The articles in this issue reflect the theme effecting change in reading programs. Titles and authors of the articles include the following: (1) "Commentary: Becoming a Nation of Readers--the Undergraduate's View" (Michael P. French); (2) "Implementing a Reading Curriculum for the 80s and 90s" (Doris M. Cook); (3) "Strategic Teaching/Strategic…

A selection from the many citations of material in the ERIC/RCS Reprint Bibliography entitled "Helping Parents Understand the Stages of Their Child's Reading Development," this FAST (Focused Access to Selected Topics) annotated bibliography can serve as a guide and beginning point for parents who want to become better informed about any…

The language program guide explains the theoretical basis and the instructional objectives of the approach to developing English language proficiency, supporting the Houghton Mifflin Reading Series and the Ginn 360 Series. The first of three sections describes the theoretical considerations and the philosophy of the program; it provides…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) reading achievement as a function of home media environment and orientations toward learning; (2) reading ability and offense categories of delinquents; (3)…

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…

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…

Seventy-eight kindergarten children were randomly placed in four experimental classrooms. Two of the classes were taught with the basal reader approach to reading readiness, and two were taught with the conceptual-language program approach. An extensive pretest battery was given to these children in October 1967. Instruction in the two approaches…

Suggests that removing "junk curriculum," including grammar drills, workbooks, and recitation from the classroom, and instead focusing on writing, reading, listening, and thinking, will improve teacher and student motivation. (JC)

The vocabularies of five- to eight-year-old blind children were sampled to help develop a graded series of braille reading books. Lists of words in alphabetic and frequency order are presented. (See TM 504 595 for availability). (Author/CTM)

Describes a program in a first grade classroom in a rural school district which integrates holistic and direct instructional ideas by using the basal reader as one part of an otherwise holistic literacy program. Presents the major benefits of and some concerns about the program. (RS)

This study examined the word-structure knowledge of novice teachers and the progress of children tutored by a subgroup of the teachers. Teachers' word-structure knowledge was assessed using three tasks: graphophonemic segmentation, classification of pseudowords by syllable type, and classification of real words as phonetically regular or…

A study explored the effects of individualized, integrated language arts instruction on the attitudes of poor readers. A total of 63 elementary students participated in the study, 33 in the treatment group and 30 in the comparison group. Twice a week for a period of 12 weeks, the treatment group received reading instruction which incorporated…

In 19th century America the textbook for reading, or "reader," was predominant as the learning tool for young children. Science selections in these readers introduced students to their first formal science instruction. This paper presents an analysis of the science used in 19th century popular readers. Through a synthesis of expert…

The wealth of information gleaned from reading research both past and present needs to be applied to a practical eclectic reading methodology. First, an emergent instruction model needs to be created that takes into account the immediate interests and needs of the learner. This model should recognize that learning is a transaction, with the…

A study was conducted to examine the instructional approaches to decoding and comprehension in the first grade basal reading programs published by Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich (1983); Houghton Mifflin (1979); Ginn (1976); and SRA Reading Mastery (1983). In addition, analyses were completed on the comprehensibility of matched stories from each of…