Learning to Read across Languages and Writing Systems

This unique book examines how children learn to read across seventeen languages and their orthographies.

Ludo Verhoeven (Edited by), Charles Perfetti (Edited by)

9781107095885, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 October 2017

508 pages, 24 b/w illus. 1 map 34 tables
23.5 x 15.6 x 3.2 cm, 0.84 kg

'To sum up in my opinion this book provides invaluable and concise information about the process of reading across different languages … The process of reading and for extension, this book should be in-depth study by linguists, primary teachers, language teachers, psychologists, speech therapists, and even parents. I will strongly recommend this book to every single person that deals with children or adults learning how to read and improve the reading skills, not just in their mother tongues but also in L2.' Pamela Villar González, LINGUIST List

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.

1. Introduction: universals in learning to read across languages and writing systems Ludo Verhoeven and Charles Perfetti
2. Learning to read Chinese Becky Chen-Baumgarten and Adrian Pasquarella
3. Learning to read Japanese Keiko Koda
4. Learning to read Korean Min Wang, Jeung-Ryeul Cho and Chuchu Li
5. Learning to read Kannada Sonali Nag
6. Learning to read Arabic Elinor Saiegh-Haddad
7. Learning to read Hebrew David Share
8. Learning to read Greek Athanassios Protopapas
9. Learning to read Italian Christina Burani, Anna Thornton and Pierluigi Zoccolitti
10. Learning to read French Helene Deacon, Alain Desrochers and Kyle Levesque
11. Learning to read Spanish Sylvia Defior and Fransisca Serrano
12. Learning to read German Karin Landerl
13. Learning to read Dutch Ludo Verhoeven
14. Learning to read English Charles Perfetti
15. Learning to read Czech and Slovakian Marketa Caravolas
16. Learning to read Russian Elena Grigorenko, Sergey Kornilov and Natalia Rakhlin
17. Learning to read Finnish Mikko Aro
18. Learning to read Turkish Aydin Durgunoglu
19. Epilogue: universals and particulars in learning to read across seventeen orthographies Charles Perfetti and Ludo Verhoeven.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK], Phonetics, phonology [CFH], Literacy [CFC], Sociolinguistics [CFB], Linguistics [CF], Language [C]