A discussion of phonetic transcription looks at the weaknesses of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), a cumbersome system to use with typewriter and computer keyboards, and offers an alternative. It is noted that the IPA, a system of symbols devised for handwritten transcription, is rarely used by second language teachers or instructional…

Reports on an experiment designed to study the role of letter stems in the identification of printed words. The stemmed letters b,d,g,h,l,p and t were used. Results showed that the suppression of the letter's body has more detrimental effects on identification than the suppression of the stem. (Author/RM)

Explores how the preschool child identifies distortions which are similar to hand-drawn letters, and accounts for children's performance in recognizing such forms. (RB)

Make kids more expressive by putting movement into all your academics. (Editor)

In lettering education both the application of geometric principles and the study of the past are important. (HOD)

The suggestion of Krueger (1973) and others that wholistic processes underlie certain perceptual judgments is taken up in this paper. (Editor)

The paper reports on a study of Braille learning in which subjects (N=96) were provided with information about the structure of the Braille alphabet and expressly instructed to use that information during learning. A previous experiment had found that merely providing subjects with information about Braille alphabet structure had no effect on…

Reports on a visual-auditory analysis of each of the 1575 e-ending words found on the "Rinsland Vocabulary List" to determine whether the e should be considered as a diacritic. (RB)

This article describes the successful use of the initial teaching alphabet at Lenwood Elementary School in Barstow, California. (PD)

The primary concern in this study has been to interpret the ways in which perception of a letter depends on properties of other letters present in the same display. (Author)

THIS BASIC COURSE IN SPOKEN AZERBAIJANI, A TURKIC LANGUAGE OF NORTHWESTERN IRAN AND THE AZERBAIJAN REPUBLIC OF THE USSR, IS BASED AS CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE ON THE EDUCATED TABRIZI DIALECT. THE FORMAT OF THIS 25-UNIT TEXT CONSISTS OF SECTIONS ON--(1) BASIC SENTENCES PRESENTED IN "BUILD-UPS," (2) PRONUNCIATION, BASED ON A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS…

THIS REVISED 30-UNIT EDITION, ORIGINALLY PREPARED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE PROGRAM IN ORIENTAL LANGUAGES OF THE AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES, IS PRIMARILY DESIGNED AS A SECOND-YEAR COURSE IN MONGOL. (MONGOL IS SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS "MONGOLIAN," THE LARGEST MEMBER OF THE MONGOLIAN LANGUAGES FAMILY, WHICH COMPRISES A NUMBER OF…

A REACTION TO JOHN DOWNING'S REPORT ON THE I/T/A READING EXPERIMENT IS PRESENTED. DOWNING ASSUMED THAT THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS ON IMPORTANT VARIABLES, BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THE KOLMOGOROV-SMIRNOV TEST. IT IS CLAIMED, HOWEVER, THAT THE TEST USED IS APPROPRIATE FOR SMALLER SAMPLES. A MORE…

REPORTS ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET (I.T.A.) FOR INSTRUCTION IN BEGINNING READING SHOULD BE CONSIDERED WITH CAUTION. SINCE NO DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS USED IS AVAILABLE, EDUCATORS FAIL TO ASSESS RESULTS OBJECTIVELY AND ARE MISLED BY DRAMATIC GAINS WHICH REFER TO SPECIAL CONDITIONS. HAWTHORNE…

AN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP OF 461 CHILDREN WAS TAUGHT TO READ WITH THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET (I/T/A) BEGINNING IN KINDERGARTEN AND WAS READING TRADITIONAL ORTHOGRAPHY (T/O) MATERIALS BY THE END OF THE SECOND GRADE. THE CONTROL GROUP INCLUDED 462 CHILDREN WHO WERE TAUGHT TRADITIONAL ORTHOGRAPHY IN A PROGRAM CENTERED AROUND CONVENTIONAL BASAL READING…