Considers the relationship between decoding and sight-word reading. Investigates whether to use the whole-word method or to build decoding skills before introducing sight words. Sets up five goals to address these issues. Concludes that sight-word reading instruction is likely to be successful if decoding skills are firmly established first. (SC)

Presents two activities based on the poem, "Cat in the Snow," to help beginning readers learn to decode print and develop fluency. The first activity has students look at the poet's words. The second activity has students talk about the poet's language and message. A tear-our sheet offers the poem, "Cat in the Snow." (SM)

A study examined the reading performance of 16 individuals (ages 6-16) with Asperger syndrome. The Classroom Reading Inventory found students exhibited reading levels commensurate with their grade levels on Instructional, Frustration, and Listening Capacity. Silent Reading and Independent Reading levels, however, were below grade level. (Contains…

Ninety-one Finnish preschoolers were assessed prior to receiving formal reading instruction. Verbal and nonverbal measures were used as predictors for the time of instruction required to accurately decode pseudowords. Phonological awareness differentiated precocious decoders from early decoders and ordinary decoders. Late decoders differed from…

This paper presents the case study of a student with deficits in phonemic awareness, rapid naming, and word finding. The student's response to instruction during elementary, middle, and high school is described and implications for the educational and research communities are discussed. The case study demonstrates the importance of early…

This paper is a report of a singe-subject reading intervention that was conducted as part of a larger study. The subject's pre-test scores were too low to meet the criterion for including his results in the larger study (Ashcroft, 2004), but he was allowed to participate in an individualized version of the treatment. Because S's social and reading…

This article presents a model of comprehension to support classroom teachers as they engage their students in making meaning from text. Four areas contribute to the comprehension process: the reader, the context, the text, and the transaction, which is described as the intersection of the reader and text situated within a specific context. This…

A learning situation in which the principal content of what is to be learned is not given but is independently discovered by the learner is often considered "discovery learning." Recently, learning scientists have been able to make explicit some of the conditions under which such independent discovery is likely to occur (Andronis, 1983; Epstein,…

While teaching basic reading to students at a two-year college, the author had the idea to introduce his students to texts as challenging as the traditional material, but less complex. In doing so, he hoped to tap into the students' high competency in "street literacy"--the ability to decode the visual signs that are omnipresent in popular…

This research explores if poor grammaticality judgments of late (age of arrival greater than or equal to 12) second language learners often attributed to being beyond the critical period for language acquisition can be better explained by processing difficulties due to (1) low L2 working memory capacity, (2) poor L2 decoding, and/or (3) inadequate…

This review focuses on areas of converging evidence concerning the importance of phonological awareness and the corresponding curricular and instructional implications for diverse learners. Five areas of converging evidence are identified: (1) phonological processing ability explains significant differences between good and poor readers; (2)…

Creating a learning and instructional environment for teaching students in a "humane and efficient" manner, this book is designed to empower teachers by providing them with specific suggestions for problems they will encounter as they provide students with direct, explicit instruction in reading. As in earlier editions, the book devotes…

This paper describes a program for improving reading skills at the beginning of first grade so that a rapid acquisition of skills will enhance students' ability to succeed in their respective basal programs. The targeted population used a first grade in a suburban school (Site A) and a first grade in a mid-sized, Midwestern city school (Site B).…

A study examined the effectiveness of the Preventing Early Reading Failure Project in the Griffin-Spalding County School System (Griffin, Georgia) during the 1994-95 school year. The approach was based on research on phonemic awareness and phonological recoding. The treatment group of 39 first-grade students received classroom reading instruction…

A study investigated the ability of native-Chinese-speaking graduate students (N=18) at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh to infer word meanings from context in two passages written in English. One passage came from the "China Daily" and the other from an editorial in a student newspaper. Glosses were provided…