"Reading Mastery," one of several curriculum components that constitute the "Direct Instruction" curriculum from SRA/McGraw-Hill, is designed to provide systematic instruction in reading to students in grades K-6. "Reading Mastery," which can be used as an intervention program for struggling readers, as a supplement…

This study investigates children's ability to utilize context cues (forward or backward), dictionary definitions (original or revised), or combinations of the two to understand unfamiliar words. Significant word gains were found for all treatments and reading skill levels. Revised definitions produced significantly greater gains than forward…

Investigates the relationship between phoneme segmentation ability and the development of orthographic representations. Finds that children who were most well equipped to perform phoneme segmentation tasks acquired the new reading vocabulary significantly faster than those who were less phonemically aware. Provides strong support for the thesis…

A sample of 79 first grade children, selected from a total sample of 350 subjects from an upper middle class school district, were involved in this study. The sample population was divided into three reading groups (depending on their reading scores) to permit statistical comparisons among groups with differentiated reading achievements. A battery…

This experiment was designed to investigate the relative value of three sources of cue (graphic stimulus only, graphic stimulus plus a picture cue, and graphic stimulus plus a context cue) in combination with two list types (minimal and maximal contrast) as a means of facilitating the acquisition of initial reading vocabulary. The subjects, 137…

A study investigated the effect of using read-along materials on the acquisition of incidental sight reading vocabulary for prereaders and beginning readers. Specifically, the study examined whether such readers acquired sight vocabulary words from exposure to read-along materials and the types of words that were learned more readily than others.…

Library media specialists have been collaborating with classroom teachers for years and have long been advocates for tying the classroom curriculum to the library media center in real-world ways. Current reading research focuses on the many aspects of learning to read, including phonics and alphabet recognition, vocabulary building, fluency, and…

In an investigation of the degree to which children learn associations in the direction opposite to the one in which they were taught, 20 preschool children were instructed in letter-sound correspondences in one of two ways. One group was presented with the letter symbol and asked to produce the sound, while the other group was presented with the…

Reports a study which assessed and compared the verbal responses of good and poor readers at the end of the first grade using a paradigmatic-syntagmatic classification scale for responses. (JM)

Investigates the process involved in acquiring word knowledge from written context in prereading kindergarten children. Analyzes children's readings of picture books to identify patterns of vocabulary growth. Concludes that children learned lexicogrammatical information incidentally through exposure to written context. (MM)

Reflecting an intensified concern for good educational research on instruction, the papers in this collection demonstrate the growing awareness of and sensitivity to the classroom environment by reading researchers. The 51 articles, selected from those presented at the 1981 meeting of the National Reading Conference, are divided into the following…

Sixty-six children from average and low-ability reading groups in grades one through five participated in a study of the effects of vocabulary instruction on reading comprehension. The children were pretested for their ability to identify words and to supply meanings for the new vocabulary words in the next basal reader story they encountered. The…