Develop. Med. Child Neurol. 1964,6, 11 3-1 24

John Downing

The Prevention of Communication Disorder by the Use of a Simplified Alphabet

SIR JAMES PIT MAN^ designed the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.) as a simpler and more reliable alphabet for learning to read. His intention is that young beginners should use this until they have become confident and fluent in reading books printed in i.t.a. and that they then should transfer their skill and confidence to read-

aae - urn rngel

a d %air d_O"

g h - girl !!at

k 1 oeo

kitten lion -

tz on -

aal €€

author -

eel -

ie m

tie -

man -

b bed

e i

n ink

nest

ing books printed in the traditional alphabet and spelling of English. Pitman has been particularly careful in designing the characters of i.t.a. and in devising rules of spelling to make this transfer of reading skill an easy process. The 44 characters used, are as follows (capitals are the same form but larger):

o u o i p r r oyt - oil pig - red bird

ship treasure Lrec - soap

m u e u v w mother due UP van - window

w h y 2 s i:

wheel p l low y o -

Printers use the 'd' in words like path where regional pronun- ciation differs. Teachers and children w a or a, whichever

1 corresponds to their own speech. food

Pitman, I. J. (1%1) 'Learning to read: an experiment.' . Roy SOC. Arrs J., 109, 149-180. From the Reading Research Unit, University of London Institute of Education, 57 Gordon Square,

London, W.C.1.

113

DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE AND CHILD NEUROLOGY. 1964, 6

h i s is printed in an augmented rceman alfabet, h e purpos ov whi& is not, as mkt btx suppmd, to reform our spellig, but tco imprmv h e lernig ov redig. i t is intended h a t when h e beginner has Gtxvd h e inijhial sucsess ov flmensy in his spefiially txsy form, his fuetuer progress fiwd btx confiend to rixdirg in h e present alfabets and spelligs ov h e m cenly.

The sample paragraph printed above in the augmented alphabet illustrates its main features.

In planning our research into Sir James Pitman’s i.t.a. it seemed essential to seek evidence on these two questions:

1. Is the traditional alphabet and spell- ing of English an important cause of failure in beginning reading?

2. Can children transfer their training on a simplified beginner’s system to the conventional one, and if so is the final quality of the reading in the traditional alphabet and spelling significantly superior to that obtained without the intervention of the special beginner’s alphabet ?

Design of the i.t.a. Experiment in Infants’ Schools

To answer those two basic questions we have established an experimental group of infants’ classes using i.t.a. for their first instruction in reading and writing, and we are comparing their progress with that of control classes learning to read with the conventional orthography of English. Because the basic issues are related to the alphabet and spelling of English, we have attempted to cancel out all the other factors which have been shown to affect children’s success and failure in learning to read. For example, the teachers in both the experimental and control classes have been asked not to change their usual methods of teaching. Also, the programme of reading primers is the same in both

groups, except that the experimental classes have their series printed in i.t.a., while the controls use the same series conventionally printed. Similarly, the control classes’ libraries of conventionally printed books are paralleled in the experimental classes by a good selection of library books in i.t.a.

We have taken special precautions against the ‘Hawthorne Effect’. The train- ing courses, research meetings and school visits necessary for the experimental classes are matched by similar activities for the control classes. In fact, we may have erred in the direction of favouring the control classes, for their regular research discussion meetings are expanded into refresher courses at which experts and specialists give assistance.

In such ways, and by the careful match- ing of experimental and control classes, we have tried to provide a reliable answer to the two important questions about the alphabet and spelling for learning to read.

Results up to March 31, 1963 Since this is a long-term project with

very young children which began less than two years ago, only limited findings can be reported at this stage. Only the data on that part of the sample which began the experiment in September 1961, can be reported now. We did not finish recruiting our total sample of schools until September 1962, and the final group of children to be included in this experiment began in April 1963. The final matching of experimental with control schools could not be com-

114

JOHN DOWNING

pleted until the full number of schools was recruited. Therefore, it should be recognised that for this interim analysis, although there appear to be no consistent differences in the composition of the experimental and control groups which could account for the results we are about to report, comparisons have to be made between experimental and control schools which are not matched to the standards of precision which we have set ourselves in the complete project.

