Using a forced-choice matching-to-sample procedure five factors were varied: position of phoneme; contrast between words; type of phoneme; redundant visual cue; and allophonic variation. Performance improved significantly after four days of training for all but allophonic variation. Redundant visual cue greatly improved performance during training…

Children read sets of words under three conditions: with no pictures, with related pictures, and with unrelated pictures. Results indicated that words were read more slowly whenever pictures were present; that unrelated pictures produced more interference than related pictures; and that both effects were inversely related to reading ability.…

Reports on a study to ascertain whether or not the ability of kindergarten children to segment oral language into separate words increased when they had used the Modified Rebus Reading Readiness Program (uses pictorial representatives of words) instead of a traditional reading readiness program. Significant differences did appear. (TJ)

Lists and annotates 21 journal articles that discuss the teaching of reading. Among the topics dealth with in the articles are the teaching of beginning reading and reading comprehension, reading instruction and the law, reading diagnosis, and the use of the psycholinguistic approach at the secondary level. (GW)

Argues that wordless books allow prereading children to create their own stories, enhance vocabulary acquisition, help children develop "top to bottom" and "right to left" concepts, and promote observation, sequential, visual, and inferential thinking. Describes several ways to use wordless books. Includes bibliography of 36…

Provides guidelines and suggests activities for the use of big books--oversized children's books--with young children in beginning reading programs. (BB)

Concludes that children have well-developed knowledge of the purposes of reading materials and instructional procedures and that their perceptions of basal readers are very negative. (FL)

Describes the interactive literacy learning process in the home context, and compares this with the literacy interaction between the child and the kindergarten teacher. Concludes that children's literacy growth is a result of literacy activities in the home rather than a result of activities in the school. (MM)

A recent study of reading rates of first grade students in Israel and America indicates that increased reading speed may improve comprehension and oral reading. Based on this finding, activities to help students read faster (and better) are suggested. (JL)

Explains ways in which a kindergarten teacher can encourage reading among children by sharing books with them; sharing ideas about the conventions of print, art and writing; and discussing children's ideas for pictures, stories, and writing. (BB)

Suggests that bilingual children, because of their sensitivity to contexts for using their two languages, are likely to have a heightened awareness of the possible range of contexts for literacy and the range of communicative functions which written messages may convey. Also argues for an apporach to early literacy that acknowledges the importance…

Discusses a study which analyzed question-answer instructional segments from second-grade small group reading lessons, according to Barrett's (1976) and Pearson and Johnson's (1978) taxonomies. (MM)

Study investigated the perspectives of parents who read aloud to their young children. Results indicate that outside information can increase parents' awareness of the importance of reading aloud to their children and can motivate them to do so. (MM)

Concludes that spelling-trained kindergarten children learned to read a set of words more effectively than controls. Argues that their greater success was not because they had learned to sound out and blend words, but rather because they had become better at phonetic cue reading. (FL)

Reports two studies in which 5- and 6-year-old children were given word order awareness tasks, followed 3 or 5 months later by vocabulary, reading achievement, and reading readiness (for the 5-year-olds) tests. (Author/NH)