Recently, there has been growing concern about how to most effectively support the literacy development of beginning and struggling readers with regard to helping them learn to effortlessly identify the huge number of words that proficient readers ultimately learn to read with automaticity. Some, noting the critical importance of phonics…

After a brief historical (Orton) and theoretical (Gibson) look at the phenomenon of reversals, two groups of studies are reviewed and evaluated. The first group involves neurological and psychological factors associated with reversals such as age and training. The second relates reversals to reading disabilities and to future reading achievement.…

The question of whether it is easier to learn to read through an ideographic, syllabic, or alphabetic writing system is posed. The linguistic nature of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and English are examined in relation to differences in information processing and cultural factors related to reading disability. (Author/SEW)

The history of three non-Latin based orthographies--Chinese, Japanese, and Korean--is reviewed in this paper. The characteristics of the three orthographies are examined regarding the ease of learning to read with these varied symbol systems. Attention is given to the incidence of reading disability in different orthographies, and research is…

Cites the case of Hebrew learning in Israel to show that, contrary to popular belief, the complexity of grapho-phonetic relationships is a minor or nonexistent factor in learning difficulties. (FL)