The importance of cognitive and language skills on reading and spelling development were investigated in a cross-linguistic longitudinal study of 737 English-speaking children (US/Australia) and 169 Scandinavian children (Norway/Sweden) from preschool to Kindergarten and Grade 1. The results revealed that phonological awareness and print knowledge…

The purpose of the current study was to test the efficacy of a supplemental phonological awareness focused intervention delivered by community-based paraeducators with preschool children (M = 4.73 years) in eight Head Start classrooms in the rural Midwest. Participating children were randomly assigned to small groups within classrooms, which were…

Effects of a 1-semester professional development (PD) intervention that included expert coaching with Head Start teachers were investigated in a randomized controlled trial with 88 teachers and 759 children. Differential effects of technologically mediated (remote) versus in-person (on-site) delivery of individualized coaching with teachers also…

In the Jackson and Coltheart theory of acquisition of word reading it is claimed that, near the beginning of the partial alphabetic phase of development, children have full use of abstract letter units (ALUs). This claim and less exclusive alternatives were examined. In Experiment 1, normal progress children with on average 9 months of school…

Three eye movement experiments were conducted to examine the role of letter identity and letter position during reading. Before fixating on a target word within each sentence, readers were provided with a parafoveal preview that differed in the amount of useful letter identity and letter position information it provided. In Experiments 1 and 2,…

This study was designed to examine the effects of tracing and fading prompts to improve the handwriting of two preschoolers both diagnosed as Developmentally Delayed (DD) and one of whom had fine motor goals. The study took place in a self-contained special education public preschool classroom located in the Pacific Northwest. The results showed…

This study examined the development of beginning writing skills in kindergarten and the relationship between early writing skills and early reading skills. Sixty children were assessed on beginning writing skills (including letter writing, individual sound spelling, and real and nonsense word spelling) and beginning reading skills (including…

Recent and ongoing research has demonstrated the alarming likelihood of children from low-income homes and from ethnic minorities to read at much lower reading levels than their peers. Additionally, reading ability is related to the earliest of emergent literacy skills, which can be measured in young children before they enter formal schooling.…

This Italian alphabet book designed for kindergarten and first grade students presents each letter in upper and lower case form accompanied by an illustration and a single sentence caption. The sentence contains two or more words that begin with the letter in question. The book has a teacher's introduction and is illustrated by pen-and-ink…

Authors and editors faced with the problem of rendering Russian names or words into English are forced to transliterate the Cyrillic alphabet according to the needs of their readers. This manual presents four systems, ranging from one for works intended for a broad public to one which may be consistently applied in publications requiring…

Discusses the Revised International Phonetic Alphabet and urges linguists to abandon idiosyncratic systems of phonetic representation and to adopt the new international standard. (JL)

The study assessed the value of maternal writing mediation in predicting children's early literacy. Thirty kindergartners with hearing impairment (HI) and their mothers participated. Mothers were videotaped at home while helping their children write words, and the children's early literacy was assessed in the kindergarten. Maternal writing…

Small numbers are spontaneously associated with left space and larger numbers with right space (the SNARC effect), for example when classifying numbers by parity. This effect is often attributed to reading habits but a causal link has so far never been documented. We report that bilingual Russian-Hebrew readers show a SNARC effect after reading…

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency of extratextual references to letters made by parents and preschoolers during shared reading of an alphabet book. The frequency of letter references was also examined in relation to child age and knowledge of letter names. Participants consisted of 44 preschoolers and their…

Included here are two appendixes to "Adult Education Literacy Instruction: A Review of the Research." Appendix A, "Adult Studies," contains: (1) Assessment Profiles; (2) Alphabetics; (3) Fluency; (4) Vocabulary; and (5) Comprehension. Appendix B, "Adolescent Studies," contains: (1) Alphabetics; (2) Fluency; (3) Vocabulary; and (4) Comprehension.…