In these three experiments with kindergartners, comparisons were made on subjects' acquisition of nouns under three conditions: no picture; picture related to word; and unrelated picture. It was concluded that pictures could be used with advantage, if the child was aware of the relationship between word and picture. (Author/SJL)

Argues that there is a developmental relationship between children's performances in reading and writing tasks and describes two diagnostic tasks that teachers can use to assess young children's developing concepts of words in reading and in writing, without interfering with the natural processes of learning to read and write. (HTH)

Reviews the research on the initial teaching alphabet (i/t/a), the sources of conflict and misunderstanding involving its use, and its future in reading instruction. (FL)

Indicates that a relatively small percentage of the gifted preschool population actually starts to read before starting kindergarten. (Author)

Reviews research discussing early writing and invented spellings of young children as indicators of their readiness to learn to read and write. (MKM)

Presents a step-by-step method for teaching difficult function words to slower readers. (FL)

Contends that the "basics" in reading are not skills but concepts the learner must acquire, and that the learner's role is central to this teaching philosophy. (FL)

Suggests three procedures for assessing children's concepts of reading and their understanding of the special language that teachers use during reading instruction: shared book experience, checking the conceptual outcomes of shared book experience, and using a story chart and cloze procedure to extend the conceptual framework of reading language.…

Discusses the characteristics of predictable books and ways to use them with first grade students. Offers a bibliography of such books. (FL)

Argues that Piagetian theory does not support the use of a code-breaking approach to teaching children to read prior to the advent of concrete operations. Suggests that primary instructional emphasis with these children should be placed upon the meaning-getting aspects of reading. (FL)

Analyzes some problems that can make beginning basal stories difficult for young readers to understand and offers suggestions for ways teachers can help alleviate the problems. (FL)

The dimensions that interact during reading acquisition include properties of texts, the acquisition of reading skills and strategies, the development of cognitive and language skills, the influence of instruction, and the effects of motivational, cultural, and language variables. Discusses how these interactions may occur and describes three…

Describes an experiment designed to determine whether beginning readers read with fewer oral reading errors if the reading materials have content directly related to the reader's existing cognitive structure. (HOD)

Short, sight-word vocabulary lists derived from the spontaneous speech of four different groups of children are compared with the vocabulary in six beginning reading series. Very high levels of agreement were found for function, but not for content, words. (JMF)

Reviews literature that describes the success of Japanese children in learning to read Japanese; concludes that Japanese children learn their phonemic Kana script very quickly, possibly because they work with the syllable as a unit, but that the Kanji (Chinese characters) in the Japanese text present difficulties for learners. (GT)