Reber found that subjects given neutral instructions to memorize letter strings from a synthetic language learned more about the underlying grammar than those instructed to try discovering the rules for letter order. Two experiments explored the relationship between implicit and explicit processes in the acquisition of complex knowledge.…

The present experiments, in conjunction with prior findings that good and poor readers differ in letter search time by their ability to use spatial redundancy, suggest that processes involved in the component skill of letter identification cannot be considered trivial to the reading process. (Editor)

Without help or encouragement Sequoyah pursued the power of the white man's "talking leaf" and gave the world a marvelously logical and simple alphabet. (Editor)

Memory for sequences of briefly presented letters was examined to discover the effects of intraserial repetition and acoustic contrast on recall of a critical letter pair. (Editor)

A study examined the effects of overt phonologic impairment on the phonological awareness, verbal working memory, and letter knowledge of 29 children with phonologic impairment and 16 controls (ages 3-6). Children with phonologic impairment performed significantly worse on tasks of verbal working memory, phoneme segmentation, and letter…

This article argues for widening the research base on reading from the specific constraints of reading in alphabetic scripts to a larger database covering a variety of scripts. Several recent studies on reading the alphasyllabaries of India are reviewed. Findings indicate that alphasyllabaries are not processed in the same manner as alphabets.…

Describes a modified alphabet for beginning readers based on psychologies of reading and visual perception. The Graphophonic Alphabet (GP) is explained, motivations for modifying the alphabet are discussed, and possibilities for teaching phonics and second languages as well as reading with the GP and microcomputers are considered. (16 references)…

Suggests some ways to enhance the user-friendliness of many Macintosh (personal computer) foreign language character fonts with the aid of three commercial programs: MacKeymeleon; FONTastic Plus; and Tempo. (Author/CB)

Describes "KanjiCard," an interactive self-tutorial program for beginning students of Japanese to learn Kanji, Chinese characters used in the Japanese language. The Macintosh-developed approach uses "HyperCard" technology, computer-assisted animation, and voice digitizing to achieve enhanced graphic presentation. (Author/CB)

Literacy materials were added to preschoolers' play areas. The teacher encouraged some of the children to use the materials. Observations revealed that children who received encouragement engaged in more literacy-related play than other children. Subsequent literacy assessments revealed no differences in literacy between the groups of children.…

Forty-eight kindergarten children were assigned to phoneme identity, phoneme manipulation, or language experience programs. Children in the manipulation program made greater gains in blending and segmentation, but children in the phoneme identity condition made greater gains on a test of phonetic cue reading. Implications for reading instruction…

Notes that a major goal within the language arts block is learning to recognize and write the letters of the alphabet. Presents 4 reasons that have been suggested as to why early letter knowledge exerts such a strong influence over learning to read and write. Presents descriptions of 12 websites dealing with the alphabet. (SG)

Three experiments investigated whether Japanese children's segmentation units would change as they learned to read "kana" letters, which represent "morae" or Japanese subsyllabic rhythmic units. Results indicated that children's conscious segmentation of words, except for those having a geminate stop consonant, progressed from…

It has been suggested that children need exposure to alphabetic tuition before they can develop phonological awareness, especially phonemic awareness. This paper re-examines an existing data set to see whether two groups of pre-school, pre-literate children who differ in their knowledge of letter names (used here as a measure of alphabetic…

This study investigated the effects of observational learning on preschoolers' use of a questioning technique, attention to print, and knowledge of the alphabet. Preschoolers who observed a model ask questions asked more questions during a shared book episode than did children who did not observe a model ask questions. Children who observed a…