A distinctive feature analysis of consonant phoneme production in Arabic, Farsi, Japanese, and Spanish is reported. The analysis is based on a model incorporating psychometrics and on one producing a three-point system for the features of place, manner, and voicing. Implications for teaching pronounciation are discussed. (PMJ)

The phonics method of teaching decoding skills appeals to adult readers because of its logical application of real and apparent phoneme/symbol correspondences. Instead of memorization, a low level cognitive skill, adults are challenged to use perceptions of the correspondences gained inductively. (Author/CSS)

Results refute current claims that words are read aloud by retrieving a single pronunciation from memory and that pseudowords are pronounced by using abstract spelling-to-sound rules. Instead, it appears that words and pseudowords are pronounced using similar kinds of orthographic and phonological knowledge. (Author/CP)

This study examined the effects of visual aids and word structure on kindergarten children's learning of phonemic segmentation--a skill which correlates with reading achievement. Visual aids were the counters, squares, and pictures previously utilized by Soviet researchers. Squares contributed to segmentation of two-phoneme words. Error patterns…

Examines the development of grapheme-phoneme conversion ability in normal and reading-age matched dyslexic readers. Thirty-six normal readers (mean age 9.5 years) and 18 children diagnosed dyslexic (mean age 12.1 years) served as subjects. (MP)

Describes a pictogram system in which letters are made to look like human and animal characters as a way of teaching phonics to children; tells how teachers have imaginatively implemented the system through activities in such areas as drama, singing, and story telling. (GT)

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if beginning readers with accelerated sight word vocabularies would identify more functional spelling patterns than beginning readers not making the same progress. (HOD)

Findings of experiments conducted with two groups of 12-year-olds--ten good spellers and ten poor spellers, all of equal reading achievement--suggested that the poor spellers were proficient at going from print to meaning but were impaired at converting print to sound. (GT)

Fourteen children (grade K-3) with articulation disorders were compared to 14 children with normal articulation on three tests of phonological awareness (rhyming, phoneme blending, and phoneme counting). Results of the study indicate that the subjects with articulation disorders made significantly more errors on the three phonological awareness…

Evaluates competing proposals for the underspecification of phonological representations against the facts of phonemic acquisition. Results indicate that context-sensitive radical underspecification provides a plausible account of each developmental stage and the transition between stages with minimal grammar change. (36 references) (Author/CK)

Evaluates the principle of laryngeal-supralaryngeal cyclicity by manipulating the domain cycle and phase relationship of the cycle as independent variables and by monitoring longitudinally the order of emergent phonemic distinctions in the sound systems of seven children with phonological delays as the dependent variable. Findings are discussed.…

Compared reading development among kindergartners in Hong Kong and the United States using measures of word recognition, phonological awareness, speeded naming, visual spatial skill, and processing speed. Found that models of early reading development were similar across cultures. The strongest predictor of reading was phonological awareness.…

A Test of Spanish Word Features was developed to determine if Spanish orthography contains graphophonemic features similar to English. Test administrations to bilingual children in grades 1-5 found that spelling features in Spanish were internally consistent (reliable) but varied little in complexity compared to English. There was little evidence…

Reanalyzes Gierut's study that presents a case in which a phonological intervention program is used to effect a phonemic split in a child with a highly restricted phonological system. Three alternatives to Gierut's analysis are presented and discussed. (21 references) (Author/OD)

A discussion-oriented, direct approach to teaching decoding and spelling based on word origin and structure is proposed. The instruction leads students to a comparison and contrast of letter-sound correspondences, syllable patterns, and morpheme patterns in English words of Anglo-Saxon, Romance, and Greek origin. (Author/JDD)