This brief article uses observational data of a 4-year-old child with a visual impairment to examine the development of early literacy skills through home literacy experiences. (DB)

The authors investigated the influence of language proficiency on the cross-language transfer (CLT) of phonemic awareness in Spanish-speaking kindergarten students and assessed Spanish and English receptive vocabulary and phonemic awareness abilities. Correlation results indicated positive correlations between phonemic awareness across languages;…

This study of the influence of social context on children's learning investigated the functions of literacy-based verbal exchanges of 37 preschoolers in a print-enriched play environment. Play settings in two preschool classrooms were enriched with print materials and literacy-related props. Four play settings were created: post office, library,…

A study examined the influence of preschool reading readiness skills instruction on first graders' reading achievement. The subjects were 52 first grade students who had attended preschool, and their parents. The parents received questionnaires containing 40 reading readiness questions and the children took the California Achievement Test (CAT) in…

Describes a program of workshops held to encourage parents, teachers and children to share reading experiences. Suggestions are given for selecting books, reading aloud, and discussing content. (SET)

After considering the advent of knowledge about prereading from a longitudinal perspective, this report then reviews the research on preschool children's attempts to read and offers a discussion of cross-sectional research on both prereading and beginning reading. The discussion is organized in terms of three hypothesized strands of prereading:…

This biliography contains annotations of publications relating to theory, research, and practice in early reading (reading prior to the time a child begins attending school). The 142 annotations are listed under the following headings: comprehensive studies, theoretical issues, pedagogical issues, empirical issues, reviews, and bibliographies. (RL)

BUILDING EFFECTIVE COMPREHENSION SKILLS IS DISCUSSED. FACTORS RELATED TO COMPREHENSION ARE PHYSICAL HEALTH, MENTAL DEVELOPMENT, EXPERIMENTIAL BACKGROUND, WORD RECOGNITION, AND THE PURPOSES OF THE READER. COMPREHENSION SKILLS CAN BE GROUPED INTO THESE AREAS -- READING FOR DETAILS, READING FOR MAIN IDEAS, READING TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN FACT AND…

The existence of possible relationships between home environmental factors and children's reading readiness in kindergarten was sought in this study. The specific home environmental factors examined were maternal teaching style, maternal language style, children's daily schedules, and home prereading activities. A description of earlier studies…

The development of differential vowel duration was observed in six children who were tape recorded at 1-month intervals from 26 to 36 months of age and in three children from 21 to 24 months of age. By differential vowel duration is meant the relatively different durations of vowels according to whether the following consonant is voiced or…

The development of differential vowel duration was observed in six children who were tape recorded at 1-month intervals from 26 to 36 months of age and in three children from 21 to 24 months of age. By differential vowel duration is meant the relatively different durations of vowels according to whether the following consonant is voiced or…

A discussion of the rationale for early intervention programs, including the critical role of early experiences and the prevalence of language deprivation among children from lower socioeconomic groups, begins this paper. The distinguishing characteristics of three structured curriculum models for early intervention are reviewed: the structured…

Suggestions are offered to parents of hearing-impaired children of ways to develop literacy skills. Recommendations include reading to the child, helping the child begin to interpret print, encouraging functional literacy, and helping the child develop strategies for understanding textbooks. (DB)

Considers a three-phase approach to reading in the second-language classroom, with particular attention given to the prereading phase, where students' existing content schemata can be activated in an attempt to enhance motivation to read. (Author/CB)

Considers impact of print awareness on young children learning to read and developing metalinguistic understandings about written and oral language and literacy. Particularly emphasized are the developmental stages of beginning reading, which are supported by a review of research studies and suggest appropriate program content for initial reading…