Phonological Skills and Learning to Read [Paperback]

This book sets out to integrate recent exciting research on the precursors of reading and early reading strategies adopted by children in the classroom. It aims to develop a theory about why early phonological skills are crucial in learning to read, and shows how phonological knowledge about rhymes and other units of sound helps children learn about letter sequences when beginning to be taught to read.

The authors begin by contrasting theories which suggest that children's phonological awareness is a result of the experience of learning to read and those that suggest that phonological awareness precedes, and is a causal determinant of, reading. The authors argue for a version of the second kind of theory and show that children are aware of speech units, called onset and rime, before they learn to read and spell. An important part of the argument is that children make analogies and inferences about these letter sequences in order to read and write new words.

Phonological Awareness and Reading. How Children Read Words. Spelling and Phonological Awareness. How Children Read and Write New Words. Comparisons with Backward Readers and Spellers. Correlations and Longitudinal Predictions. Teaching Children About Sound. Do Children Read and Fail to Learn to Read in Different Ways from Each Other. Theories About Learning to Read.This book sets out to integrate recent exciting research on the precursors of reading and early reading strategies adopted by children in the classroom.

Goswami and Bryant assemble an impressive number of research studies which bear on their thesis, outlining them clearly and succinctly. They write persuasively but never dogmatically, revealing a refreshing willingness to give credit to theoretical positions other than their own. This book deserves serious attention by all those who are keen to relate the practice of the teaching of reading to theory which is firmly grounded in careful empirical wlch