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Reading Research

Phonemic Awareness Sites (Info)
How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities for Collaborative Classrooms, from LD Online.	A research-based article that presents a set of developmental phoneme awareness training activities (with diagrams and tables for emphasis) that the special educator can integrate collaboratively into existing kindergarten and first-grade reading programs.
Phonemic Awareness What Does it Mean?	A review article listing stages of phonemic awareness, and emphasizing that it rests on both hearing and sounds (rather than their conceiving of each word as a single, indivisible sound stream).
Phonemic Awareness and the Teaching of Reading: Summary of a position statement of the International Reading Association.	The International Reading Association seeks to clarify some of the issues as they relate to research, policy and practice. The full position paper is in PDF format, and linked from the end of the article.
Phonics top
Phonics & Whole Language from Education Week.	Research strongly indicates that students will be the most successful if a balanced approach is used: teach phonics in a systematic fashion, within the context of real stories [a whole language approach]. One indication that this may be the wave of the future: Some publishers are beginning to produce textbooks that fill the bill.
Reading Panel Urges Phonics For All in K-6 from NCTE.	Systematic, explicit phonics should be a routine part of reading instruction for all elementary students, but teachers must be trained to teach such skills in a "vibrant, imaginative and entertaining fashion" and to tailor their instructional strategies to student needs, a congressionally mandated panel has concluded. From Teaching Children To Read, from the National Reading Panel.
The Role of Phonics in Reading Instruction. Summary of a position statement of the International Reading Association.	The Association supports: * research into effective phonics instruction, * teacher education initiatives that encourage the best practices in teaching phonics, * parent education concerning the place of phonics within the total reading program, and * curriculum development that effectively integrates phonics into the total reading program. The full position paper is in PDF format, and linked from the end of the article.
Ten Important Research Findings about Phonics, from Scholastic.	An excellent article. See also How Phonics Contributes to Reading Success.
What About Learning to Read? And what about phonics? from NCTE.	A Q&A page to aid in the understanding that many children have difficulty learning phonics, especially when it is taught first and in isolation. They do better when phonics is taught in the context of their own reading and writing. From Creating Support for Effective Literacy Education - check this Web site for useful links!.
Fluency top
Developing Reading Fluency from The Reading Genie	Fluency means reading faster, smoother, more expressively, or more quietly with the goal of reading silently. Fluent reading approaches the speed of speech. Beginning readers usually do not read fluently; reading is often a word-by-word struggle.
Early Literacy Continuum from the Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD	Description of early fluent and fluent stages of reading.
Fluency: A Review of Developmental and Remedial Practices by Melanie R. Kuhn & Steven A. Stahl, University of Georgia.	This is an excellent review article (a PDF file), off a Web site, Reading for all Learners, from Utah State University. All links lead to PDF files, but are they are not too large, and are excellent.
Reading Fluency article from the Wisconsin Literacy Education and Reading Network Source	Fluency is necessary for good comprehension. When a reader is struggling to decode words, little mental energy is left for comprehension.
Reading Workshop for fluent Readers from the Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD.	Reading workshop is one way of organizing a balanced literacy program. The purpose of reading workshop is to promote fluency and to provide an occasion to promote the love of reading and to learn about texts in various ways.
What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research-Based Programs, from Pearson Technology Group.	Click on Companion Web site to obtain "An annotated bibliography of research cited in What Really Matters for Struggling Readers."
Vocabulary top
Building the Foundations of Literacy: The Importance of Vocabulary and Spelling Development from EduPlace.com.	"One of the best established relationships in the field of literacy is that between students' vocabulary knowledge and their reading comprehension (Anderson & Freebody, 1981; Stanovich, 1992). While this is not a simple cause-effect relationship..."
Can Software Support Children's Vocabulary Development? - a January 2001 article in Language Learning and Technology.	"This study 'lifts the lid off' 16 well-reviewed software products designed for elementary grade students -- those products that make explicit claims about developing students' lexical knowledge and those that do not. The study also examines the potential of technology (e.g., hypertext, animation) to enhance vocabulary learning."
