Administers a phonological task to 34 English-speaking grade 2 children (attending a bilingual English-Hebrew elementary school) to tap sensitivity to a phonemic contrast that occurs productively in Hebrew but is phonotactically constrained in English. Concludes a general level of phonological ability is required for reading to develop but that…

Decoding unknown words when reading text is a necessary tool of skilled readers. Beginning readers need repeated opportunities to develop decoding ability. We investigated whether explicitly teaching essential components of beginning reading instruction promoted first graders' skill in decoding pseudowords. We employed a multiple- baseline design…

In many classrooms across North America, teachers face the challenge of how to help the growing number of children who are not native English speakers. This article describes several strategies teachers can use for approaching beginning reading of English with second-language learners. These include: (1) A comprehension-centered curriculum; (2) A…

This paper investigates the processes that predict reading acquisition. Associations between (a) scaffolding errors (e.g., "torn" misread as "town" or "tarn"), other reading errors, and later reading and (b) vowel and rime inferences and later reading were explored. To assess both of these issues, 50 6-year-old children were shown a number of CVC…

Arguments about how to teach initial reading are once more in the news. Proponents of "synthetic phonics" argue that there is only one effective way to teach a child to read. In this anniversary issue, it is worth taking a step back from the polarisation of the "synthetic" versus "analytic" phonics debate, to consider the evidence base for reading…

Beginning reading software programs may be one way to provide at-risk readers the additional instruction and practice they need to attain grade-level expectations. Criteria such as interface design, instructional design, and beginning reading content (phonological awareness and alphabetic understanding) are all important considerations when…

Leveled books originally selected by or produced for use in Reading Recovery or its regular classroom initiative are now also widely used in regular and special classrooms having no affiliation with Reading Recovery. The frequent use of these leveled books in settings other than Reading Recovery raises an important question: Do books leveled for…

One of the most important skills for children to develop in the kindergarten year is the recognition that letters and sounds are related. It is often called "the alphabetic principle"--the notion that speech sounds can be connected to letters in a predictable way. To grasp the alphabetic principle, children need to understand that: (1) letters…

No Child Left Behind, Reading First, Early Reading First, Good Start, Grow Smart ... the current whirlwind of education initiatives in the United States commits millions of dollars of federal money to "scientifically based" reading and early literacy development. In 2003, President Bush directed Head Start programs across the country to…

In this report, the development, field testing, and validation of the Classroom Literacy Environment Profile (CLEP) are described. In the first phase, characteristics of print-rich classroom environments were identified, defined, and organized into categories through a review of the literature, classroom observations, and teacher focus groups. In…

In Experiment 1, it was found that 5-year-old new school entrants taught by a synthetic phonics method had better reading, spelling and phonemic awareness than two groups taught analytic phonics. The synthetic phonics children were the only ones that could read by analogy, and they also showed better reading of irregular words and nonwords. For…

A large body of research (Clay 1991; National Reading Panel 2000; Pressley 2000; Courtney & Abodeeb 2001) on young readers reveals that most children do not know how to check their understanding as they read, nor do educators give them the strategies to do so. Comprehension is the process of constructing meaning while interacting with text.…

Extensive literature has reiterated the reading difficulties of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Building and expanding upon the work of B. J. Trezek and K. W. Malmgren (2005), this study demonstrated that given 1 year of instruction from a phonics-based reading curriculum supplemented by Visual Phonics, kindergarten and first-grade…

The process of creating handmade books with children is a great way to experience communication through art and words. One of the important literacy skills children need to learn is "concepts of print." These include the basic understanding of what a book is, the ability to recognize the front and back covers, and the capacity to turn the pages…

This study examined a critical learning outcome of behavioral fluency, "application." Application refers to the combination of two or more behaviors that form a composite or compound behavior. Three students with specific learning disabilities in reading learned two behaviors, how to write a set of letter sounds they heard and orally segment words…