Reading Acquisition in India: Models of Learning and Dyslexia (Research in Applied Linguistics series) - Hardcover

Patel, Purushottam G

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0761932208 ISBN 13: 9780761932208

Publisher: SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd, 2004

Synopsis

The sixth in the series on Research in Applied Linguistics, this is a ground-breaking study which presents a phonological analysis of Brahmi and its modern derivatives. It closely examines India’s ancient cultural-linguistic background, particularly the Vedic Culture of oral tradition, and relates this scholarship to current research and theory in linguistics, neurobehavioral sciences, and special education. The author also provides an empirical understanding of reading acquisition by children with a particular focus on those facing poverty, a toxic environment, and the deprivation associated with low caste status.

The book is a departure from current neuropsychological research which is limited to the middle-class dyslexic child. It argues the need for a multidisciplinary approach which takes into account the effects of poverty, socioeconomic deprivation and environmental toxicity on reading acquisition among children from deprived groups. Purushottam Patel discusses a number of important issues including:

- The linguistic context and principles underlying the Brahmi script.
- The reasons behind literacy emerging as a part of natural language development, especially in an oral culture.
- The cultural habits surrounding reading.
- The importance of the living environment to literacy development.
- The need for multidisciplinary research, with an emphasis on neurobehavioral teratology.

About this title

About the Author:

Purushottam G. Patel has been teaching and pursuing research in linguistics at the University of Ottawa since 1970. He retired as professor from that institution in 1998. Professor Patel’s research interests center around the linguistic–neural–cognitive processing system with special attention to reading acquisition and developmental dyslexia. He is, at present, engaged in developing a perspective on the relationship of the Indian Br hm script to ancient Indian linguistics and Vedic oral tradition through a phonological analysis. Professor Patel’s previous contribution to scholarship includes Reading Disabilities: The Interaction of Reading, Language, and Neuropsychological Deficits (coauthor), as also several research papers, review articles and book reviews.

Review:

The book is useful reading for anyone seeking information on issues like India’s ancient oral tradition, writing systems, and linguistic heritage. It also has much to offer to anyone interested in a contemporary review of reading, spelling and its neuropsychological explanations.... It is strongly recommended to those who would like to have an empirical view of reading acquisition in India.

Author: Discourse Studies

About this edition

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0761932208
• ISBN 13: 9780761932208
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 172