Provided that these limitations are borne in mind we may now take a cautious look at the way the answers to our two main questions seem to be coming out.

The First Question To answer the question whether the

traditional English alphabet and spelling are an important cause of failure in beginning reading, we are postulating that Pitman’s design of i.t.a. does represent a great reduction in the complexity and irregularity of the conventional alphabet and spelling of English. Then, by con- trasting the experimental group’s progress and attainments with i.t.a. against the control pupils’ progress and attainments with traditional print we may determine whether the latter does seriously inhibit the learning of reading.

If the traditional alphabet and spelling of English are an important cause of difficulty in learning to read then we would expect them to delay children’s progress through their reading scheme. To check this we compared the progress of children using the reading scheme printed in i.t.a. with that of pupils working through the standard edition of the same reading scheme printed in traditional orthography. The results of the latest analysis of the careful records kept by the schools are shown in Fig. 1.

Clearly the i.t.a. pupils are progressing very much faster. For example, after 13

115

100

90

80

70

60

50 E

sp

3 PI

40

30

20

10

0

EXPERIMENTAL i . t ,a . (N = 413)

CONTROL t. 0. (N = 687) [T3

2Intro. > I > II >III >lV >/V >Beyond

Reading -Primer Reached January 31, 1963

Fig. 1. Reading Primer reached in the middle of the second school year, January 31, 1963, by control (687) and i.t.a. (413) groups. All pupils started school in September 1961.

years, nearly half of the control group have not yet got beyond Book I, while only 15 per cent of the i.t.a. pupils remain at that stage. The same kind of pattern is repeated at the other levels in the reading scheme. For instance, at the higher levels, 57 per cent of the i.t.a. group are on Book 4 or beyond, whereas only 123 per cent of the control group have got that far.

DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE AND

If these results are confirmed by our later analyses of the records from the total sample, it will be clear that children can learn to read much more rapidly when their beginning books are printed in Pitman’s i.t.a.. and hence that the use of the traditional alphabet and spelling for beginning reading does retard children’s progress into the world of books.

Why is progress so much more rapid in the i.t.a. reading scheme? It seems likely that this faster progress through the read- ing books is due to the fact that to read them the child has much less to learn. The learning load is reduced in 3 ways:

1. L e w Characters: In i.t.a. lower case characters only are used, capitals being the same shape but larger instead of a different shape. For example, the child has to learn only g (not G, g, as well).

2 . Less Whole-word Patteriis: In i.t.a. each word of English has only one single visual pattern. For example, the pupil has to learn only dog (not DOG. Dog. dog. etc.. in addition).

3. Less Plioiiic Siguals: In i.t.a. each phoneme is usually signalled by only one single spelling. For example the child has to learn only cp for the phoneme common to the words toe, doe, hoe. foe (not o as in go, ow as in flow. oh in oh, ough in dough, oa as in boat. o.e as in note, owe as in owe. etc.).

When there is so much less to learn it i s perhaps not surprising that children can progress faster through their reading books.

Word Recognition We have compared the experimental

group’s ability to recognise words printed in i.t.a. with the control group’s ability to recognise the same words printed in the traditional EnFlish alphabet and spelling

CHILD NEUROLOGY. 1964, 6

by administering Schonell‘s2 Graded Word reading test. The standard version in the traditional alphabet and spelling has been given to the control group while the experimental group have taken the same test transliterated into i.t.a. All other conditions were held constant (size of print, test environment, etc.).

The results of the latest test given to the September 1961 entrants half-way through the second school year in February 1963 are shown in Fig. 2.

These results indicate that the i.t.a. group are very superior in decoding print. After less than I + school years the i.t.a. group have very much higher scores than the corrtrol group. For instance, 56 per cent of the i.t.a. group scored 30 or more compared with only 6 per cent of the control group and this pattern is the same throughout the various levels of scoring on the Schonell test. Clearly the superiority of the i.t.a. groups represents a very sig- nificant difference from the attainments of the control pupils.

