Examines some of the significant research in the area of learning modalities, analyzes the findings of this research, and discusses the implications of reading research as it relates to reading instruction. (RB)

Among conclusions presented by a review of research on modality preference as a method for differentiating beginning reading instruction are that differentiating instruction according to modality preference apparently did not facilitate learning to read. (Author)

When studying the question, Do primary students learn better through listening or reading?, the readability of the material used should be considered. (JH)

A study was conducted to test the thesis that teaching word recognition skills in a manner compatible with the learner's auditory or visual modality preference would facilitate beginning reading instruction. A group of 62 students in two first grade classrooms was studied; one class stressed the presentation of words as whole units, the other…

The study examined the effectiveness of using sign language (Signing Exact English) to facilitate reading in students classified as trainable mentally handicapped. Results indicated that subjects learning to read words with an accompanying sign identified and retained significantly more vocabulary than did students learning to read in a…

The effectiveness of providing tactile-kinesthetic sensory input during reading instruction was investigated in a sample of 60 kinesthetic-preferring first-grade pupils. Children were randomly assigned to a method which was predominantly visual, predominantly auditory, or predominantly kinesthetic. Each child received three 20-minute, individual…

Results of a study in which first graders learned ten unfamiliar function words in two different formats indicated that sentence readers learned more about the syntactic and semantic identities of function words, whereas list readers remembered their orthographic identities better and could pronounce the words faster and more accurately in…

Papers collected in this volume were presented at the Fifth Annual Blumberg Symposium on Research in Early Childhood Education, held at Johns Hopkins University in 1974. Selections include "Alexia" (D. Frank Benson), "Young Children's Expectations for Reading" (Doris R. Entwisle), "Relations between Acquisition of…

The purpose of this investigation was to gather empirical data concerning the learnability of content and function words taught in treatments of isolation and oral context to groups of prereading first grade pupils in high and low socio-economic levels. One hundred twelve subjects were tested through a paired-associate task and the data were…

Since the time of E. B. Huey (1908), there have been clear indicators that oral language as a reflection of a child's linguistic ability has been clearly related to his or her reading achievement or comprehension. P. McKee (1937) and W. S. Gray (1937) both speculated that reading difficulties might parallel language deficiencies. G. Hildreth…

The inconclusive results of research comparing beginning reading methodologies in the 1960s led many schools to change their approaches to beginning reading instruction. In the 1970s the focus has shifted from the belief in a single method as superior for all children to the attempt to match methodology to the needs of individual children. A…

Communication Skills Through Authorship (CSTA) is an initial and early reading program designed to complement any basal reading plan and based on the premise that a child will learn best to read what is important to him personally. Begun in Idaho schools in 1969-70, the program encourages each student to tape record many impressions, stories, or…

This study compared 5 groups (45 each) of disadvantaged first grade children learning to read 16 basic sight vocabulary words. The subjects were enrolled in 1 of 16 classrooms on three campuses of a school district in Texas located on the southern border between the United States and Mexico. Furthermore, all spoke Spanish as their first language.…