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…

Concludes that dialect speakers' miscues do not significantly influence their ability to comprehend print material when they are asked to read material at their instructional level. (FL)

Noting that while the number of errors gives a general indication of spelling ability, it may represent an oversimplification of the spelling process, a study examined the spelling ability of 40 Canadian third grade students of average ability. Subjects were divided into low and high spelling ability groups on the basis of the Edmonton (Alberta)…

The reversal errors in the printing of 51 first grade students were examined. These children were asked to print a series of reversible target figures (letters and numbers, such as 2-s, p-q, p-9, and b-d) that were presented alone and with their mirror-image counterparts. To control for the possibility that the mere presence of another figure…

Concludes that in the first stage of reading, students appear to make relatively few nonsense errors on familiar words, whether they are taught with a meaning-based or phonics approach. However, if initial instruction emphasizes phonics, real word substitutions tend to be graphically constrained; with initial meaning-emphasis instruction,…

Results of a microanalysis of 3,003 oral reading errors by 116 second and third graders support the idea that the actions of students and teachers during error episodes are situated in social contexts, emerging in response to a dynamic interplay of factors that converge at particular moments. (SLD)

The reports of research in this monograph reflect 18 years of observation of the behaviors of children learning to read in New Zealand schools. The first section of the monograph urges teachers to look more closely at language behaviors in their classrooms to see how children go about the tasks set before them. The second section reports on…