If the subsequent tests of the remainder of the sample confirm the above results, we can be certain that children can read very many more print words when they are presented in Pitman’s i.t.a., and we may then conclude that the traditional alphabet and spelling do seriously frustrate child- ren’s attempts to decode those printed symbols into their own English language.

Why are the i.t.a. pupils so superior in decoding print? The cause appears to be the greater consistency of the i.t.a. code. It appears to be more reliable and less complex than traditional orthography in 3 ways:

I . Its code symbols (i.e. letters) are iiiucli

less ambiguous. For example, the letter o in i.t.a. is not

used to represent the great variety of phonemes for which it stands in conven-

2 . Schonell, F. ( 1949) Psychology and Teaching of Reading. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.

I I6

90 loo F

JOHN DOWNING

EXPERIMENTAL 1. t. a.

n (N = 345) CONTROL t .0. N = 623)

> 5 >lo )15 >20 )25 230 235 240 2 4 5 250 2 5 5 >60 2.65 2 7 0 >75 230 a 8 5 >90 395 SCORE ON SCHONELL GRADED WORD READING TEST

Fig. 2. Reading attainment in control (623) and i.t.a. (345) groups, February 1963.

tional English spellings, such as in do, go, got, done, one, bone, women, etc. In i.t.a. these different phonemes are each signalled by a different symbol. 2. In i.t.a. the direction (left to right) is

consist en t . For example, the three phonemes of the

word same are presented in the correct sequence sEm, and no reversals are taught. 3. The characters are less complex.

For example, the common phoneme to hoe, toe, woe, has its own individual symbol a? in i.t.a. and the separate letters o and e are reserved for their own particular phonemes in words such as hot, rot, lot and bed, fed, led.

With these simplifications in the code it is not surprising that i.t.a. is easier to learn.

Accurate Reading of Continuous Passages The Neale3 Analysis of Reading Ability,

a comprehensive reading test consisting of

six passages of English narrative prose, has been used to determine the experi- mental and control pupils’ accuracy in reading continuous English. The control pupils were given the standard edition of Form C , while the experimental group, took the identical test but transliterated into i.t.a. The tests were conducted on a subsample consisting of pupils in seven well-matched pairs of experimental and control schools. All the children were half- way through their second year at school when tested in February 1963.

The Neale reading accuracy measure provided results which confirm those from the Schonell tests. Fig. 3 clearly indicates the superiority of the i.t.a. pupils. Only 7 per cent of the i.t.a. group scored nil in this test as compared with 43 per cent of the control children. As many as 40 per cent of the i.t.a. pupils scored 31 or more

3. Neale, M. D. (1963) Neale Analysis of Reading Ability. London: Macmillan.

B 117

DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE AND CHILD NEUROLQGY. 1964, 6

EXPERIMENTAL (N = 146)

(N = 190) CONTROL a

> O >11 >21 >31 > 4 1 > 5 1 >61 >?1 281 ACCURACY SCORE

Fig. 3. Reading attainment in selected schools, control (190) and i.t.a. (146) groups. Accuracy measured by Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (Form C), February 1963.

as compared with only 5 per cent of the control grofip.

Thus, again, if the results of subsequent tests of extensions of this subsample parallel those shown in Fig. 3, we may conclude that children can accurately read continuous English prose much more readily if it is printed in Pitman’s i.t.a.

The Neale Analysis includes a measure of comprehension. Forty-four questions are asked about the meaning of the six test passages. Fig. 4 shows that the i.t.a.

group’s comprehension scores are signifi- cantly superior to those of the control group. For instance, 27 per cent of the experimental group have scores according to which they would be credited with a ‘comprehension reading age’ of 8 years 2 months and above on the standard edition of the test, whereas the chrono- logical ages of these i.t.a. pupils were actually between 54 and 6p years. Only 6 per cent of the control group were so ‘advanced’.

118

JOHN DOWNING

EXPERIMENTAL (N = 146) CONTROL a (N = 190)

> 6 > 1 1 > 1 6 A > 21

COMPREHENSION SCORE

Fig. 4. Reading attainment in selected schools, control (190) and i.t.a. (146) groups. Comprehen- sion measured by Nale Analysis of Reading Ability (Form C), February 1963.

