Reports the results of a survey of 82 schools in South Australia and 40 schools in the United States concerning their use of paraprofessionals in their reading/tutoring programs. (FL)

Discusses some of the ways reading instructors have responded to individual differences in children. Methods described include grouping for instruction, self-selected reading, language-experience reading, individualized instruction, skill development, and computer-assisted instruction. The teacher's role is discussed. (Author/DB)

Suggestions from eight contributors include the following: how to use pattern books with beginning readers, how to develop a locally relevant basic sight word list, how to use learning styles in individualizing instruction, and how to personalize handouts. (FL)

Offers suggestions for improving beginning teachers' abilities to teach reading, noting the need for greater cooperation between colleges and practicing schools in providing teachers with the proper training in subject matter and teaching skills. Discusses teacher-developed reading and readiness programs, attitudes, and material selection. (FL)

Reports on a longitudinal study of Finnish student development in literacy skills, especially reading skills. Notes that children from the rural northern areas gained most in test-intelligence and literacy skills, catching up with their coevals from the southern and urban areas. (RL)

Describes a school district's efforts to make teachers, parents, and students more aware of the importance and fun of reading. (RL)

Five educational leaders--Millie Almy, Carolyn Burke, Jean Berko Gleason, Donald M. Murray, and Neil Postman--offer reflections on significant developments of the 1970s in the areas of reading and writing, their hopes for the 1980s, and references that constitute required reading for elementary language arts teachers. (ET)

Guidelines for teaching reading in bilingual elementary school programs stress the need for language experiences that allow students to think in the second language. Evaluation measures other than standardized tests for assessing progress are suggested. (PMJ)

Reports evidence that some students have reading problems because of instructional emphasis on reading as "exact word reproduction," or of student tendencies to focus too keenly on word-attack skills. (RL)

Shows how plays can be modified and used effectively in remedial reading classes. (RL)

Cites the case of Hebrew learning in Israel to show that, contrary to popular belief, the complexity of grapho-phonetic relationships is a minor or nonexistent factor in learning difficulties. (FL)

A group of eight mildly intellectually handicapped adolescents at a work preparation center were taught to read two lists of words of equal difficulty by different methods--using an autoinstructional device (a 3M sound-on-slide projector) and a more traditional paired-associate method. (Author/SBH)

Describes an experiment which sought to determine what oral reading strategies were operating in the oral reading of primary French immersion children as compared to those in a traditional English language program. (AM)

An experiment in which teachers attempted to read basal readers encoded in Greek orthography suggests that using such materials helps teachers consider ways of fostering reading strategies, think about the nature of reading as a psycholinguistic process, and remember how it feels to be a beginning reader. (GT)

Notes Head Start's obligation to promote literacy skills; presents pertinent strategies: (1) encourage families to talk with and read to children; (2) read to children every day; (3) create a print-rich environment; and (4) infuse reading and writing activities throughout the curriculum. Discusses importance of focusing on language and literacy…