Learning to Read across Languages and Writing Systems

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.

Ludo Verhoeven is coordinator of the Learning and Plasticity Group of the Behaviour Science Institute at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen and scientific director of the National Language Education Center.
Charles Perfetti is Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Director of the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh.