The purpose of this study was to determine whether children learning to read in the initial teaching alphabet (i.t.a.) and traditional orthography (TO) differ in general attitudes toward reading, in fluency in written expression, and in reading vocabulary and comprehension at the end of their second-grade school experience. Further, this study…

This paper considers the Initial Teaching Alphabet (ITA), long out of use in the United States. It was developed by Sir James Pittman in England in 1959 as a plan of reading instruction with a simplified phoneme-grapheme correspondence that stressed consistency between symbol and sound. The paper lists the advantages and disadvantages of the ITA…

Study investigates whether the i.t.a., as well as two other revised orthographies, facilitate the perception of linguistic structure. (Authors)

Article focuses on the part played by the learning medium in the acquisition of both language skills in a second language. (Author)

Explains the basis for the initial teaching alphabet and how it functions. (RK)

In assessing the effectiveness of the initial teaching alphabet, a survey included the professional opinions of British teachers who have used i.t.a. and a searching critical analysis of the published experimental research on i.t.a. (Author/RK)

Summarizes the work of those seeking to analyze orthography and the experimental, historical, and cross-national data which bear on the behavioral effects of writing system characteristics. (Author)

Article presents a study to determine whether the apparent benefits of ITA over TO were long-lasting or ephemeral. (Author)

Results of the study seem to suggest the presence of general deficits in the auditory receptive and vocal expressive abilities of poor reading disadvantaged children, who learned to read using the initial teaching alphabet series rather than the traditional orthography approach. (Author)

Indicates that i.t.a. can be an effective tool in teaching bilingual Mexican-American children to read. (RB)

Spelling research indicates that an effective language arts program should incorporate direct teaching of spelling words with teaching the words in a meaningful context. (JH)