IN A THREE-STAGE STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF THE PHONIC AND LOOK-SAY METHODS OF READING ON THE TRANSFER OF READING SKILLS, 60 KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN WERE DIVIDED INTO A LETTER GROUP, A WORD GROUP, AND A CONTROL GROUP. MATERIALS USED WERE SIX GRAPHEMES DESIGNED DIFFERENTLY FROM ENGLISH LETTERS AND ASSIGNED TO SIX SINGLE ENGLISH PHONEMES. DURING STAGE…

There are basically two different models for the word recognition process. One model postulates that a reader primarily uses sound/symbol cues to recognize a word; a second model states that a reader focuses mainly on whole-word characteristics. To determine which model best fits beginning and adult readers, a multiple regression analysis was…

Two hundred and eight first graders were assigned to one of three treatment groups. Treatment A received initial instruction in letter names followed by sight words; treatment B received initial instruction in letter names and sounds followed by sight words; and treatment C received initial instruction in sight words followed by letter names and…

This report summarizes the findings of a February 1971 administration of a revised and expanded version of the Wisconsin Basic Prereading Skill Test to 138 kindergartners. The test battery being developed has two purposes: (a) the identification of prereading skill deficits in kindergartners for individualized curriculum planning, and (b) the…

The purpose of this investigation was to study the effect of controlling the letters used in words both for a training program designed to improve visual discrimination and for a word recognition task. The experiment was designed to investigate the influence of simultaneous and successive discrimination learning with stimuli which varied in…

Research with kindergarten children showed that low imagery words were more difficult to recall than high imagery words. (MKM)

Critiques an experiment by M. Arlin, M. Scott, and J. Webster (see EJ 206 153) in which their pictures as an aid to learning hypothesis contrasts with the focal attention hypothesis supported by research by H. Singer, S. J. Samuels, and J. Spiroff (see EJ 105 648). (MKM)

Examines the hypotheses about how print represents the speech that preliterate children select when they receive input compatible with several such hypotheses. Results indicate that most preliterate children do not select phonologically based hypotheses, but instead focus on morphophonology and/or semantic aspects of words' referents. (40…

Primary-aged students (N=5) with moderate mental retardation were taught to read environmental sight words and assessed for observational cross-learning of other students' words. Results indicate that the constant time delay method was effective in teaching sight words to four students and all students acquired some information targeted for other…

Reports a study of readers' use of context and letter sound as polysyllabic decoding strategies, and a study of the effect of intervention strategies on subjects who do not effectively use context. Concludes that intervention strategies do not improve the performances of students who are not good users of context. (RS)

Some researchers believe that phonics is the more natural way to teach reading because, instead of requiring the learner to memorize whole words, phonics shows the learner the process by which alphabetic writing is converted into speech. The human baby babbles more than enough phonemes for any language. Before there was an alphabet, humans drew…

A project was conducted at Reading Area Community College (Pennsylvania) to develop the basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills of students with learning disabilities, to develop the self-esteem of these students, to motivate them, and to develop a model program that could be used by other adult education providers. The project featured a…

Reviews recent investigations that analyze the word-recognition responses of children taught by different methods and reanalyzes the results of W. Wiley's 1928 naturalistic experiment in order to deduce the nature of the process underlying the learning of words. (Author/CS)

A combination of case study observation and mini-experimentation techniques were used to examine a number of issues of relevance in the study of the acquisition of beginning reading skills. Six children were divided equally among three instructional modes: phonics, whole word, and mixed. They were asked to decode and encode words, and their…

TWO SETS OF MULTISENSORY DEVICES WERE USED TO DETERMINE WHETHER THEIR INDIVIDUALIZED USE WOULD HELP RETARDED READERS DEVELOP A BASIC SIGHT VOCABULARY. STUDENTS WHO HAD SPENT 9 OR 10 YEARS IN SCHOOL AND WHO WERE READING AT THE SECOND-READER INSTRUCTIONAL LEVEL WERE GIVEN THE DANIELS WORD RECOGNITION LIST, FORMS A AND B, AS PRETESTS AND POST-TESTS.…