Examines the extent to which curricular choice and incorporation of phonemic awareness (PA) into the kindergarten curriculum affects growth in kindergarten literacy skills and first-grade reading and spelling outcomes. Provides large-scale classroom support for findings on PA reported by the National Reading Panel. (SG)

Summarizes key findings from a previous review of reading research in which the author charted a paradigm shift in content area reading research from strategy validation studies in the 1980s to qualitative studies aimed at understanding sociocultural dimensions in teaching and learning. Comments on issues presenting themselves now, at the outset…

Describes a study that examined the relations between shared reading and the development of phonological sensitivity and oral language skills in very young children. Explains that preschool measures of shared reading were found to be correlated significantly with these developmental outcomes. Discusses results in the context of calls for improved…

Investigates the developmental dynamics between children's achievement strategies, reading performance, and parental beliefs. Shows that parents' beliefs in their children's general school competence predicted their children's use of a task-focused strategy and a lack of task-avoidance, which further predicted the children's high level of reading…

Examines the interrelationships among different enabling skills among children in Latvian kindergartens, and considers how various enabling skills (phonemic awareness, naming, and short-term memory) contribute to explain unique variance in early reading acquisition. Concludes that phonemic awareness seems to be the paramount skill related to…

An interview with Dr. Shaywitz , pediatrician, neuroscientist, and member of the National Reading Panel, focuses on the ways the brains of young children develop and what can be done to prevent early learning difficulties. (MLF)

Reports preliminary results of a 2.5 year project in which 138 special needs children received instruction by three methods which differed in intensity and degree of explicitness of instruction in phonological awareness and phonetic decoding strategies. Finds a clear advantage in phonetic reading ability for one group of children at the end of…

This case study examines the reading disruptions in a bilingual/biscriptal (Cantonese/English) older adult reader following traumatic brain injury. Certain characteristics of the subject's reading problems were evident in both writing systems (e.g., sensitivity to word frequency and lack of sensitivity to visual complexity) suggesting principles…

Details a project in which cognition, language, early literacy, phonological awareness, and reading skills were examined in a group of adolescents and children with Down syndrome and a group of typically developed children match for nonverbal cognition. Concludes that language was a strong predictor in the group with Down syndrome. (PM)

Highlights the methodological issues surrounding research on reading in atypical populations and discusses the issue of comparison groups. Reviews evidence from studies that have described the reading profile observed in Williams syndrome. Advocates a more dynamic developmental approach to the study of reading in atypical populations. (PM)

Attempts to address, on behalf of the teacher of reading, some pedagogically significant aspects of metacognition. Tests the effect of using Metacognitive Awareness Guidance (MCAG) in reading assessment tasks given to nine-year-old Israeli pupils. Notes teachers' reactions related to four aspects: use of self-talk, use of metacognitive learning…

Presents a study designed to measure to what extent secondary school students' ability to guess the meanings of words in isolation is related to guessing words in context. Finds similarities between strategies used in isolated and contextual situations, but the students also made effective use of context. (MG)

Compares second grade and fifth grade students' recreational reading levels (when students self-select library books for recreation reading) in relation to independent, instructional, and frustration levels as determined with an informal reading inventory. Concludes that recreational reading levels should not be viewed as synonymous with…

Offers a review of research conducted on reading comprehension, focusing on studies of the cognitive processes involved in the comprehension of the meaning of the microstructures and macrostructures of a text. (DMM)

Teachers, through secondary, content-area methodology textbooks, are not being exposed to a wide and diverse body of research, either with regard to reading psychology or reading pedagogy. Results are reported from an inquiry to determine which research studies, secondary sources, and researchers consistently appeared in secondary, content-area…