Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers?

Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers

Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers?

Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers

Irene Smith

Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers

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Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers

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How much does the English language impede learning in general for the natives due to its horrendous spelling? Irene shows you why It does (its spelling system does) and anyone saying otherwise is lying, is making money off the flawed system, or does not know what they are talking about.

Thank you.

Dina Cehic

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English Language Academy Moderator L.2

Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers

Thank you, Irene Smith and Quora.

Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers

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Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers?

Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers

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Common English Mistakes

Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers?

Answer by Irene Smith, (BA double major in literature and linguistics + an MEd, The University of British Columbia). All credit goes to Irene Smith, Thank you!

How did I learn English

7.5 / 10

Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers

It does (its spelling system does) and anyone saying otherwise is lying, is making money off the flawed system, or does not know what they are talking about.

Check their credentials.

  INCONTROVERTIBLE PROOF (Check my credentials)

   1. It takes the average learner a few YEARS to learn to read and spell a few thousand words in English. However, after a few weeks, MOST children (English-speaking or not) can learn to read and spell after learning the alphabet USING the alphabet. Primary teachers, linguists, educational leaders call their way, this way … invented spelling. There is NOTHING invented about it. They are just using what they learned. Of course, it is an approximation because there are 18 graphic representations missing. BUT, if there were 44 graphemes (digraphs or not) matching the 44 phonemes, they would and could learn to read and spell using that system too. It might take a few more weeks. So what? It beats YEARS!

  2. Learners of languages that have a highly regular spelling systems like Finnish, Italian, Turkish,… can also learn to read and spell in WEEKS. I challenge anyone to challenge this. (Speakers of those languages can back me up, alternatively,or upvoting.) But, they can spell and read ANY word in their whole lexicon in weeks. They could read ANY books. (They might not understand each word of course, but by reading more they could easily learn them, quickly.) Can Magic Phonics programs and people selling their one-on-one tutoring come close? NOPE.

  3. It follows logically that a very complex (irregular) will impede learning. Is learning to drive an automatic car more or less difficult than manual?

  4. I even had one case of a girl who was so bright, so quick that she could not spell words and often skipped syllables or words as she wrote. Her brain was too fast and the spelling system put undue burden or impeded her writing speed.

5. Illiteracy rates are damning for Commonwealth nations (and the US). All things being equal (teacher training, budgets, class size,…), English-speaking kids do worse.

The complexity of a language’s orthography is directly related to the difficulty of learning to read in that language. Orthographic complexity also contributes to how dyslexia manifests in readers of different languages.

Deep orthographies are writing systems, such as those of English and Arabic, that do not have a one-to-one correspondence between sounds (phonemes) and the letters (graphemes) that represent them.

Shallow orthographies, such as Italian and Finnish, have a close relationship between graphemes and phonemes, and the spelling of words is very consistent. With shallow orthographies, new readers have few problems learning to decode words and as a result children learn to read relatively quickly. Most dyslexic readers of shallow orthographic systems learn to decode words with relative ease compared to dyslexics using deep orthographies, though they continue to have difficulty with reading fluency and comprehension.

The hallmark system of dyslexia in a shallow orthography is a comparatively slow speed of rapid automatized naming.

Writing and drawing performed by a child with dyslexia, displaying common behavioral symptoms.

For languages with relatively deep orthographies, such as English and French, readers have greater difficulty learning to decode new words than languages with shallow orthographies. As a result, children’s reading achievement levels are lower.

Research has shown that the hallmark symptoms of dyslexia in a deep orthography are a deficit in phonological awareness and difficulty reading words at grade level.

(Orthographies and dyslexia – Wikipedia)

Case settled? Not yet? Read this: John Katt’s answer to What are your most controversial or unpopular opinions?

 So, to answer precisely the question, I have read the estimation to be 2 years of loss, often 3 years is mentioned, but I think this is under-estimating the benefit that one would get as soon as one is able to read early, competently, all books as early as Grade 1!

Finally, the irregularity of the system puts an extra burden or puts up an extra barrier (to entry) for kids who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The field is hardly leveled. Proof? The 32-Million Word Gap

Btw, I am providing PROOF and EVIDENCE. If you are upvoting others who provide just opinion, you are failing Quora’s mandate: to vote for the best answer, not the one that you like or conform to your bias. WE are here to learn, to challenge our beliefs.

Reference: Irene Smith, “How much does the English language impede learning in general for the natives due to its horrendous spelling?” originally appeared on Quora, the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Why spelling is impeding learning English for the native English speakers

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