Uses Dewey's concept of growth as "the ability to learn from experience" to discuss the learning histories of three male literacy learners. From this perspective, their progress toward goals, rather than achievement, is the primary focus. (Contains 30 references.) (SK)

Discusses the use of double meanings and figurative language or figures of speech in literature and how confusing it can be for beginning readers. Describes class activities that can help students construct, examine, and extend the meaning of what they read and includes a worksheet, evaluation suggestions, and extension activities. (LRW)

Explores how knowledge and use of the teaching/learning cycle in beginning reading instruction impacts teacher decision-making and student achievement. Focuses on how students' learning was affected and the impact of the changes on student/teacher interactions. Finds that when teachers understand and apply the teaching/learning cycle in their…

Reports and discusses students' progress through a 15-week reading course for preservice elementary teachers. Indicates that this group of students demonstrated positive changes in their attitudes/beliefs in the first stage. Notes that the students in Stage 2 differed in evaluations of their field experience, their lesson planning skills, and…

This study examined the effectiveness of a phonological awareness reading intervention with seven first-graders at risk for conduct and attention problems. Findings support the efficacy of the program but suggest the intervention may not have been of sufficient intensity and duration to produce lasting changes and produce beginning reading skill…

Investigates whether two groups of 6-year-old beginning readers taught to read by a phonics and by a "book experience" non-phonics approach would differ in reading comprehension as well as the processes of word recognition. Finds that the non-phonics approach taught children much faster reading reaction times to familiar words but they scored…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…