This paper reviews recent research on English spelling and the alphabet, and examines the alphabet in terms of symbols, letter-names, and sounds. English is considerably less phonetic than most Western languages, with many symbols having more than one sound. This factor makes spelling difficult for learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) or…

Describes a phonetic spelling scheme called "Rational Spelling" that is claimed to be easy to learn and use and that could be used to encourage students to read and write freely at an early age. (SR)

Assessed Caramazza and Miceli's graphemic buffer organization theory by comparing the performance of two patients with graphemic buffer disorder. Noted effects of orthographic structure, deletions, insertions, and transposition. Found that neuropsychological evidence does not at present support the concept of the orthographic syllable. (MOK)

Large differences exist among individuals in their ability to process speech sounds within syllables and words, and this ability is crucial for reading and spelling alphabetically beyond a very elementary level. The conception that speech is made up of segments (phonemes) is natural to those who read and spell alphabetically, but arguably: (1)…

Defining regularity in the English language is not a straightforward matter because of the complex relations between sound and spelling. Predictable patterns are those spellings that can be readily predicted from pronunciation. Rare and unpredictable spellings are found only in a small set of words--probably 10% or less of the vocabulary in…

A "national cry" has gone out that phonics and phonemics awareness must again be taught. True literacy involves much more than merely reading. Students need to be equipped to think, write, spell, and express themselves orally and on paper. This helps them to clarify their own thinking. The English alphabet is a sound/symbol system, not a…

This article contains different perspectives on the role of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in assessing and facilitating spelling skills. It discusses the need for SLPs to promote the role of early literacy, assess for early literacy skills, conduct a comprehensive assessment of written language, and to teach early phoneme awareness.…

Cognitive psychology has provided an information processing model that distinguishes between input processes such as listening to speech or reading and output processes such as speaking or writing. It is useful for spelling reformers to consider reading (input) and writing (output) processes separately, because the demands of the reader and of the…

The premise of this paper is that English orthography has formed a system that represents more than phonetic values, but also represents semantic, etymological, and preferential values. The paper notes that English is a fairly regular and complex system in which both sound and meaning share leading roles in determining spelling. Studies are…

This paper considers the Initial Teaching Alphabet (ITA), long out of use in the United States. It was developed by Sir James Pittman in England in 1959 as a plan of reading instruction with a simplified phoneme-grapheme correspondence that stressed consistency between symbol and sound. The paper lists the advantages and disadvantages of the ITA…

This paper argues that the ability to rapidly compare phonemes is a primary sensory-cognitive function underlying self-correction in word recognition and spelling and thus, indirectly, reading comprehension. Such phonological defects can be addressed both preventively and remedially using procedures that are fundamentally different from typical…

A great deal of time could be saved in all grades and for all content areas if a truly phonic alphabet were developed. This alphabet would have only one symbol for each sound and only one sound for each symbol so that beginning readers could learn to pronounce any word they could see and spell any word they could pronounce correctly. Such an…

Intended to provide a basis for a sociolinguistic theory of reading by placing reading within a discussion of the formal and functional characteristics of language use in social settings, this book explores the state of the art of reading and literacy, the relations between spoken and written language, and explanations of reading failure. Chapters…