Bringing together an international team of scholars, this pioneering book presents the first truly systematic, cross-linguistic study of variation in literacy development. It draws on a wide range of cross-cultural research to shed light on the key factors that predict global variation in children's acquisition of reading and writing skills, covering regions as diverse as North and South America, Asia, Australia, Europe and Africa. The first part of the volume deals with comprehensive reviews related to the variation of literacy in different regions of the globe as a function of socio-political, sociocultural, and language and writing system factors. The second part of the volume deals with comprehensive reviews related to the variation of literacy in different world regions. Offering a pioneering new framework for global literacy development, this groundbreaking volume will remain a landmark in the fields of literacy development and literacy teaching and learning for years to come.

This volume presents the first truly systematic, multi-disciplinary, and cross-linguistic study of the language and writing system factors affecting the emergence of dyslexia. Bringing together a team of scholars from a wide variety of disciplines, it takes a dual focus on the language-specific properties of dyslexia and on its core components across languages and orthographies, to challenge theories on the nature, identification and prevalence of dyslexia, and to reveal new insights. Part I highlights the nature, identification and prevalence of dyslexia across multiple languages including English, French, Dutch, Czech and Slovakian, Finnish, Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese and Chinese, while Part II takes a cross-linguistic stance on topics such as the nature of dyslexia, the universals that determine relevant precursor measures, competing hypotheses of brain-based deficits, modelling outcomes, etiologies, and intergenerational gene-environment interactions.

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.

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.