This book provides a unique and accessible account of current research on reading and dyslexia in different orthographies. While most research has been conducted in English, this text presents cross-language comparisons to provide insights into universal aspects of reading development and developmental dyslexia in alphabetic and non-alphabetic languages. The book brings together contributions from a group of leading literacy researchers from around the world. It begins by examining the development of language skills in monolingual speakers of alphabetic and non-alphabetic languages; it then explores literacy acquisition in bilingual children learning to read in languages with different spelling-sound rules, including English, French, Greek, Welsh and Japanese. The second section is devoted to developmental dyslexia in monolingual and bilingual speakers of different languages and examines the impact of variations in orthography on the symptoms and aetiology of dyslexia. The final section explores the contribution of brain imaging to the study of impaired and unimpaired reading, giving an up-to-the-minute picture of how the brain deals with different languages and writing systems. This is ideal reading for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates who have an interest in language acquisition, reading and spelling, as well as speech and language therapists, teachers and special educational needs professionals. This book is divided into three parts. Part 1, The Development of Reading Skills in Different Orthographies, contains the following: (1) Reading and Dyslexia in Different Orthographies: An Introduction and Overview (S. McDougall, N. Brunswick, P. de Mornay Davies); (2) A Psycholinguistic Grain Size View of Reading Acquisition Across Languages (U. Goswami); (3) Phonological Development from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective (L.G. Duncan); (4) Letter Positioning Encoding Across Deep and Transparent Orthographies (M. Ktori, N. Pitchford); (5) Differences in Reading Ability Between Children Attending Welsh and English-Speaking Primary Schools in Wales (J.R. Hanley); (6) Writing a Language you Can't Hear (T. Nunes, D. Burman, D. Evans, D. Bell). Part 2. Developmental Dyslexia in Different Orthographies, contains the following: (7) Unimpaired Reading Development and Dyslexia Across Different Languages (N. Brunswick); (8) Reading Acquisition and Dyslexia in Spanish (R. Davies, F. Cuetos); (9) Lexical Reading in Italian Developmental Dyslexic Readers (D. Paizi, P. Zoccolotti, C. Burani); (10) Dyslexia in Chinese: Implications for Connectionist Models of Reading (I. Su, K. Klingebiel, B. Weekes); (11) Dyslexia in Biscriptal Readers (J. Everett, D. Ocampo, K. Veii, S. Nenopoulou, I. Smythe, H. al Mannai, G. Elbeheri). Part 3, Neuroimaging Studies of Reading in Different Orthographies, contains the following: (12) Cross-Cultural Differences in Normal and Dyslexic Reading: Behavioural and Functional Anatomical Observations in Readers of Regular and Irregular Orthographies (E. Paulesu, N. Brunswick, F. Paganelle); and (13) Lexical Retrieval in Alphabetic and Non-Alphabetic Scripts: Evidence From Brain Imaging (B. Weekes). [Foreword by U. Frith.]