There have been few areas in England over the last 50 years where government has drawn more heavily on research to inform policy and practice than in the area of teaching reading. The focus of this article is an analysis of the research and evidence on early reading, in particular the role of phonics, on which government policy in England and the…

The dichotomisation of literacy instruction into phonics instruction versus a whole language approach fails to realise a fundamental tenet of providing equitable educational opportunities to diverse groups of children. Diversity becomes a problem to solve through "inoculation programmes" or "special" education expertise.…

Contemporary education theory (and official South African policy) underwrites learner-centredness. I analyse learner-centredness as a possible piece of the puzzle about why it is proving so difficult to improve academic achievement. Learner-centred ideas are grounded in the belief that cognitive abilities develop spontaneously in accordance with a…

Describes LETTERLAND, a unique teaching model that blends a structured phonics approach with whole-language teaching and is widely used in British classrooms as an initial approach to literacy as well as in special needs contexts. (HTH)

This study investigates the effect of phonological awareness instruction on the development of word-reading ability for EFL first-graders in a Jordanian state school. Based on Chard and Dickson's (1999) phonological awareness hierarchy, a phonological awareness training program was developed by the researchers, and used in training the…

In order to help adult readers with problems, it is necessary to develop an approach to teaching them that is sensitive to language and that makes explicit reference to the way language works to make meaning in texts. A language-based approach requires teachers to become more aware of the relatively invisible language system that lies behind the…

Describes the implementation and evaluation of an early intervention program, Reading Recovery, designed to help young, at-risk children become writers. Research evaluation results in New Zealand and in the United States and a case study of a five-year-old child are presented. (BB)

This collection of papers discusses various theoretical, clinical, and assessment issues in reading and writing delays and disorders. Topics include the following: integrating different theoretical approaches (cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, constructivism) into clinical approaches to reading and writing difficulties; difficulties of…