This booklet summarizes forty-two Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.)research reports, highlighting the major features of each study. With minor variation, usually resulting from an absence of complete information, each abstract indicates the number and type of students involved, their grade level, and how they were assigned to experimental or…

The Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.) was designed by Sir James Pitman as a reading teaching medium from which immediate and efficient transition may be made to the alphabet of regular English. Questions and answers covered in this booklet provide information concerning its history, effectiveness, methods of use, teaching areas, and relationship…

This pamphlet deals with the principle of systematizing traditional orthography (TO) to produce initial teaching media and the application of that principle in Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.). Part 1 discusses: three causes of failure in literacy, the need for systematizing TO for the better learning of literacy, TO research with infants,…

Teachers, principals, and other administrators who are considering the adoption of i.t.a. for language arts in the primary grades need objective information about its advantages and its disadvantages. The purpose of this paper is to provide a list of the disadvantages which may be inherent in the adoption of i.t.a. The disadvantages of i.t.a. may…

While it is appreciated that research on many of the details of early language learning is still required, one of the main themes of this paper is that solutions to the major problems of beginning reading are already known. In general, there has been a sufficiency of research, and what is now needed is action to implement the results already…

The purpose of this project was to test the effectiveness of i.t.a. in teaching reading to first grade students in the Portland Public Schools. Some of the elements of the experimental design included the following: one experimental--i.t.a.--and one control--traditional orthography (TO)--class was formed in each of ten schools; teachers and…

This study compared the relative effectiveness of the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i. t. a.) program for teaching beginning reading with a matched program using traditional orthography (T. O.). Three waves of first grade students in ten predominately white elementary schools were randomly assigned to i. t. a. and T. O. classrooms. Summary evaluation…

This pamphlet discusses some beginning approaches and technological approaches to reading instruction, and the relationship between children's language and reading. The first section looks at several approaches to reading instruction: "The Language Experience Approach,""The Initial Teaching Alphabet,""Linguistic Approaches to Reading,""Programed…

This publication is designed to acquaint reading teachers with various approaches and media in beginning reading instruction. The nine broadly based innovative aspects considered are Using Language Experiences, Individualizing Beginning Reading, Using Color, Applying the Linguistics of Sounds in Words, Using i.t.a. in the United States, Using…

This paper provides a rationale which rejects misinformation, assumptions, and biases as bases for decision making on the use of i.t.a. in teaching reading and writing to primary school children. A discussion is provided which questions the reality of professionalism in teacher-administrator populations as well as the reality of a concern for the…

This selective bibliography is one of nine documents compiled to provide titles and descriptions of useful and informative reading documents which were indexed into the ERIC system from 1966 to 1974. The 190 entries in this section of the bibliography concern methods in teaching reading and are arranged alphabetically by author in one of the…

Based on its use with first graders in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for an eleven year period, the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.) appears to have a number of advantages for reading instruction. These years of research have indicated that the advantages of i.t.a. are that it permits the child to: advance more rapidly in reading and writing…

This paper analyzes some of the conditions affecting the introduction of innovations in reading instruction in post-war Britain. The relationship between these innovations and research is explored. Section one presents background information and discusses possible causes for the influx of innovative techniques in reading instruction in the 1950s…

This book is a collection of materials, activities, and suggestions for the teaching of beginning and developmental reading. Chapter 1, "The Problem," discusses the importance of early identification of children with possible reading problems, the reading program, and remedial teaching. Chapter 2, "A Selection of Reading Games and Activities,"…