Commentary: Methodological Problems in Research on Simplified Alphabets and Regularized Writing-Systems

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Published: 1967-04-01

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John Downing
Edward Fry

Abstract

Two major criticisms may be made of Edward Fry's article ( 6) in the January, 1967,issue of The Journal of T ypographic Research: ( 1) a major fault in the design of his research ; ( 2) a serious underestimate of the problems of transfer from one writing-system to another. Besides these, there are some minor errors of fact which will be pointed out in footnotes.

Article Details

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (1967): Volume 1.2

Section

Research Article

Author Biographies

John Downing

John Downing is senior lecturer in educational psychology and director of the Reading Research Unit at the University of London Institute of Education (2 Taviton Street, London WC 1). Beginning in June, 1967, he will be a visiting professor of education at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Downing planned and conducted the original experiment with the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.). He is the author of some fifty articles and four books on the teaching of reading. Besides his university experience, Dr. Downing has been nine years a classroom teacher and spent three years on communication research with Unilever. He was the founder president of the United Kingdom Reading Association.

Edward Fry

Dr. Fry is director of the Reading Center and professor of education at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, N.J. 08903), where he heads the graduate program for reading specialists.

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