Examines serial naming speed and its association with reading ability. Suggests that children aged 4.0 to 5.5 years show wide variability in serial naming speed that is predominately attributable to the length of the pauses between the articulated words. Notes that there appears to be a developmental association between the duration of the pauses…

Examines the use of orthographic and phonological deletion strategies by children in the 6-16 year age range. Reveals that younger readers were more accurate when using phonological strategies than when using orthographic strategies, whereas older readers showed superior orthographic and phonological processing abilities. Supports the suggestion…

Argues that the National Reading Panel is too narrow in its presentation of scientifically valid reading research. Presents a sample of practices that enjoy support but were ignored by the panel and qualitative research that was out of bounds because of the methodological guidelines of the panel. Concludes that most of the cutting edge of the…

Investigates four developing readers' text processing by asking them to think aloud as they read five narratives and five expository texts over the course of a school year. Identifies five general categories of processing. Finds that while reading narratives, students hypothesized most of the time; and while reading expository texts, they…

Presents a "conversation" (only slightly redrafted versions of first-and-final electronic communications) on the concept of "compellingness" in reading research (the conditions under which readers come to believe what an author writes). Draws on the authors' reading in logic, literary theory, mathematics, and the philosophy of…

Examines if the reading levels of state-adopted science textbooks at the high-school level are consistent with their intended reader levels. Finds that four of five chemistry textbooks had reading levels beyond high school, while biology textbooks fared better but not as well as the physics and physical science textbooks, which were on grade level…

Discusses recent work on the nature of children's motivations for reading, in particular a reading-specific measure of motivation called the Motivations for Reading Questionnaire. (SR)

Considers how blind children do not receive exposure to environmental print and do not generally learn to recognize written letters of the alphabet prior to schooling in Braille. Concludes that letter learning is a major contributor to the development of phonological awareness in blind children. Suggests key similarities in the underlying…

Describes how the Books Alive! Project is intended to build on the findings of existing research, to create innovative and exciting multimedia texts, known as talking books, which will support emergent reading, and also encourage the development of higher-order reading skills. Explains the background to the research, analyzes its initial findings…

Finds in year 1, children showed effects of neighborhood size in high frequency words read in stories and in low frequency words read in lists and stories; in year 2, rimes from large neighborhoods were read more accurately than rimes from other neighborhoods; and by year 3, effects on low-frequency words continued, but not for high-frequency…

Examines the historical and theoretical foundations of the factory model of education and contrasts it to the more recently developed inquiry model. Argues that the factory model of education is no longer useful since democracy in the twenty-first century requires citizens who are able to think critically and use learning and language flexibly to…

Presents new norms on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test for healthcare-professional students. Notes that it is generally accepted that professional and graduate schools require students with good reading ability because of the quantity of material to be read. Presents standard scores, percentile ranks, and stanine scores as revised norms based on test…

Examines the differential effects of sound boxes and sound sort phonological awareness instructional techniques on preschoolers' phonological awareness performance. Finds that children in the sound box group significantly outperformed children in the sound sort group on isolating medial sounds and segmenting phonemes. Reveals that preschool…

Focuses on the impact of phonological awareness on reading comprehension. Finds that phonological factors play an independent role in the processing of text. Yields further evidence to previous research showing that phonological awareness is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for reading comprehension. Indicates that there is no clear…

Examines and compares levels of phonological awareness in monolingual and bilingual English and Greek five-year-olds. Shows that the bilingual English-Greek children significantly outperformed the monolingual English children, but this pattern was not replicated in the bilingual Greek-English/monolingual Greek comparisons. Accords well with…