The major results partially confirm the hypothesis of a reciprocal relationship between the experience of learning to read and the cognitive-linguistic skills which undergo development between the ages of five and seven. (RC)

In a paired associate task, readers and prereaders were taught five words as oral responses, each word paired with a distinctive nonsense figure. The results raise doubts about the effectiveness of teaching beginning readers sight vocabulary words printed on flash cards. (RC)

This study, which extends Jeffrey and Samuels' study, indicates that children taught "sounds" learned more grapheme-phoneme correspondences and read more transfer words than did those taught "words." (HOD)

Examined contribution of family variables such as parenting and literacy activities to the pre-academic competence of 93 Head Start children. Found that maternal educational expectations, home literacy variables, and maternal school involvement were predictive of children's competence even after accounting for the effects of maternal education,…

Presents two cross-checking activities to help K-3 students learn decoding. The cross-checking involves decoding by using the consonants in a word along with the context. Children learn to decode by thinking about two things simultaneously (what word would make sense in a sentence and the word's letters and sounds). (SM)

Describes how children develop printed word knowledge when taught with a top-down, sentence-based approach. Cites four stages in word knowledge development: word as a nameable object in text; word as an object with a beginning element; word as an object with a discernible beginning and end; and word as an object with a beginning, middle, and end.…

Two experiments involving 11 first graders who had reading and spelling difficulties compared the effectiveness of (1) matching printed to dictated words versus (2) matching as well as constructing (copying) printed words with movable letters and naming them. Results found that word construction proved to be effective in promoting reading…

Examines whether kindergartners who were taught to segment words into phonemes either by monitoring articulatory gestures or by manipulating blocks would benefit in their ability to read and spell. Suggests that awareness of articulatory gestures facilitates the activation of graphophonemic connections that helps children identify written words…

Considers how reading and writing experiences gained during the preschool period have enormous effect on children's first learning to read and write. Initiates a cross-cultural dimension to the subject matter from an empirical paradigm. Provides some evidence that emergent literacy is extensible to experiences regardless of linguistic forms. (SG)

A multiple probe design across behaviors was used to evaluate the effectiveness of an articulation training program that included incidental information to teach basic sight word reading. Results indicated that the three subjects (ages 5-6) with sound production errors learned to read sight words during articulation training and that this learning…

Asserts that teaching phonics is an important aspect of beginning reading instruction; primary grade classroom teachers do value and teach phonics as part of their reading programs; and phonics instruction, to be effective, must be embedded in the context of a total reading/language arts program. Expresses concerns for the current state of affairs…

Gives children (ages 5+ to 9+) four tests of phonological skill to investigate relationships between these measures and their predictive relationship with reading and spelling ability. Finds performance at phonemic segmentation, rhyme sound categorization, and alliteration sound categorization improved with age, but all groups performed onset-rime…

Discusses the need for public libraries to improve their collections for and services to beginning readers. Suggests that public libraries should reconfigure their children's departments and budgets based on the three stages to reading fluency, of which level two is the learning to read years that includes beginning readers. (LRW)

Explains the creation and validation of the Narrative Comprehension of Picture Books task (NC task), an assessment of young children's comprehension of wordless picture books. Creates and tests assessment materials and procedures that can be used with young children, whether or not they can decode print. Discusses how narrative comprehension is…