Purpose: To assess strengths and weaknesses of the reading level (RL) match approach and its potential to generate insights regarding the cognitive foundations of reading ability and disability. Method: We applied RL-match design to a sample of 2nd-6th graders reading a consistent orthography, Russian, using an "extreme phenotype"…

Investigates the role of background color on phonological decoding in children with reading difficulties--10 elementary students with reading difficulties and 10 controls read pseudowords presented on white or colored backgrounds. Finds students with a history of reading difficulties pronounced fewer pseudowords than controls for either…

Compares dyslexic children with normal readers on measures of phonological decoding and automatic word processing. Finds that dyslexics have a deficit in automatic phonological decoding skills. Discusses results within the framework of the phonological deficit and the automatization deficit hypotheses. (RS)

Investigates word and nonword reading in German- and English-speaking children. Suggests that low orthographic consistency, as in English, necessitates the use of complex and error-prone strategies in phonological recoding (translating printed words into spoken equivalents), whereas high consistency, as in German, allows phonological recoding into…

This article assesses the state of the literature on word-attack skills and phonological awareness (PA) in individuals with mental retardation, in light of progress towards the development of effective teaching procedures. The literature contains promising findings. Studies have shown PA to be correlated with word-attack skills in individuals with…

Compares matched groups of normal and poor readers of Dutch. Assesses the way normal and poor readers automatically process phonological and orthographic incongruencies when comparing singular and plural of nouns. Investigates the automatized processing of uppercase-lowercase letter incongruencies. Concludes that poor readers not only have…

A study investigated the transfer effect of three different word recognition strategies. Subjects were 90 first- through fourth-grade children randomly drawn from an elementary school population to serve in the experimental group and a like number assigned to a non-instructed control group. Strategies taught to subjects were a graphophonic…

A study examined the differences between new and old editions of basal reading programs. Two editions, 1979 and 1986, of the Houghton Mifflin basal reading program for first grade were analyzed. Results indicated that there were substantial differences in both decoding and comprehension activities, and in the stories children read. The newer…

Analyzes adult literacy students' utilization of orthographic and phonological strategies to read sight words, to decode nonwords, to spell words, and to detect rhyming words. Indicates that when encountering difficulties adults were less likely than children to use phonological strategies and were more likely than children to rely on visual or…

A study compared the effects of a modified whole language approach with those obtained from a pure whole language approach on the decoding abilities of 20 kindergartners, assessed using Darrell Morris's Early Reading Screening Instrument. Subjects were selected from two similarly composed schools located in Albemarle County, Virginia. Ten students…

A study examined whether children learn phonic decoding skills by reading without direct phonic instruction; compared the effects of a whole language first grade reading program with the effects of a traditional basal reading program; and determined whether there was a difference in decoding and comprehending abilities across levels of ability.…

Compares use of two decoding strategies in fifth-sixth grade normal and dyslexic children, and younger normals reading-aged-matched to the dyslexic students. Finds dyslexics lag behind age-matched normals in use of both strategies, and behind reading-age-matched normals in use of analogies, but not rules. (RS)

Compares the ability of children at three different levels to use analogy in reading both real and nonsense words. Shows young children can successfully use analogy to decode new words. (HOD)

Finds that third and fifth graders were able to select characters containing the correct radicals (a component of Chinese characters that provides information about the character's meaning) even when the characters as a whole were unfamiliar to them. Finds that good readers displayed more awareness of radicals than poor readers. (RS)

The purpose of this study was to examine the character identification strategies of Chinese children during their oral reading of a continuous text. Eighteen second graders' oral reading of a story, as well as an interview about their decoding strategies, were audiotaped and transcribed. The results generally converged with those of previous oral…