This research synthesis examines whether the association between print exposure and components of reading grows stronger across development. We meta-analyzed 99 studies (N = 7,669) that focused on leisure time reading of (a) preschoolers and kindergartners, (b) children attending Grades 1-12, and (c) college and university students. For all…

To test how phonemic awareness influences reading, two experiments were conducted in the northwestern part of England in which twenty pairs of children possessing phonemic awareness (pa+) and lacking phonemic awareness (pa-) and matched for reading and chronological age were compared. In the first experiment, the subjects' ability to detect…

This study investigated the relation between field independence/field dependence (FI/FD) and reading success. One hundred kindergarten children from a predominantly white, middle-class community were administered a Portable Rod and Frame Test as a measure of cognitive style. The upper and lower 27% were identified and designated Field Dependent…

A study using four groups, each of 25 first graders, indicated that letter-naming ability does not facilitate learning to read words composed of the same letters. One group was taught to discriminate between four artificial graphemes by identifying them with different geometric forms. The second group was taught to give the graphemes the letter…

In a partial replication of Samuels' (1972) experiments, 60 first grade pupils were assigned to a letter name group, a letter discrimination group, or a control group to investigate the effect of letter name knowledge on learning to read words. Artificial letters formulated by Gibson, et al. (1962) were used instead of those of Samuels, and…

This study investigated children's profiles on four constructs fundamental to areas of children's early literacy acquisition: auditory processing, crystallized ability, processing speed, and short-term memory. These areas were measured using six tests: Memory for Sentences, Visual Matching, Incomplete Words, Sound Blending, Oral Vocabulary, and…

Investigates the relationship between cognitive synthesis abilities and reading abilities in kindergarten children. (HOD)

Gives children (ages 5+ to 9+) four tests of phonological skill to investigate relationships between these measures and their predictive relationship with reading and spelling ability. Finds performance at phonemic segmentation, rhyme sound categorization, and alliteration sound categorization improved with age, but all groups performed onset-rime…

Investigates the use of orthographic analogies in 6-year-olds. Notes that neither rime nor phoneme awareness measures were correlated with rime inference uses and that vowel, but not rime inference, was correlated with scaffolding errors. Finds that rime detection was the strongest predictor of reading ability, whereas phoneme segmentation was the…

A study required children to tell and to dictate stories that were real and make believe, all about the same basic topic, as part of things people do when they "write a story." A further purpose was to explore the reading knowledge of children who are just beginning to read. Children's reading attempts for these stories were used to…

In this paper, Piagetian stages are discussed in relation to the internalization of key vocabulary words by children. Research studies that indicate a parallel development using Sylvia Ashton-Warner's idea of key vocabulary of children are briefly discussed. The author agrees that three studies do not completely prove a hypothesis, however they…

Ascertains whether there were any significant differences in the early reading ability of kindergarten children who received direct instruction with environmental print, those who received indirect instruction, and those who received no instruction. Uses analysis of covariance to ascertain differences. Reveals that the control group and the…

A study determined the interrelationships among children's storybook reading behavior and knowledge of print concepts in kindergarten and their reading ability at the end of first grade. A sample of 21 subjects, ranging in age from 5 years 10 months to 6 years 8 months, was randomly selected from the morning and afternoon kindergarten sessions at…

This study evaluated the decoding skills acquired by low readers in an experimental project that taught low readers in regular class through the use of clinical procedures based on a synthetic phonic, multisensory approach. An evaluation instrument which permitted the tabulation of specific decoding skills was administered as a pretest and…

This study investigated the relationship between letter-sound ability and general reading ability in Israeli Hebrew and explored the value of letter-sound ability as a predictor of later reading success. The subjects were 130 children in primary classes in two Israeli public schools differentiated by socioeconomic status (SES). Stimuli were 31…