Individual differences in reading performance between children appear from the onset of literacy acquisition. One possible explanation for this variability is the influence of inhibition in reading ability, a topic that has received very little research attention. Nevertheless, children often make guessing errors characterized by replacing a word…

Discusses basic strokes, stroke sequence rules, and motor aspects of drawing in writing Chinese characters. Finds mastery of proper stroke sequence is low even for familiar characters. Discusses three main groups of errors children made. Explores educational implications for the teaching of stroke sequences in the teaching of handwriting based on…

The study examining the nature of misreadings of vowels by 10 good and 10 poor grade 3 readers of the Kannada language (which has a phonetically regular script) found that both groups misread vowels in equal proportion to their total number of misreadings. (DB)

First graders listened to the pronunciation of single syllable nonsense words and were asked to spell the words. Results showed that, for nonsense words of the form consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant, in which the consonant following the vowel was a nasal or a liquid, children often omitted the second consonant in their spelling. (BC)

This experiment involved 176 London children aged six and seven. Their levels of attainment on subtraction were quickly and accurately established by two questions. Then teaching programs were used to help them attain prerequisite skills. To symbolize too soon is a danger to be avoided. (MNS)

Spelling errors made by children on initial consonant clusters of words were studied in 5 experiments with 130 first graders and 20 kindergartners. Young spellers have frequent problems with initial consonant clusters. Results suggest that difficulties in phonemic awareness lead to corresponding spelling difficulties. (SLD)

This study assessed the influence of reading ability and difficulty of material on types of oral reading errors made by 42 second-grade children. Overall, types of errors changed as the material became more difficult. The interactions between reading ability and difficulty level were also significant. (Author/BS)

Indicates that primary grade teachers do individualize their responses to match variations in reading miscues. Specifically, they were apt to disregard meaning-based mistakes, provide instruction when letter cues were misused, and instruct or supply words when a child hesitated on or refused to attempt a word. (FL)

Analysis of oral reading error patterns is an integral step in the diagnosis of reading disabilities. Effects of passage difficulty on first- and third-grade students oral reading error patterns was investigated. Two methods of error analysis were employed: quantitative and qualitative. Implications of findings are discussed. (Author/GSK)

Young children (153 normal preschool and primary graders, 19 cerebral palsied 5 to 15 year olds, and 16 learning disabled 7 to 12 year olds) were given a test of immediate visual memory which required selection of a geometric design from among six alternatives, including a mirror image and a rotation. (CL)

To examine the association between reversal errors and neurological disorders, 409 first graders were asked to name the letters of the lowercase alphabet presented in fixed, nonalphabetical order. (Author)

Examines reading and spelling errors made by children learning Arabic within a developmental framework. Finds that errors in reading and spelling persisted throughout primary school, pointing to the difficulties involved in mastering the Arabic written language. Notes that misreadings involved mainly diacritics whereas misspellings were related to…

Observes several regular error patterns when a group of seven-year-old Italian children transcode arabic numerals to verbal numerals. Explains the development of transcoding ability by an asemantic model using production rules. Contains 15 references. (Author/ASK)

A comparative investigation of word reading efficiency indicates that different strategies may be used by English and Swedish early readers. In a first study, 328 native English speakers from UK Years 3 and 6 completed a pen-and-paper word recognition task (the "Wordchains" test). Results were analysed for frequency and type of errors…

Describes a study of oral reading errors by six-year-olds indicating that previously read words are frequently substituted at points of miscue, but that reliance on this source decreased over the year, casting doubt on previously postulated developmental phases of reading. (HTH)