Investigates young children's developing understanding of three essential features of book language (i.e. autonomy, conventionality, unique grammar) in two curricular genres (i.e. narrative and expository) in a literature-based, multigrade (1st-3rd) classroom. Demonstrates emergent understanding of autonomy, limited familiarity with…

Outlines a strategy for resolving disputes between the whole language and phonics camps in reading instruction. Reviews research on the role of context in word recognition, the process of reading acquisition, and analytic versus holistic approaches to reading acquisition. Suggests that the way is clear for whole language advocates to reconstitute…

Suggests that abandoning controlled vocabulary texts on the assumption that reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game was wrong. Claims that the current emphasis on strategy instruction, scaffolded reading experiences, and the use of writing to foster letter-sounds may provide good outcomes for those teachers and children who dreaded reading…