The aims of the study summarized in this document were to develop a viable classroom instruction program of reading and writing for elementary school children of standards (grades) 1 and 2 who faced difficulties in learning to read and write. Specific steps included: (1) developing a quick and easily administered screening device to identify…

This document presents eight scholarly articles on the multicultural milieu in which children grow and develop. Readings address the following questions: (1) What is culture and how is it formed? (2) How do people develop their cultural orientation? (3) What are some major insights about culture that are critical to the early childhood educator's…

A study compared the effectiveness of intensive phonics instruction (a combination of the Distar and Lippincott methods) with a language experience approach (Success in Reading program) in the first and second grades. Subjects, 48 first and second grade students in the Hillsboro School District in Oregon, were divided into two groups (matched…

Proceeding from a definition of "story schema" as an idealized internal representation of the parts of a typical story and the relationships among those parts, this paper explores the role of story schemata in reading comprehension. The paper also identifies variables that may affect the way in which schemata function and outlines the…

This level I (third grade equivalent, 2.7-3.9 readability) student workbook is part of an adult basic education series utilizing Southwestern American Indian myths, legends, history, and information on religious beliefs, architecture, fine arts, and social practices. Each lesson teaches a reading/writing skill with a presentation section…

This level III (fifth grade equivalent, 4.5-6.0 readability) student workbook is part of an adult basic education series utilizing Southwestern American Indian myths, legends, history, and information on religious beliefs, architecture, fine arts, and social practices. Each lesson teaches a reading/writing skill with a presentation section…

Memorable language that delights children, makes them laugh or gasp, or causes them to ponder and wonder is the literature that will begin the process of teaching them to read and write. Literature is meant to connect, not with reason primarily, but with readers' and listeners' imaginations and emotions, and in the case of poetry, with something…

A companion piece to "Improving Students' Abilities To Read and Think: A Source Guide" and to the training manual of the same title, this guide is designed to help middle, junior, and senior high school personnel responsible for reading instruction learn new strategies for improving student comprehension of text and learn new ways to…

Research conducted since the early 1970s has provided important insights into how written language develops and how teachers can best foster that growth. One of these promotes the holistic approach to language instruction--to nurture the emergent speller is to nurture the emergent reader, writer, speaker, listener, and thinker. Another important…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 39 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) oral reading behaviors of early readers; (2) the effects of pictures and mode of presentation on the prose comprehension of third and fifth grade children of…

A commonly held belief about reading instruction in the elementary grades is that students must first learn to read so that they will then utilize their reading skill to learn from written language and to acquire new ideas. Consequently most of the instructional time in the primary grades is spent in teaching students how to recognize words and…

This handbook describes the background, characteristics, and education and language needs of Vietnamese-speaking students in the United States. The handbook was designed to increase understanding of the Vietnamese language and culture among bilingual education specialists and other school personnel, especially in the California public schools.…

The Native Language Reading Approach Program of the New York City Public Schools was developed as an on-site, demonstration training program for teachers and teacher aides involved in helping students to transfer reading skills from their native language to English. As implemented in 1980-1981, the program served teachers/teaching aides of…

This study was undertaken to identify the reading strategies which facilitated or inhibited the progress of adult beginning readers (ABRs). An ethnographic approach was used so that factors influencing the ABRs' acquisition of these reading strategies could be identified. Using an adapted form of the Goodman and Burke taxonomy of oral reading…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 19 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effects of study guides on content retention and reading achievement among community college freshmen; (2) the effects of schemata and text structure on…