Contends that Jean Piaget's theories may be helpful in three areas of reading instruction: (1) when reading instruction should begin and how it should proceed, (2) the effect of the mature reader's cognitive development on comprehension, and (3) how the theories can help to refine reading theory. (FL)

Recent models of beginning reading processes are described, and the author offers the following summarization: (1) Models at present focus on cognitive aspects of reading; little attempt has been made to incorporate affective aspects into the models. (2) Several different theoretical positions within psychology representing a wide variety of…

Presents a cognitive theory of learning to read and examples of how its theoretical constructs can be measured. Measures of five phonological processing constructs were administered to 161 kindergarten children. Phonological awareness, naming speed, and letter recognition were the most frequent significant predictors of reading achievement in…

Teachers' concern with the "what" of reading has clouded the issue of the "how" of reading. Knowledge of how a child goes about particular reading tasks may give clues to the difficulties he is encountering. Work with disabled readers during three phases of behavior--(1) before the breakthrough in acquiring a reading process, (2) at the time of…

Contrasts the relative impact of the behaviorist and cognitive views of learning and language on beginning reading curricula and the teaching of comprehension skills. Points out that current measures of reading comprehension ignore the concept of maturity in reading. Includes a pro-reaction and a con-reaction paper. Bibliography. (WB)

A task analysis of the conceptual skills prerequisite to learning to read by a phonics-based method is made in an attempt to distinguish these skills from reading's component skills. The model for task analysis presented by Gagne, in which a cumulative learning of prerequisite conceptual skills is assumed, is used. The analysis deals primarily…

Very little has been reported in the literature as to how a child actually learns, but what is known can be put to more effective use in teaching the child to read. The brain has at least five input systems: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. The first of these senses is employed more than the others in reading; however, it is believed that…

Drawing on results from informal reading inventories and studies of oral reading behavior, a theory is presented to describe the process of learning to read. Reading is seen to be broader than a skill and more like a repertoire with many abilities, aptitudes, and special accomplishments performing in concert. This repertoire is acquired in four…

The phonological information provided by written words may be used by the reader as a convenient temporary storage medium and as a way of gaining access to the lexicon. Beginning readers should be able to exploit the sound-based patterning of the orthography in reading single words and to bypass it on occasion. Some words do not conform to English…

The extent to which cuing strategies and basic skills explanations of early reading constitute complementary approaches was examined in a study involving 94 fourth grade students. Basic skills--a unidimensional component based on measures of vocabulary development, language skills, and work-study skills--proved to be a powerful variable mediating…

Reading teachers vary in their teaching methods for reading instruction, usually emphasizing either the meaningful functions (meaning) or the technical features (coding) of written language. This paper reviews literature on the meaning/coding dichotomy and focuses on a "cognitive clarity theory" that stresses linguistic awareness and…

Descriptions of models of the initial acquisition stages of reading development and of methods for teaching beginning reading are provided in this conference report which not only describes individual models and strategies, but also draws together and summarizes current thinking in this area. The models range from the behavioristic works of…

The processes involved in learning to read and write are described and analyzed using a behavioral-engineering approach. A theoretical model of the learning process is presented and supported by discussions of learning as a discriminative process, of learning modalities, stimulus processing, and information processing during reading and writing.…