ABSTRACT
Reading development consists of two interrelated phases: (1) an acqmsttion phase in which students are taught how to read and (2) a learning-from-text phase in which students mainly apply their reading ability to comprehending or interacting with printed materials (Anderson, Spiro, & Montague, 1977; Singer, 1977a; Singer & Donlan, 1980). Although the two phases of reading instruction overlap, the major emphasis in the primary grades is on acquisition. During this stage of development, most students tend to reach a level of performance where they can automatically respond to commonly occurring words and integrate these responses with their oral language abilities (Singer, 1977a). They can then shift most of their attention in reading to comprehending the text (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974). This level of development can probably be attained during the elementary grades by most students in the normal range of development, which is about IQ 65 and above, provided that the students receive instruction over these grades that is continuous, cumulative, and coherent (Bloom, 1971; Carroll, 1963; Singer, 1977b). This kind of instruction can be exemplary in not only teaching students how to read, but also in accommodating to individual differences in rate of learning to read (Singer, 1977b).
