Reports that children's reading speed for paragraphs in which either words, syllables, or letters were spaced widely apart was a good predictor of reading ability in grades one through three, but not in grades four through six. (GT)

Tests the hypothesis that readers who differ in comprehension ability and are similar in their ability to decode single words differ in their ability to read words in sentence context. (FL)

The experiment studied the differential effectiveness of two methods of blending instruction on the ability of prereaders to decode synthetic words. Findings indicated the superiority of auditory-visual training over auditory, with both methods significantly superior to practice on sound-letter association (the control group task). (RC)

Discusses how books that have predictable story lines can provide rich opportunities for students with hearing impairments to expand their knowledge, experience success in decoding and predicting text, and develop a love of reading. Tips are provided for choosing books that contain familiar sequences, events, ideas, and situations. (CR)

States research shows that decoding skills are associated with phonological awareness, the ability to segment and manipulate sounds in words. Suggests this ability is associated with reading failure in many nonreaders, reading difficulties in poor readers, and individual differences among average readers. Considers that although phonological…

Outlines recent and past debates on literacy pedagogy. Contends that more students are more highly literate today than ever before. Describes the following literacy pedagogy "ages": the age of reading as decoding; the age of reading as meaning making; the age of reading-writing connections; and the age of reading for social purpose.…

Analyzes adult literacy students' utilization of orthographic and phonological strategies to read sight words, to decode nonwords, to spell words, and to detect rhyming words. Indicates that when encountering difficulties adults were less likely than children to use phonological strategies and were more likely than children to rely on visual or…

Looks at reading difficulties among multilingual children for whom English is a non-dominant language and the first script they have been exposed to. Finds that phonological intervention was particularly effective for children with the lowest single-word reading scores. Suggests that the intervention helped to catalyze the fine-tuning of the…

A teaching strategy that taps students' comprehension strengths and reduces the anxieties that often result from reading disability is explained. The strategy provides students with extensive story understanding before independent reading and uses story understanding to help students identify unknown words. (Author/DB)

Research has found similarities between specific reading disability and reading difficulty in children of low intelligence, especially in short-term memory deficits. Studies indicate that ability to acquire and use a knowledge of spelling patterns is a major problem, and efforts to teach more efficient decoding skills have met with limited…

Reports a study of readers' use of context and letter sound as polysyllabic decoding strategies, and a study of the effect of intervention strategies on subjects who do not effectively use context. Concludes that intervention strategies do not improve the performances of students who are not good users of context. (RS)

Studies of impaired reading processes in children with slow digit naming speeds found that, for first- through third-graders, character-identification automaticity was equally important to the direct-access and speech-recoding routes of word recognition. For 4th- through 10th-graders, the correlation of digit naming speed with reading…

Concludes that poor readers' word identification skills can be improved by practice in phonological decoding through pseudoword reading, provided that training is carried out under conditions of limited exposure duration. Suggests that training without time pressure has negative effects. (RS)

An analogy is drawn between understanding Shakespeare's work and the debate about teaching beginning reading. The apparent ease of reading is seen to mask its very real complexity. The importance of the early reading environment for readiness and the necessity of teaching sounds and then words is stressed. Tips for teaching phonological awareness…

An auditory rhyme detection task was employed to examine orthographic code development in 27 reading-disabled and 27 normally achieving children (ages 7-11 years). It was concluded that children with a reading disability have a lessened ability to automatically access and make available stored lexical information relating to orthography.…