This article addresses the characteristics of learners in the emergent stage of literacy development and describes two instructional practices that facilitate the development of the alphabetic principle and concept of word in text.

Teaching students how to read is one of the most important tasks in elementary schools. The majority of schools use published basal programs to teach students to read. Several published reviews have indicated that past editions of basal readers did not align with appropriate instruction for beginning level readers. In this study I reviewed five of…

A 2-YEAR STUDY OF THE ABILITY OF FIRST GRADERS TO LEARN TO READ USING THE "EARLY-TO-READ I/T/A/" SERIES WAS CONDUCTED. SIXTY-ONE FIRST GRADERS IN ROSE HILL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, MUKILTEO, WASHINGTON, WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO AN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP USING THE I/T/A SERIES AND TO A CONTROL GROUP USING THE "GINN BASIC READERS." THREE…

Second-grade pupils who were taught reading in the first grade with the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.) were compared with pupils who were taught reading with traditional orthography (TO). Seventy students from two schools in Moline, Illinois, were divided into a control group (using TO) and an experimental group (using i.t.a.) and were matched…

The effects on written composition of two reading approaches--traditional orthography (TO) and the initial teaching alphabet (i.t.a.)--are compared. Two hundred and ninety-three first graders and 391 second graders, half of whom had learned reading with TO and half with i.t.a., were each asked to write two compositions. These essays were rated on…

A COMPARISON OF THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET AND THE TRADITIONAL ALPHABET IN FIRST-GRADE READING WAS CONDUCTED. SAMPLES WERE SELECTED FROM SEVEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS THAT WERE REPRESENTATIVE OF DIFFERING SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS. THE PUPILS WERE PAIRED INTO MATCHED GROUPS. AN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WAS TAUGHT READING BY THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET (ITA)…

To test the effects of teaching inner-city black children to read in kindergarten and first grade through the initial teaching alphabet, i.t.a. and traditional orthography (TO) groups were compared on their comprehension of single words, short sentences, and related skills. At the first grade level, reading, writing, and oral language skills were…

DATA SECURED FROM SECOND GRADERS INVOLVED IN A COMPARISON OF THE USE OF THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET (ITA) AND OF TRADITIONAL ORTHOGRAPHY WHILE IN THE FIRST GRADE ARE REPORTED. IN THE SECOND GRADE, 132 EXPERIMENTAL PUPILS TAUGHT BY ITA AND 123 CONTROL PUPILS TAUGHT WITH TRADITIONAL ORTHOGRAPHY WERE AVAILABLE FOR STUDY. A COMPARISON WAS MADE BY…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of two methods of reading instruction on children's ability to write original compositions. The subjects for this study were 684 first and second graders. Of the 293 first grade children, 130 were receiving their reading instruction in i.t.a., while the remaining 163 children were working in…

A 2-YEAR LONGITUDINAL STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO EVALUATE THE "EARLY-TO-READ I/T/A PROGRAM." THIRTY-FOUR PUPILS RAMDOMLY ASSIGNED TO ONE FIRST GRADE WERE TAUGHT USING THE "EARLY-TO-READ I/T/A SERIES," AND 26 PUPILS RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO ANOTHER FIRST GRADE WERE TAUGHT USING THE "GINN BASIC READERS" AND TRADITIONAL…

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO METHODS OF FIRST-GRADE BEGINNING READING INSTRUCTION WERE INVESTIGATED. APPROXIMATELY 920 FIRST-GRADE CHILDREN WERE DIVIDED INTO 2 GROUPS WHICH RECEIVED 1 OF THE 2 METHODS. TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTS OF CERTAIN VARIABLES ON READING ACHIEVEMENT, THE CHILDREN WERE MATCHED IN PAIRS. THE RESULTS WERE GATHERED FROM ONE GROUP…

This study compared the relative effectiveness of the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i. t. a.) program for teaching beginning reading with a matched program using traditional orthography (T. O.). Three waves of first grade students in ten predominately white elementary schools were randomly assigned to i. t. a. and T. O. classrooms. Summary evaluation…

The relationships between prereading measures of auditory discrimination, letter knowledge, and intelligence and reading ability were investigated for pupils who completed grades 1 and 2 in four different types of instructional programs--conventional basal reading programs, i/t/a programs, language-experience approaches, and code-emphasis…

A study was conducted to determine the influence of a holistic versus a phonic approach in beginning reading on children's comprehension scores at the end of grade two. Two groups, each of approximately 350 students, were studied. Group one began reading instruction in first grade using the "Early-to-Read i.t.a. Program" (initial teaching…