"Reading in Asian Languages" is rich with information about how literacy works in the non-alphabetic writing systems (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) used by hundreds of millions of people and refutes the common Western belief that such systems are hard to learn or to use. The contributors share a comprehensive view of reading as construction of meaning which they show is fully applicable to character-based reading. The book explains how and why non-alphabetic writing works well for its users; provides explanations for why it is no more difficult for children to learn than are alphabetic writing systems where they are used; and demonstrates in a number of ways that there is a single process of making sense of written language regardless of the orthography. Unique in its perspective and offering practical theory-based methodology for the teaching of literacy in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean to first and second language learners, it is a useful resource for teachers of increasingly popular courses in these languages in North America as well as for teachers and researchers in Asia. It will stimulate innovation in both research and instruction. This book is divided into three parts. Part I, Writing Systems in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, contains the following: (1) The Process of Reading in Non-alphabetic Languages: An Introduction (Ken Goodman); (2) How a Morphosyllabic Writing System Works in Chinese (Yueh-Nu Hung); (3) Similarities and Dissimilarities in Reading Chinese and English: Goodman's Reading Model Perspective (Yueh-Nu Hung); (4) Chinese Writing Reform: A Social-cultural Perspective (Shaomei Wang); (5) Ideography and Borrowing in Chinese (Ning Yu); (6) Chinese Unconventional Characters:Characteristics, Controversial Arguments, and Pedagogical Implications (Junlin Pan); (7) A Successful Mixture of Alphabetic and Non-alphabetic Writing: Chinese Characters in Korean (Rodney E. Tyson); and (8) Orthography: Human Creativity and Adaptability (Mieko Shimizu Iventch). Part II, Studies of Reading in Chinese and Japanese, contains the following: (9) Making Sense in Reading Chinese: An Error Detection Study (Jingguo Xu); (10) Miscues and Eye Movements of Japanese Beginning Readers (Daniel Ferguson, Yasuhiko Kato, and Mariko Nagahiro); (11) How Readers Process Japanese Orthography with Two Different Texts (Koomi Kim); and (12) The Taxonomy of Chinese Reading Miscues (Shaomei Wang). Part III, Implications and Applications for Instruction, contains the following: (13) Understanding and Facilitating Literacy Development among Chinese Speaking Young Children (Lianju Lee); (14) Teachers' Reflections on Chinese Miscue Analysis: A Graduate Course in Reading (Wen-Yun Lin); (15) Experiencing Korean Culture and Language Through Korean Children's Literature (Yoo Kyung Sung); (16) Teaching Japanese Written Language (Mieko Shimizu Iventosch); and (17) Kamishibai (Junko Sakoi). An index is included. [Foreword by Jun Liu.]