Analyzing Beginning Reading Programs

1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 275-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcy Stein ◽  
Barbara Johnson ◽  
Linda Gutlohn
Keyword(s):  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Beginning Reading ◽  
Reading Programs ◽  
Curriculum Materials ◽  
Phonics Instruction ◽  
Basal Reading ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Beginning Reading Instruction

This article bridges the gap between research and practice in beginning reading instruction by applying research-based evaluation criteria in a systematic analysis of recently published curriculum materials. Through a review of research on beginning reading instruction, the authors derived two instructional features characteristic of effective reading programs: explicit phonics instruction and a strong relationship between that phonics instruction and the words of the text selections in student reading materials. This article describes a curriculum analysis of several commercially published first-grade basal reading programs, which reveals significant discrepancies between the instructional strategies supported by the literature and the strategies endorsed by many basal reading programs; cautions are included. The authors conclude with recommendations for educators involved in evaluating, selecting, and modifying beginning reading curriculum materials.

scholarly journals Decodable Texts for Beginning Reading Instruction: The Year 2000 Basals

2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
James V. Hoffman ◽  
Misty Sailors ◽  
Elizabeth U. Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Reading Instruction ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Beginning Reading ◽  
Reading Programs ◽  
Beginning Readers ◽  
Basal Readers ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Decodable Texts ◽  
Beginning Reading Instruction ◽  
Year 2000

This study focuses on the features of the first grade texts included in basal readers used for beginning reading instruction in Texas during the year 2000 adoption period. The authors investigated the general features of student texts with respect to the instructional design of the text, the accessibility of the text for beginning readers, and the engaging qualities of the texts. The features of these basal readers were then compared to the programs previously adopted in Texas (1987 and 1993 adoption periods). Using a variety of analyses, findings suggest that the mandate by the state of Texas to include more “decodable” texts did in fact, heavily influence the materials presented to beginning readers. In addition, there was an apparent lock of attention to other features that support beginning readers, specifically, predictability and the engaging qualities of the texts. The findings suggest that policy mandates have a direct influence on the content and nature of reading programs placed in the hands of teachers and students.

Systematic phonics instruction belongs in evidence-based reading programs: A response to Bowers

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Buckingham
Keyword(s):  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Reading Programs ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Phonics Instruction ◽  
Early Reading Acquisition ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Educational Psychology Review

AbstractThis article is a rejoinder to J.S. Bowers (2020), ‘Reconsidering the evidence that systematic phonics is more effective than alternative methods of reading instruction’, Educational Psychology Review (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09515-y). There is strong agreement among reading scientists that learning the phonological connections between speech and print is an essential element of early reading acquisition. Meta-analyses of reading research have consistently found that methods of reading instruction that include systematic phonics instruction are more effective than methods that do not. This article critiques a recent article by Jeffery S. Bowers that attempts to challenge the robustness of the research on systematic phonics instruction. On this basis, Bowers proposes that teachers and researchers consider using alternative methods. This article finds that even with a revisionist and conservative analysis of the research literature, the strongest available evidence shows systematic phonics instruction to be more effective than any existing alternative. While it is fair to argue that researchers should investigate new practices, it is irresponsible to suggest that classroom teachers use anything other than methods based on the best evidence to date, and that evidence favours systematic phonics.

Modality Preference as a Model for Differentiating Beginning Reading Instruction: A Review of the Issues

1981 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Larrivee
Keyword(s):  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Beginning Reading ◽  
Measurement Instruments ◽  
Instructional Programs ◽  
Learning To Read ◽  
Differential Instruction ◽  
Differentiating Instruction ◽  
Marked Preference ◽  
Beginning Reading Instruction ◽  
Modality Preference

This paper reviews accumulated research pertinent to the issue of modality preference as a method for differentiating beginning reading instruction. Research is considered here in the following categories: Studies providing differential instruction based on modality preference; related studies comparing auditory and visual modes as mediational channels; and studies dealing with the extent to which auditory and visual capacities are related to success in beginning reading. The following conclusions are presented: 1) Regardless of the measure used to classify learners, only a relatively small percentage of children showed a marked preference for either modality; 2) most current measurement instruments did not demonstrate the necessary reliability to be used in decisions concerning differential assignment of children to instructional programs; and 3) differentiating instruction according to modality preference apparently did not facilitate learning to read.

Beginning reading instruction

1993 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 601-665
Author(s):  
Dina Feitelson ◽  
Adriana G. Bus
Keyword(s):  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Beginning Reading ◽  
Beginning Reading Instruction

scholarly journals The Relationship of Conceptual Tempo to Reading Readiness Test Performance

1976 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon E. Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Mental Age ◽  
Beginning Reading Instruction ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Matching Familiar Figures Test ◽  
Conceptual Tempo

This study was designed to investigate the relationship of reflection-impulsivity to performance on a standardized readiness measure. 90 first grade boys were administered the Matching Familiar Figures test to determine their conceptual tempo. 37 boys were classified as impulsive while 30 were determined to have a reflective conceptual tempo. After determining that no pre-existing differences on chronological age, mental age, or intelligence quotients were evident between the two groups, the 67 subjects were administered the Gates-MacGinitie Readiness Skills Test. Results of the statistical analyses revealed that the reflective subjects were significantly superior on overall test perfromance and on six of eight subtests. Implications for beginning reading instruction and for further research were drawn.

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