables of five different syllable structures to examine the role of analogy in an orthographically regular language, Finnish. Results for 47 children suggest that, unlike the effect seen in English, reading in Finnish is based on single phoneme/letter…

Discusses whether or not beginning readers learn phonics best through instructional approaches that teach students to sound out letters, spell words, or combine the two. Concludes that caution is in order as experimental research assessing the effectiveness of each approach has yet to be conducted. Suggests, in the interim, instruction should be…

Departs from the review-of-research model often used in this column and proposes research directions on the topic of word-level strategies. Reconsiders the growth of word-level strategies, not as an exclusive focus, but as part of authentic literacy use. (MG)

Reviews 33 children's books which stimulate beginning readers. Divides the books into four categories: books that bridge between oral and written language, predictable books, easy-to-read books, and books of special interest to young children. (MG)

Answers questions from two teachers who are apprehensive about practices concerning basal reading instruction which they are asked to implement in their schools. (MG)

The article summarizes a report of the Commission on Reading which lends support (based on research findings) to many of the practices embodied in the Direct Instruction Model. The Commission recommends practices such as early teaching of reading and parent involvement that are closely tied to Direct Instruction strategies. (DB)

Following instruction using a stimulus equivalence procedure to teach matching of dictated picture names with printed words, two preschool children were also able to match pictures with printed words, match printed words with pictures, or match printed words with oral names. Results have implications for teaching early reading skills. (Author/DB)

Describes six criteria for evaluating materials that will be addressed in forthcoming columns: content validity, transfer potential, adaptability/flexibility, amount of reinforcement, quality of directions and instructional language, and bias. Uses this criteria to evaluate "First-Start Read-Along Program 5," a reading series for primary students.…

Discusses several questions about skill development from an emergent literacy perspective. (MM)