Modifying the alphabet for beginning readers is discussed. Despite problems with previous, radical modifications, recent advances in psychology, education, and computer technology support new types of modifications that emphasize properties of the alphabet known to be important in the development of reading skills. An example of a modified alphabet is described. It makes use of computer desk-top publishing technology to ease the “transition period” from the modified alphabet to the traditional alphabet, and to individualize the alphabet for individual classrooms or students.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
KyostioO. K., Is Learning to Read Easy in a Language in Which the Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondences are Regular?, in Orthography, Reading, and Dyslexia, KavanaghJ. F. and VenezkyR. L. (eds.), University Park Press, Baltimore, pp. 35–55, 1980.
2.
PittmanJ. and St. JohnJ., Alphabets & Reading, Pittman Publishing Corporation, New York, 1969.
3.
DowningJ., What's Wrong with the i.t.a.?, Phi Delta Kappa, pp. 262–266, February 1967.
4.
FryB. E., First Grade Reading Instruction Using a Diacritical Marking System, the Initial Teaching Alphabet, and a Basal Reading System, USOE Cooperative Research Project No. 2745, 1965.
5.
MazurkiewiczA. J., First Grade Reading Using Modified Co-Basal versus the Initial Teaching Alphabet, USOE Cooperative Research Project No. 2676, 1965.
6.
BertelsonP., The Onset of Literacy: Liminal Remarks, Cognition, 24, pp. 1–30, 1986.
7.
MattinglyI. G., Reading, Linguistic Awareness and Language Acquisition, in Linguistic Awareness and Learning to Read, DowningJ. and ValtinR. (eds.), Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 9–25, 1984.
8.
ShankweilerD. and CrainS., Language Mechanisms and Reading Disorder: A Modular Approach, Cognition, 24, pp. 139–168, 1986.
9.
SchreiberP. and ReadC., Children's Use of Phonetic Cues in Spelling, Parsing, and-Maybe-Reading, Bulletin of the Orton Society, 30, pp. 209–224, 1980.
10.
EhrlichS. and RaynerK., Contextual Effects on Word Perception and Eyemovements During Reading, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 20, pp. 641–655, 1981.
11.
ZolaD., The Effect of Redundancy on the Perception of Words in Reading, Perception & Psychophysics, 36, pp. 277–284, 1984.
12.
McClellandJ. L., Preliminary Letter Identification in the Perception of Words and Nonwords, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2, pp. 80–91, 1976.
13.
PaapK.NewsomeS. L., and NoelR. W., Word Shape's in Poor Shape for the Race to the Lexicon, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 10, pp. 413–429, 1984.
14.
StanovichK. E., Toward an Interactive-Compensatory Model of Individual Differences in the Development of Reading Fluency, Reading Research Quarterly, 16, pp. 32–71, 1981.
15.
PalmerS. E., Hierarchical Structure in Perceptual Representation, Cognitive Psychology, 9, pp. 441–474, 1977.
16.
GarnerW. R., The Processing of Information and Structure, LEA, Potomac, Maryland, 1974.