If these findings are confirmed by our future studies of the extension of this sub- sample, we may conclude that i.t.a. significantly closes the gap between child- ren’s listening and reading comprehension, and that young English-speaking children are being deprived of enjoyment and interest in reading books because many words well within their listening compre- hension are locked away from them in reading by the difficulties of the conven- tional alphabet and spelling.

Speed of Reading The Neale tests were timed in accordance

with the procedure laid down by their author, with the results shown in Fig. 5. The i.t.a. children read significantly faster than the control children. For instance, 34 per cent of the i.t.a. group read 31 or more words per minute as compared with only 10 per cent of the control pupils.

If the results of testing a wider sample in this way prove similar, it will be clear that young children can read faster when their books are printed in i.t.a. Hence we shall be able to conclude that the difficul- ties of the conventional English alphabet and spelling cause young beginners to slow down their rate of reading. In judging the importance of this finding, the more limited span of attention and per- severance of such very young pupils should be remembered.

In summary, if these findings are supported by evidence from the remainder of the sample, we may conclude that the conventional alphabet and spelling of English is an important cause of difficulty which :

(i) delays progress in the reading

(ii) reduces levels of achievement in

(iii) inhibits accurate reading of English

(iv) impairs comprehension of English

(v) slows the speed of reading.

curriculum ;

decoding the printed word ;

prose;

in print; and

Transfer of Training to Conventional Alphabet and Spelling

In March 1963, the same subsample took Form A of the Neale Analysis, but this time both experimental and control classes were tested on the standard edition in the conventional alphabet and spelling. The results are presented in Fig. 6 (reading accuracy), Fig. 7 (reading comprehension) and Fig. 8 (speed of reading).

119

DEVELOPMENTAL

loo [ 90

80

70

60

50

a B PI

8Q 40

30

20

10

0 > O

MEDICINE AND CHILD NEUROLOGY. 1964, 6

d > 4 1

m EXPERIMENTAL (N = 146)

CONTROL (N = 190)

>91 READING RATE

Pig. 5. Reading attainment in selected schools, control (190) and i.t.a. (146) groups. Rate measured by Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (Form C), February 1963.

The most important finding from these tests is that the i.t.a. group achieved significantly higher scores for accuracy and comprehension in reading the conventional alphabet and spelling. For instance, 56 per cent of the i.t.a. group scored 21 or more for accuracy, as compared with only 16 per cent of the contr.01 group. Again, 30 per cent of the i.t.a. group had scores of 11 or more for comprehension, while only 8 per cent in the control classes had

comparable scores. Although the trend appears to be in the same direction, the superiority of the i.t.a. group in speed of reading conventional print (i.e. words per minute) is not significant at the 5 per cent level of confidence.

This superiority of the i.t.a. group in accuracy and comprehension when reading conventional print was in spite of the fact that more than half of the i.t.a. pupils had not yet been transferred to conventional

120

JOHN DOWNING

100

DO

80

70

00

5c

3 E

ER 4(

3 PI

3(

2(

11

C 1

EXPERIMENTAL (N = 146) CONTROL (N = 190) m

db L > O .>11 >21 >31 >41 a51 a61

ACCURACY SCORE

Fig. 6. Reading attainment of control (190) and i.t.a. (146) groups using traditional orthography (seven matched pairs of schools). Accuracy measured by Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (Form A), March 1963.

books by their teachers. Even at this early stage the children who have begun with i.t.a. can transfer their reading skill to conventional print so effectively that they can read it with much greater accuracy and comprehension than control group pupils who have been learning the con- ventional alphabet and spelling from the beginning.

