Abstract
One view of beginning reading emphasizes the importance of word-level skills and an understanding of the alphabetic nature of written language. In contrast are theories suggesting that literacy emerges in a continuous fashion and what distinguishes good from poor readers is improved use of contextual rather than graphic information. To examine these differing perspectives, the oral reading errors of 15 first-graders learning to read in a whole language classroom were recorded from November until May. Using criteria developed in previous studies, errors were evaluated for graphic and contextual acceptability and compared over time for both high- and low-progress readers. While children developed the use of graphic and context cues simultaneously, knowledge of letter-sound relationships was related to end-of-year reading achievement. Results support the influence of instructional approach on children's acquisition of reading strategies.
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