Relates the expressive writing experiences of children at Deddington primary school in rural Oxfordshire. (HOD)

Offers news ways to integrate the language experience approach with a basal reader and in the content areas. (FL)

Describes a study that investigated whether the structure of the materials children encounter and the abilities and experiences they bring to the act of reading affect the ease with which they comprehend the text. (FL)

Concludes, among other things, that fluent oral reading is an important step toward reading for meaning and independent silent reading and that silent reading should be encouraged from the beginning of reading instruction. (FL)

Reviews research on the impulsivity-reflectivity dimension of cognitive style and its influence on beginning reading instruction, reading achievement, reading readiness, and oral reading. (Author/RB)

Interchange 57 (Watson and Johnston, 1998) reported on a study of around 300 Primary 1 children in which the effectiveness of a synthetic phonics teaching program was examined. The synthetic phonics program was by far the most effective. A study described the progress the children have made from Primary 1 through to the end of Primary 5, focusing…

This book for early childhood educators is a practical guide for developing literacy in children between 3 and 7 years of age. Although many aspects of literacy are addressed, such as reading, speaking, listening, and writing, the predominant focus of the book is on reading. The book is not about theory, although theoretical aspects and current…

Prepared as part of the Extended School Services Program in Kentucky, this paper provides information on how to help students become more proficient readers. The paper begins with a discussion of what reading is, the characteristics of a "good" reader (strategic, motivated, and independent), and beginning readers. It then discusses a few…

Based on proven research, this booklet summarizes essential information of how children learn to read and how to teach beginning reading skills. After a foreword, the booklet discusses the Illinois Right to Read Initiative (a blueprint for significantly improving reading and literacy among students over the next five years) and summarizes the…

Suggesting that a missing link between effective practices and their sustained implementation is the "host environment" into which practices, programs, procedures, and pedagogy are translated, this bulletin describes the need for prevention and intervention models in beginning reading that are anchored to the school as the host environment. The…

This digest summarizes what is known about teaching the processes of phonological awareness and word recognition. It finds unequivocal research evidence that students who enter first grade with phonological awareness skills are more successful readers and urges explicit instruction in these skills. Examples of phonological awareness activities and…

An action research project described a program for teaching students beginning reading strategies that will help them to become independent readers. The targeted population consisted of first grade elementary students in a growing middle class community located in a suburb of a large metropolitan area in the Midwest. The problems of beginning…

This study investigated parents' knowledge of their child's emergent literacy development by administering parent questionnaires that examined parents' beliefs of literacy learning and the early writing and reading experiences of preschool children in their home. A total of 115 questionnaires were administered to parents with children enrolled in…

Noting that parents can open a door to a big, exciting world when they help their children learn to read, this information sheet lists some things parents can do to encourage their children to read and presents a series of reading activities. The information sheet notes that parents can: (1) read aloud to their children; (2) read poems aloud; (3)…

Bringing together information elementary school teachers need to make balanced literacy instruction a reality, this book presents more than 90 short articles designed to be read in a brief period of time and suitable for use in after-school workshops. It presents ideas and instructional approaches teachers have found most valuable and effective in…