Cognitive processes of learning to read in Persian orthography

Persian orthography, an alphabetic system, is unique in certain ways. The aim of the present study was to look for evidence for transition from a phonological-recoding phase to an orthographic phase as a developmental phase in Persian reading acquisition. One hundred and twenty primary school children were given special lists of words and non-words for reading and their performances were analyzed. The results suggested that the Persian children learning to read Persian do go through the stages of using phonological recoding strategy and, then, move on to adopt orthographic strategy.