Reports on a study that examined patterns and interrelationships in the development of print awareness over the preschool years with results indicating that preschool children do not acquire such skills and concepts in a fixed order. (MKM)

States that beginning reading instruction must not be perceived as an either/or phenomenon, as either strong adherence to the code devoid of meaning, or the reverse. Teachers should teach the code and meaning at the same time. (MKM)

Introduces the use of word sorts as a way of helping children categorize words in helpful ways. (TJ)

Describes how to use a "natural language" technique that makes use of stories that contain predictable language patterns (such as those with words that are repeated or that rhyme) in teaching beginning reading. (MKM)

Suggests teaching a compare/contrast method of word identification rather than teaching syllabication rules to decode words and describes research investigating this technique. (MKM)

Cites studies in which the reading level of workbooks designed to accompany basal readers has been found to be several years higher than the reading level of the basal text. (MKM)

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…