Compares selected language features of urban, first grade children in five different reading programs: Lippincott, Language Experience, Houghton-Mifflin, Open Court, and Ginn 720. Finds significant differences among the programs on number of predictions and average length of T-unit, but no program emerged as significantly superior in two or more…

Survey responses from 478 programs serving about 26,000 hearing impaired students indicated: the basal reading approach is used more than the language experience approach; the basal program, "Reading Milestones'" is the most frequent choice at all instructional levels; and only one-fourth of programs view standardized reading achievement tests as…

Describes an experience based reading program developed in Melbourne, Australia, for low-income and immigrant children and a series of books to be published which are based on this program. (MKM)

Reading instruction is on the verge of a shift to a new paradigm that will be based on a new understanding of cognitive processes and will include five important tenets: (1) the best way to promote the emergence of reading behavior is to use interesting story books; (2) the primary cause of reading problems is too much instruction, too much…

Reports on a study with slow first-grade readers showing that sight words are better learned in the context of repetitive "predictable" books and language experience approach charts than from stilted preprimers. Argues that the process meshes with the basal program. (FL)

Publishers of basal reading series claim that beginning reading materials must contain primarily high frequency words and that new words must be introduced gradually. Inherent in their argument is the position that reading is based on the student's ability to recognize words and that short, phonetically regular words are easier to read. To examine…

Seventy-eight kindergarten children were randomly placed in four experimental classrooms. Two of the classes were taught with the basal reader approach to reading readiness, and two were taught with the conceptual-language program approach. An extensive pretest battery was given to these children in October 1967. Instruction in the two approaches…

Addressing subjects ranging from reading readiness to phonics, this book examines several fundamental elements of beginning reading instruction. Divided into 12 chapters, the book begins with a chapter providing a general overview of reading instruction, including the debate between the perception of reading as decoding or comprehension, and other…

Originally developed for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on extending the basal is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a lecture giving an overview on the topic; the full text of several…