Letter learning is nuanced, complex, and essential to the development of an effective literacy processing system. Forming and naming letters, rapidly differentiating between visually similar letters, and recognizing their sound correspondences are foundational to becoming a reader and writer. Indeed, control over letters affects monitoring,…

Reviews the present status of the initial teaching alphabet, compares British and American research studies, notes strengths and weaknesses and suggests further areas of research. Includes a pro-reaction and a con-reaction paper. Bibliography. (WB)

Analyzes the Bullock commission's view on the methodology of beginning reading instruction with special reference to i.t.a. (RB)

Describes the process of designing the i.t.a. for Century Schoolbook, Baskerville, Melior, Helvetica, and Optima typefaces with illustrations of the new alphabets. (MB)

Linguistics as it relates to teaching children is discussed under the headings (1) Linguistics and Language and (2) Reading and Linguistics. In the first part, many interesting facts about our language are pointed out, along with the manner and usefulness of presenting them to children. While linguists may seem to be communicating mainly among…

An assessment is made of the initial teaching alphabet method of teaching reading 10 years after its introduction. (DB)

Intended to help children learn phonics and to learn how to use phonics, this handbook is modeled on the 15th century hornbook. The handbook is divided into three parts: (1) "What Went Wrong?"; (2) "HOW to Teach Someone to Read by Beginning with Basic Phonics"; and (3) "Special Problems." Nineteen references and a…

The primary purpose of this paper on reading instruction is to inform teachers and parents of the superiority of phonics or code-based approaches over the whole-word method (still the dominant method in the United States). The first section deals with the nature of reading skills, the second section covers the history and present status of the…

The review surveys published and unpublished reports of the use of the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.) with several types of sensory handicaps. (Author/SBH)

Concludes that i.t.a taught first grade students demonstrate no negative achievements characteristics in reading, language arts factors, or spelling when compared to their T.O. counterparts in the 10th grade year on standardized tests of achievement. (RB)

SOME IMPLICATIONS OF RESEARCH ARGUMENTS ARE PRESENTED FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF WIDER AND MORE RAPID READING AND FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VARIED SKILLS BASIC TO SUCCESS IN ANY TYPE OF READING. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT READING BE TAUGHT WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF A WELL-ROUNDED LANGUAGE ARTS PROGRAM IN A MANNER THAT WILL PROMOTE EFFECTIVE LEARNING IN ALL…

A discussion of the computer-assisted instruction program in initial reading at Stanford University. The program consists of eight parts or strands that help the students learn the alphabet, a sight-word vocabulary of 700 words, spelling patterns within words, phonetic structures and comprehension of semantic categories and sentences. (Author)