Testing African Orthographies

Effective orthographies which represent speech maximally yet efficiently are pivotal in giving literacy to millions of people. Testing their effectiveness can inform users, literacy personnel, and linguists of the relative importance of certain features, and any difficulties readers may face with comprehension, spelling or reading fluency.

The case studies address topics such as

• under- and overrepresentation of a language’s phonology
• developing decoding skills and whole word recognition
• choosing optimal orthographic depth
• diagnosing problems in comprehension, oral reading accuracy, and spelling
• strategies to achieve maximum visual simplicity yet maximal comprehension of text

Testing African Orthographies will be of practical value for linguists and literacy specialists as they seek to strengthen orthography development.