Some Empirical Findings on How First and Second Language Learners Acquire New Vocabulary from National Research Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA).	A primary research article in which "...studies looked at the acquisition of literacy skills like vocabulary and grammar among first and second language learners, both children and adults. Of particular interest was how the groups in question came to understand and use new vocabulary as well as rules and structures of grammar, whether in their primary language or when learning English as a Second Language."
Vocabulary Acquisition: Synthesis of the Research from the University of Oregon.	"A foundation of vocabulary knowledge must be in place early if children are going to perform successfully in school." There are several conclusions, such as "Even as early as kindergarten, sizable differences are found between students in the number of words known. This vocabulary gap tends to increase significantly throughout school. Thus, early differences in vocabulary knowledge have strong implications for students' long-term educational success."
Comprehension top
Explicit Instruction in Comprehension Strategies, from NEA.	A short summary, off the excellent Reading Matters Web site.
Reading Comprehension Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities by Russell Gersten & Scott Baker, University of Oregon.	A review article off the National Center for Learning Disabilities Web site. Among other conclusions is: "Successful reading comprehension is correlated with oral reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge. However, interventions that focus on improving fluency or vocabulary do not necessarily increase reading comprehension, especially of long passages."
Reading for Understanding: Toward an R&D Program in Reading Comprehension, from Rand.	Links to separate chapters on, e.g., "Defining Comprehension," "Variability in Reading Comprehension" and "Strategies for Developing a Research Program on Reading Comprehension." Check out Rand's Reading Web page, for panel members and more information.
Story Construction from a Picture Book: An Assessment Activity for Young Learners from Early Childhood Research Quarterly.	The authors of this study developed a new assessment activity, "Story Construction from a Picture Book," that is performance based, an "authentic"assessment of young children's skills in comprehending and describing the relations among a series of pictures.
General top
Beginning Reading - Introduction	Looks at beginning reading and technology, from 28 Takes on 21st Century Literacy Instruction, part of LEARNWEB, Harvard Graduate School of Education. Links to related papers on the subject.
Early Reading -Technology Project from CTAP (California Technology Assistance Project).	The primary mission of the Early Reading Technology Institute is to provide a professional development opportunity for teachers throughout the state of California, representing each of the 11 CTAP regions, wherein specialists in early reading and specialists in technology work together and create valuable teaching tools which integrate current technologies with the delivery of early reading content.
History of Reading Instruction	The following materials are intended to provide an introduction to History of Reading.
The Effects of Independent Reading on Reading Achievement	From EduPlace.com.
Emergent Literacy: Synthesis of the Research	From the University of Oregon.
Language and Literacy Development	Summary of testimony delivered before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on July 10, 1997.
NCFL's Research on Family Literacy	The National Center for Family Literacy.
Phonics, Spelling, and Vocabulary Development	"...As students progress through the various stages, they should be held responsible for using the phonetic and spelling principles they have learned..."
Read With Me	A Guide for Student Volunteers Starting Early Childhood Literacy Programs.
The Partnership For Reading	Bringing Scientific Evidence to Learning.
The Roles of the Reading Specialist	Schools must have reading specialists who can provide expert instruction, assessment, and leadership for the reading program.
The Florida Center for Reading Research	Early success, literacy first, read well, the Literacy Center and more!
Using Multiple Methods of Beginning Reading Instruction	Teachers must be familiar with a wide range of methods for teaching reading and a strong knowledge of the children in their care so they can create the appropriate balance of methods needed for each child.
What Does Research Say About Reading from North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL), 1991.	Old and new definitions of reading, characteristics of poor and successful readers, milestones in reading research and more.
What's Basic in Beginning Reading? Finding Common Ground	Looks at the whole-part-whole method of reading instruction.