Suggests that the majority of poor readers are poor at discriminating similar letters/words and at letter recognition. Argues that general sensory perceptive training does not improve subsequent reading development but that specific letter/word training in discrimination and recognition has a favorable effect. (RS)

Argues that learning how to read in an alphabetic system requires children to understand the complex relationship between print and speech. Suggests that prereading and beginning reading instruction should be designed to facilitate the acquisition of phonemic awareness. Recommends specific practices for reading instruction. (RS)

Discusses the way children negotiated partner reading and the roles they assumed that determined who was in charge and how the reading would be carried out. Finds four types of role sets: coworkers, fellow artists, teacher-student, and boss-employee. (SR)

Describes two strategies (Yes/No...Why? and It Reminds Me Of...) that provide young or poor readers with the prerequisite background knowledge for interpreting a passage. States that these strategies can be used with all types of reading materials and can also be used with nonreaders. (MG)

Provides convergent evidence of a developmental sequence in kindergartners' emerging knowledge of word: beginning consonant knowledge facilitates a child's concept of word in text, which in turn facilitates phoneme segmentation, which in turn facilitates word recognition. (SR)

Suggests that schools cannot supply the reading background and then do nothing to assist their potential poor readers to climb the first step in the development of reading. Suggests that teachers need to devote more energy toward the maintenance of the social and cultural security of possible poor readers than toward the immersion of these pupils…

Discusses functional literacy activities (reading and writing activities used to achieve some real-life goal) and their usefulness in providing motivation as well as practice opportunities for young children. Notes four such activities: name cards, signs and labels, daily schedule, and references. (SR)

States and briefly discusses nine hypotheses concerning why the Reading Recovery program is successful. Calls for further research on why the program appears to work so that more may be learned about the program and the students it serves, and so that teachers can control the program instead of the program controlling the teachers. (RS)

Describes program components or experiences that support and foster Reading Recovery teacher training. Explores the role of behind-the-glass lessons in developing teachers' understandings and teaching skills. Proposes several basic principles of Reading Recovery's approach to teacher education. (RS)

Discusses two questions concerning entering first graders' abilities in language awareness: what are the connections from skills knowledge to beginning reading for these children; and what additional skills or experiences are needed that will help these children move toward reading on their own? (NH)

This study, involving 54 first-grade children, found that correlations between decoding and phonological awareness were generally much higher than correlations obtained for measures of decoding and verbal and nonverbal intelligence. Several phonological awareness tasks identified good and poor decoders, with approximately 80-90% accuracy. (DB)

Reports on research studies into the role that reading volume plays in shaping the mind. It is possible to outline the reciprocal influence of early reading acquisition and reading volume as determinants of later reading comprehension and other cognitive abilities. Early success at reading unlocks a lifetime of reading habits, as research shows.…

Reviews research on the question of how to best teach letter-sound correspondences in beginning reading instruction. Describes a new, child-friendly, research-based way of teaching letter-sound correspondences to English- and Spanish-speaking children, which is not only explicit, systematic, and extensive, but also context embedded and meaningful.…

Evaluates several types of text used for beginning reading instruction (texts based on high-frequency and phonetically regular words, as well as the trade books of current literature-based reading programs) by examining the tasks each poses for young readers. Examines for each particular type of text what a beginning reader needs to know about…

Examines the effectiveness of strategy training for younger readers. Discusses strategies for development of comprehension, including making predictions (both before and during reading), question generating, and summarization. Offers examples of how these strategies can be embedded through literature-circle discussions and gives a suggested…