The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a music training program on children's phonological awareness and naming speed in Spanish. Participants were preschool children whose first language was either Spanish (n = 45) or Tamazight ( n = 52), a Berber dialect spoken in Morocco's Rif area. The two-year pretest/posttest study…

Explores the concept of emergent literacy, discussing what children know about reading and writing, how they come to know it, and what this information means for classroom practices and school policy. (MM)

Investigated three aspects of children's early language knowledge: (1) comparison of preschoolers response to written stimuli in familiar environmental contexts (on signs and billboards) with responses presented in a traditional reading task format; (2) developmental changes in preschoolers' knowledge of written language; and (3) preschoolers'…

Describes children's process of constructing their own knowledge by going through one level after another of being "wrong" and relates this process to reading. Describes six strategies children invent and discusses implications for teaching. (AS)

There is an explosion of new research describing writing stages and how young children learn about reading by learning to write first. Teachers can develop environments in which students can freely explore writing in no-fail situations. By being guided by childrens' spontaneous learning efforts many inapropriate teaching techniques can be avoided.…

Cites articles and research suggesting that the ability to learn to read is inherent within any normal child and recommends that teachers use strategies and materials relevant to the child rather than a prestructured reading program. (MM)