These results seem to indicate that

children can transfer their reading skill from i.t.a. to the traditional alphabet and spelling so successfully that their attain- ments in reading conventional print are better (at this stage) than they would have been without the initial period on the i.t.a. However, this conclusion must be regarded as only tentative at this juncture in our research programme. It is based on a very small sample of pupils, and, in any case,

121

DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE AND CHILD NEUROLOGY. 1964, 6

100

90

80

70

60

rA 50

3 PI

€9 40

30

20

10

0

m CONTROL r*7 EXPERIMENTAL (N = 146)

(N = 190)

L > O > 6 >11 >16 > 2 1 >26

COMPREHENSION SCORE

Fig. 7. Reading attainment of control (190) and i.t.a. (146) groups using traditional orthography (seven matched pairs of schools). Comprehension of reading measured by Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (Form A), March 1963.

valid judgment cannot be made until classes earliest. The ideal comparison enough 'years have elapsed to determine between experimental and control schools whether or not the superiority of the i.t.a. is therefore not yet approachable. We are pupils in reading conventional print is only at the beginning of a long-term study, permanent. and these early results are presented as

In conclusion, therefore, our judgment part of the history of our work to date. of these preliminary findings must be Final conclusions should be postponed cautious. The data we are now able to until all the many vital issues connected present are from only a segment of our with the use of i.t.a. for beginning reading total sample which happens to have have been thoroughly investigated under entered the experimental and control the rigorous scientific control of our com-

122

JOHN DOWNING

100

90

60

70

60

In d PI 2 50

* 40

30

20

10

0 > O >, 11 >, 21 >, 31

REA

h SING > 4 1 RATE >51

EXPERIMENTAL (N = 146) CONTROL

d > 61 d >, 71

Fig. 8. Reading attainment of control (190) and i.t.a. (146) groups using traditional orthography (seven matched pairs of schools. Rate of reading measured by Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (Form A), March 1963.

plete research programme. We would only suggest that the preliminary evidence indicates that Sir James Pitman’s initial teaching alphabet, with its design for transfer to conventional print, does appear to be one ofthe more promising approaches to the problem of preventing reading failure.

Discussion* In the Discussion Mr. Downing said

that comparative research was in hand on the learning of reading in other languages and an experiment was being carried out in Finland. Transfer from the new alphabet to the old goes very smoothly. The transition in writing is introduced at the

~~ ~~~

*This paper was originally presented at the Spastics Study Group on Speech and Communication Disorders at Durham in September 1963. It evoked lively interest and the discussion is here summarised.

123

DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE AND CHILD NEuR0Ux;Y. 1964,6

same stage and by the same method, nothing being changed except the alphabet ; with writing, the tramition is rather slower and not quite so imperceptible as with reading. i.t.a. will probably need modifying with experience; the printed medium clearly needs exploring and this is what i.t.a. is doing.

In answer to a series of questions, Mr. Downing told Prof. Mogeap Fog that the different ages of learning to read in different countries are taken into account and that dyslectics have been tried. A few experiments have been done on children who failed to read when taught by the ordinary alphabet. The numbers are small so far, but 14 children with an IQ over 90 and 14 with an IQ under 90 all learnt to read by the new method. Dr. J o b Apley argued that there was

a clear c8se for an experiment with controls, on medical lines, in addition to the experiments from the teaching aspects now being done, since it may be that many, certainly some, reading and com- municating diEculties can be attributed to inherent difliculties in the traditional alphabet. Some children, because of read- ing difficulties, develop a hatred of learning and may develop emotional and behaviour

disturbances. At least the borderline cases need help, which i.t.a. may provide. Possibly the case for a medical trial is still stronger for children whose abilities are below average. From the medical point of view the most attractive feature of i.t.a. would bk not curing diflidties but preventing them. Dr. Apley also pointed out that in this, as in other researches, we are in danger of losing our best people to America.

Prof. Adelaide Grisoni-Colli said that in Italian the spoken and written language corresponded exactly and reading ditlicul- ties were unknown. Dr. R d Mac Keith suggested that the solution might be for all the En&h to talk Italian.

In replying to other speakers, Mr. Downing agreed that the testing of children could be improved; it had originally been done by teachers, but independent testers were being employed and the improvements shown in reading by children on i.t.a. were consistent. He pointed out that the age of learning to read diered with the two alphabets: with the traditional alphabet Cyear-olds do not learn to read as well as 5-year-olds, but with the new alphabet they appear to learn equally well.

1 24