The authors report findings from an evaluation of the reading competence of students in selected elementary schools in Trinidad and Tobago. The work was conducted in eight schools and involved the testing of 450 students in standards (grades) 1 and 5 for competence in comprehension, oral reading, and word recognition. Methods and results relating…

According to interpretations of results from the latest oral reading fluency (ORF) study conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (White et al., 2020), fourth-grade students who score below the basic standard require interventions that focus on word recognition, phonological decoding, and fluency. Before such mandates for…

Analyzes research reports that describe specific corrective feedback techniques. Notes effects for comprehension and for accuracy of word recognition among remedial and average readers and discusses instructional implications of the findings. (FL)

A hallmark of skilled reading is recognizing written words automatically from memory by sight. How beginning readers attain this skill is explained. They must acquire foundational knowledge, including phonemic segmentation, grapheme-phoneme knowledge, decoding, and spelling skills. When these skills are applied, spellings of words become bonded to…

Drawing on research-informed principles for primary-grade vocabulary instruction, the authors developed a series of engaging vocabulary units for a first-grade class. The units, focused on the explicit teaching of target words and the efficient highlighting of larger sets of semantically related words, involved five complementary elements: reading…

Concludes that training in the use of dictionary pronunciations as a means of instructing retarded readers might be more effective if combined with oral reading practice. (RW)

Explains six tasks which require comprehension of words and which can be used to teach beginning readers. (MKM)

Suggests that automaticity in decoding, a prerequisite for skilled reading, results from direct instruction in decoding skills and extended practice in comfortable reading materials. (ARH)

Argues that encouraging poor readers to correct their miscues helps them to improve their skills in reading for meaning. Proposes a four-step procedure to encourage corrections. (FL)

Refutes the notion that remedial readers are unable to use context clues, arguing that poor readers simply have difficulty with automatic word identification. Suggests three approaches to heighten students' sensitivity to the use of context clues. (MM)

Suggests a modification of the miscue analysis procedure for the classroom teacher's use. (MKM)

Analyzes possible reasons for decoding errors. (MKM)

This study confirmed that young Spanish-speaking readers use contextual clues when they read in Spanish. (HOD)