Developmental Dyslexia Across Languages And Writing Systems

The first truly systematic, multi-disciplinary, and cross-linguistic study of the language and writing system factors affecting the emergence of dyslexia.

Around the world, children embark on learning to read in their home language or writing system. But does their specific language, and how it is written, make a difference to how they learn? How is learning to read English similar to or different from learning in other languages? Is reading alphabetic writing a different challenge from reading syllabic or logographic writing? Learning to Read across Languages and Writing Systems examines these questions across seventeen languages representing the world's different major writing systems. Each chapter highlights the key features of a specific language, exploring research on learning to read, spell, and comprehend it, and on implications for education. The editors' introduction describes the global spread of reading and provides a theoretical framework, including operating principles for learning to read. The editors' final chapter draws conclusions about cross-linguistic universal trends, and the challenges posed by specific languages and writing systems.

Even though Specific Reading Disability (Dyslexia) has been clinically recognized as a developmental learning disorder for nearly a hundred years. only within the past two decades it has become the subject of major experimental investigation. Because. by definition. dyslexic children are of average or superior intelligence. it is often suspected that some arcane feature of the written language is responsible for the inordinate difficulty experienced by these children in learning to read. The occasional claim that developmental dyslexia is virtually nonexistent in some languages coupled with the fact that languages differ in their writing systems has further rendered orthography a subject of serious investigation. The present Volume represents a collection of preliminary reports of investigations that explored the relationship between orthography and reading disabilities in different languages. Even though not explicitly stated. these reports are concerned with the question whether or not some orthographies are easier to learn to read and write than others. One dimension on which orthographies differ from each other is the kind of relationship they bear to pronunciation. The orthographies examined in this book range from the ones that have a simple one-to one grapheme-phoneme relationship to those which have a more complex relationship.

A landmark research volume from The Dyslexia Foundation, this book fully examines what we know about the identification, manifestations, and differences in dyslexia across languages and orthographies. Includes contributions from more than 40 respected res

This book examines how children learn to read across seventeen languages and their orthographies. Each chapter discusses a different language in terms of its writing system, reading development, and implications for education. The editors' comprehensive introduction frames the key issues and the final chapter draws conclusions across the seventeen languages.

This book presents current research on dyslexia in alnguages other than English. It is increasingly evident that it is essential to define dyslexia in terms of the language of instruction because learning to read cannot be separated from the linguistic parameters of that language. Differences in the orthographic, phonological, morphemic and inflectional structure of a language influence the degree of difficulty encountered by children when learning to read. Consequently, authors describe the linguistic properties of their languages and discuss the problems encountered by dyslexics in that language and the dyslexics' underlying cognitive deficits. The objective of this book is to explore a variety of languages and to identify both the language specific characteristics of reading and spelling problems in each language and the core deficits that are common to all dyslexics regardless of the language of instruction.

Most studies on reading have been conducted with English-speaking subjects. It is crucial to also examine studies conducted in different languages, in order to highlight which aspects of reading acquisition and dyslexia appear to be language-specific, and which are universal. Reading Acquisition and Developmental Dyslexia sheds new light on dyslexia and its relationship with reading acquisition, presenting two unique advancements in this area. Looking at studies conducted in different languages, the prerequisites of reading acquisition are examined, and the findings from studies of skilled adult readers are presented. The manifestations of developmental dyslexia and the main contemporary explanations for it are outlined, providing an in-depth, well researched discussion of the topic. The authors conclude by offering a new framework which could explain both reading acquisition and developmental dyslexia. A fascinating book offering a unique insight into the topic of dyslexia, it will be of great interest to students and lecturers in cognitive psychology, educational psychology, and psycholinguistics, as well as those with a more everyday involvement with the disorder such as speech and language therapists.

Offers an insight into research in different orthographies. This title presents cross-language comparisons to provide insights into universal aspects of reading development and developmental dyslexia.