We stand by our original conclusion that for a developmental analysis, upright orientation should not be inferred from judged upside down orientation with a binary vertical method. We believe that our more general procedures are more appropriate for research on orientation and form perception. (Author)

Discusses the effect of orthographical systems on literacy attainment; the uses and advantages of phonemic spelling are presented. (Author)

Methods of teaching the alphabet to English speaking children are discussed. (CK)

Children's visual perception of the letters b and d when confronted with them for the first time was studied. (KW)

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)

Using a combination of letter-detection and proofreading techniques, subjects searching for target letters in printed text made more errors on correctly spelled words than misspelled words. This word inferiority effect contrasts with the superior perception of letters in words over nonwords commonly found in tachistoscopic studies. (Author/CM)

Two sets of letters, those subject to reversal/rotation and others, were tachistoscopically presented singly to normal readers and dyslexic children. The data support the hypothesis that letters subject to reversal have no special relation to dyslexia. The view that dyslexia is a developmental anomaly was supported. (Author/AL)

Presents case that English is not as unsystematic as it appears nor is it a severe obstacle to learning for both native and nonnative speakers by describing the ideographic, syllabic, and alphabetic writing systems. Suggests teachers need a greater awareness of the nature of the English writing system and how to teach it. (BK)

A four-step instructional procedure to assist the learning disabled child to distinguish the distinctive features of letters is described. The procedure involves distinguishing the lower case "b" via a fading out technique from its upper case counterpart "B." The letter directionality can be cued so that the "b-d" distinction is readily apparent.…

English and Hebrew native speakers read texts mutilated by removing strips at the top or bottom of lines. Reading English texts was impaired more by mutilating the top, but the reverse was found for Hebrew texts, due to the different ways information is distributed along the vertical axis of Roman and Hebrew letters. (Author/GT)

Media education specialist John Culkin talks with editor John Drexel about learning to read in the television age--and discusses a new alphabet, UNIFON, that may help solve the literacy crisis. (Editor)

Two studies examined young children's ability to name the first letter of spoken words, finding that although children were good at telling that "beech" and "beaver" began with "b," some stated that "wife" began with "y" and that "seem" began with "c." These errors reflect the letter names at the beginnings of the spoken words. (MDM)