This text provides a unique and accessible insight into current research in different orthographies. It presents cross-language comparisons to provide insights into universal aspects of reading development and developmental dyslexia.

The role of orthography in reading and writing is not a new topic of inquiry. For example, in 1970 Venezky made a seminal contribution with The Structure of English Orthography in which he showed how both sequential redundancy (probable and permissible letter sequences) and rules of letter-sound correspondence contribute to orthographic structure. In 1980 Ehri introduced the concept of orthographic images, that is, the representation of written words in memory, and proposed that the image is created by an amalgamation of the word's orthographic and phonological properties. In 1981 Taylor described the evolution of orthographies in writing systems-from the earliest logographies for pictorial representation of ideas to syllabaries for phonetic representation of sounds to alphabets for phonemic representation of sounds. In 1985 Frith proposed a stage model for the role of orthographic knowledge in development of word recognition: Initially in the logographic stage a few words can be recognized on the basis of partial spelling information; in the alphabetic stage words are. recognized on the basis of grapheme-phoneme correspondence; in the orthographic stage spelling units are recognized automatically without phonological mediation. For an historical overview of research on visual processing of written language spanning the earliest records of writing to the early work in experimental psychology, see Venezky (1993).

This book provides a unique and accessible account of current research on reading and dyslexia in different orthographies. While most research has been conducted in English, this text presents cross-language comparisons to provide insights into universal aspects of reading development and developmental dyslexia in alphabetic and non-alphabetic languages. The book brings together contributions from a group of leading literacy researchers from around the world. It begins by examining the development of language skills in monolingual speakers of alphabetic and non-alphabetic languages; it then explores literacy acquisition in bilingual children learning to read in languages with different spelling-sound rules, including English, French, Greek, Welsh and Japanese. The second section is devoted to developmental dyslexia in monolingual and bilingual speakers of different languages and examines the impact of variations in orthography on the symptoms and aetiology of dyslexia. The final section explores the contribution of brain imaging to the study of impaired and unimpaired reading, giving an up-to-the-minute picture of how the brain deals with different languages and writing systems. This is ideal reading for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates who have an interest in language acquisition, reading and spelling, as well as speech and language therapists, teachers and special educational needs professionals.

"This volume is the edited proceedings of a cross-language conference on Orthography, Reading, and Dyslexia held at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on September 18-20, 1978, under the joint sponsorship of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) [and others]" -- Preface.

The chapters in this volume are based on presentations made at a recent conference on cognitive and linguistic foundations of reading acquisition. The researchers who participated have all made contributions to the theoretical and empirical understanding of how children learn to read. They were asked to address not only what they have learned from their research, but also to discuss unsolved problems. This dialogue prompted numerous questions of both a theoretical and applied nature, generated heated debate, and fueled optimism about the important gains that have been made in the scientific understanding of the reading process, especially of the critical role played by phonological abilities.

First published in 1998. Written in a simple, friendly style, this book will help teachers and parents to research dyslexic children ti read and spell. It can be used either as a step-by-step teaching programme or as a reference resource. The focus of the teaching scheme is two original photocopiable charts which present the main spelling patterns and rules of English.

Until about two decades ago, the study of writing systems and their relationship to literacy acquisition was sparse and generally modeled after studies of English language learners. This situation is now changing. As the worldwide demand for literacy continues to grow, researchers from different countries with different language backgrounds have begun examining the connection between their writing systems and literacy acquisition. This text, which derives from a NATO sponsored conference on orthography and literacy, brings together the research of 70 scholars from across the world--the largest assemblage of such experts to date. Their findings are grouped into three parts, as follows: Part I, Literacy Acquisition in Different Writing Systems, describes the relationship between orthography and literacy in twenty-five orthographic systems. This section serves as a handy reference source for understanding the orthographies of languages as diverse as Arabic, Chinese, English, Icelandic, Kannada, and Kishwahili. Part II, Literacy Acquisition From a Cross-Linguistic Perspective, makes direct comparisons of literacy acquisition in English and other orthographic systems. The overall conclusion that emerges from these eight chapters is that the depth of an orthographic system does influence literacy acquisition primarily by slowing down the acquisition of reading skills. Even so, studies show that dyslexic readers can be found across all orthographic systems whether shallow or deep, which shows that dyslexia also has internal cognitive and biological components. Part III, Literacy Acquisition: Instructional Perspectives, explores literacy acquisition from developmental and instructional perspectives and ends with a look into the future of literacy research. This Handbook is appropriate for scholars, researchers, and graduate students in such diverse fields as cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, literacy education, English as a second language, and communication disorders.