This study examined the status of current reading, spelling, and phonological processing skills of 28 university students who reported a history of reading acquisition problems. The results indicated that 21 of these participants were currently able to comprehend text at a level expected for university students, although only 8 at a rate…

A total of 46 children in Grades 2 and 3 with low word-level skills were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups that received supplemental phonics-based reading instruction. One group received intervention October through March (21.5 hours), and one group served as a control from October through March and later received intervention March through May…

This study sought to add to the evidence on predictable texts by asking two questions: (1) What type of reading do predictable texts produce? and (2) How do predictable texts influence sight vocabulary acquisition and decoding? Subjects, six black male students selected from a first-grade classroom in an urban setting, had minimal or no sight…

A study compared the effects of a modified whole language approach with those obtained from a pure whole language approach on the decoding abilities of 20 kindergartners, assessed using Darrell Morris's Early Reading Screening Instrument. Subjects were selected from two similarly composed schools located in Albemarle County, Virginia. Ten students…

First, second, and third grade students were asked to draw inferences after reading stories written by themselves, by peers, and by adults. The 70 subjects were divided into groups of slow-inaccurate, slow-accurate, and fast-accurate readers. After reading each type of story, they responded to six questions requiring text-based inferences.…

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 study examined whether children learn phonic decoding skills by reading without direct phonic instruction; compared the effects of a whole language first grade reading program with the effects of a traditional basal reading program; and determined whether there was a difference in decoding and comprehending abilities across levels of ability.…

Reading Old English poses many problems for a beginning student. Even though it has some similarities to modern English, the special characters, obsolete words, inflected grammar, and alien word order of Old English makes it difficult for Old English neophytes to reconstruct the propositional content in a poem such as "Beowulf." Experts…

Test results show that children who are skilled comprehenders are more rapid at oral word decoding than are less skilled comprehenders. (Author/DEP)

Suggesting that the ability to identify words depends as much on contextual information available when one is reading for meaning as on decoding skills, this paper challenges traditional, mechanistic skills approaches to reading instruction. In addition, it contends that comprehending (relating written material to what one already knows) is a…

Taking a psycholinguistic approach, this paper presents an overview of vocabulary and word identification instruction. Sources for instructional procedures are discussed rather than detailed suggestions for teaching procedures. Five approaches to word identification are examined: sight vocabulary development, phonic analysis, structural analysis,…

Diagnostic tests for nine different letter-sound patterns were developed for the PLATO Computer Assisted Instruction system and were administered to 122 first, second, and third graders. Results for four of the patterns showed low test reliabilities and no monotonic increase for the percentage correct with increasing grade level. The remaining…

Noting the limitations of recent word recognition research, this paper suggests ways that these limitations might be overcome and then extends these suggestions into a framework for distinguishing between good and poor readers' ability to comprehend words. The paper begins by reviewing the major models of word recognition and discussing their…

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…