Summarizes the work of those seeking to analyze orthography and the experimental, historical, and cross-national data which bear on the behavioral effects of writing system characteristics. (Author)

THE NECESSITY OF KEEPING AN EXPERIMENTAL, OPEN-MINDED OUTLOOK TOWARD FURTHER IMPROVEMENT IN THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET (ITA) IS STRESSED. A LIMITED AMOUNT OF RESEARCH HAS LED TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THE TRADITIONAL ORTHOGRAPHY OF ENGLISH IS AN IMPORTANT CAUSE OF DIFFICULTY IN TEACHING AS WELL AS IN LEARNING READING AND WRITING IN…

This bibliography cites periodicals, books, sections of books, and articles having to do with the initial teaching alphabet. Entries include American and European publications, most published since 1965. (CLK)

To determine if children who have been taught to read using the i.t.a. would write stories with a vocabulary more nearly approaching the variety and extent of their oral vocabulary than would children who had been taught traditional orthography (T.O.), comparisons were made between 82 experimental (i.t.a.) and 80 control (T.O.) subjects matched on…

In an attempt to determine the effects on creative or free writing of the i.t.a. program, as well as to determine whether any relationship exists between scores on a readiness test and achievement in this form of written composition, an empirical study was conducted in two middle income communities with 140 white first-grade youngsters. The i.t.a.…