This article investigates the transition to memory-based performance that commonly occurs with practice on tasks that initially require use of a multistep algorithm. In an alphabet arithmetic task, item response times exhibited pronounced step-function decreases after moderate practice that were uniquely predicted by T. C. Rickard's (1997)…

Letters and words are better identified when there are fewer available choices. How do readers use choice-set restrictions? By analyzing new experimental data and previously reported data, the author shows that Bayes theorem-based models overestimate readers' use of choice-set restrictions. This result is discordant with choice-similarity models…

Stepping Stones to Literacy (SSL) is a supplemental curriculum designed to promote listening, print conventions, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and serial processing/rapid naming (quickly naming familiar visual symbols and stimuli such as letters or colors). The program targets kindergarten and older preschool students considered to…

This paper examines the prominence of written English on shop signs in Japan. Based on data from a larger empirical study into multilingual signs in Tokyo, the most common ways of using English and the roman alphabet on Japanese shops signs are identified. It is argued that the ambivalent nature of English loan words plays a key role in the ever…

Letter names play an important role in early literacy. Previous studies of letter name learning have examined the Latin alphabet. The current study tested learners of Hebrew, comparing their patterns of performance and types of errors with those of English learners. We analyzed letter-naming data from 645 Israeli children who had not begun formal…

This wordbook was prepared to help carry out the policy of the Agency for International Development to encourage Americans stationed abroad to learn the official language at their duty post. The book is intended to be a supplemental text for both private individual study and formal classroom instruction. The bulk of the publication is made up of…

One of the most important skills for children to develop in the kindergarten year is the recognition that letters and sounds are related. It is often called "the alphabetic principle"--the notion that speech sounds can be connected to letters in a predictable way. To grasp the alphabetic principle, children need to understand that: (1) letters…

We attempted to simulate the main features of letter-by-letter (LBL) dyslexia in normal readers through stimulus degradation (i.e. contrast reduction and removal of high spatial frequencies). The results showed the word length and the letter confusability effects characteristic of LBL dyslexia. However, the interaction of letter confusability and…

The dictionary is designed for learners of St. Lawrence Island (Alaska) Yupik, an Eskimo dialect. An introductory section gives an overview of the Yupik alphabet and phonology. Alphabetical word listings in St. Lawrence Island Yupik follow, with definitions in both Yupik and English. A sample sentence in Yupik using the entry word is followed by…

The dictionary of the Central Koyukon Athabaskan dialect contains the most commonly used words in the language, and is designed for use in bilingual education programs in the elementary grades. A pronunciation guide distinguishes between and compares the three Koyukon dialects, and offers details of the orthography and phonology of all three. The…

The project was designed to develop a multisensory, language-oriented curriculum to introduce the letters of the alphabet to six hearing impaired preschoolers. Every week a new letter is introduced via such tasks as art and cooking activities, snacks, beginning sound picture cards, yarn and lacing letters, sandpaper letters, alphabet string beads,…

This contradicts N. F. Johnson's arguments that word perception does not follow letter perception and that letter analysis awaits identification of the word as a unit. His experiments lack controls, and uncontrolled factors may contribute to his effects. Johnson's implications for prior-letter-processing models are contradicted. (CHK)

Difficulties in transcription from the Hebrew to the Roman alphabet are discussed. The resolution of some of the problems in Judeo-Spanish texts using the "aljamiado" writing system are reviewed, including the use of some Hebrew consonants as vowels, representation of Judeo-Spanish sounds non-existent in Hebrew, and phonetic variations…

The basic hypothesis of these experiments was that the processing strategy for the transfer of alphabetic material from iconic storage to short-term memory involves a sequential left-to-right factor that develops with increases in experience with reading. (Author)

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…