Tessa Roberts

Auditory Blending in the Early Stages of Reading

Summary 168 five‐year‐old infants from six different Social Priority Schools were examined for their ability to perform tasks of auditory synthesis (sound blending). Voiced consonants were used although doubts about this practice are widely expressed in the literature. The majority of children were either competent or not competent, only 29 being in a transitional state of moderate competence. In one school, although this pattern of discontinuity remained, the number of competent performers was considerably greater than in any other school. This suggested that factors within the school may affect the ease with which children acquire sound blending ability at this early age.

‘Frustration Level’ Reading in the Infant School

Summary The accuracy rate of 125 second‐ and third‐year infants randomly selected from five infants departments was assessed by means of counting errors made in reading from a current reading book. Only .23 of the sample was reading at Instructional Level according to Betts’ definition, while .57 was at Frustration Level suggesting that teachers did not consider these defined Levels appropriate. In addition, in a sixth school, the total reading population of the infants department (N = 62) was assessed in this way and only .18 was found to be reading at Instructional Level, while .66 was at Frustration Level. In this school, however, children in the junior department were reading at an above‐average level of accuracy and comprehension and showed no signs of antipathy towards reading.

Piagetian theory and the teaching of reading

Summary An attempt is made to reconsider the implications of Piagets theories for the teaching of reading. It is argued that the way the theories have typically been interpreted in relation to reading is unhelpful and does not accord with the behaviour of young readers. Alternative ways of linking Piagetian theory to the teaching of reading are proposed. It is considered that they both provide a more adequate explanation and offer the teacher more helpful directions along which to develop reading.

Reading and spelling performance of 8-year-old children

The ability of 112 first year junior children to read 20 words drawn from reading tests in common use was compared with their ability to write these words. The strategies for spelling used by good readers were examined and the extent to which setting the words in context affected their performance of the tasks was also investigated. It was found that while the children could read 92% of the words in context and 87% of them in isolation they could spell only 51% of them in context and 50% in isolation. Good readers who were also good spellers appeared to be more likely to use visual orthographic strategies for spelling than good readers who were comparatively poor spellers.