Spelling to Pronunciation Transparency Ratings

Applying common decoding rules to an English word does not always provide its actual pronunciation given the quasiregular nature of the English orthography. The reader must then make the match between the sounded out form they arrived at during decoding with that word’s actual pronunciation stored in memory. Some words are more difficult to make this match than others. Spelling to pronunciation transparency ratings measure the ease at arriving at the correct pronunciation for a word by applying typical decoding rules on a scale of 1-6 with 1 representing words that are very easy to match to its pronunciation and 6 representing words that are very difficult to match. The purpose of this study was to create a database of spelling to pronunciation transparency ratings for 20,404 words, made available in the supplemental materials to be used in future analyses. Results of a multiple regression revealed variance in ratings to be unaccounted for by other available word features, demonstrating the uniqueness of these ratings. Furthermore, results showed that on average words that contained at least one schwa received higher ratings than words that did not contain a schwa. Lastly, words classified as strange were rated as more difficult than those classified as exception words which were rated higher than regular words, demonstrating the association between spelling to pronunciation transparency ratings and regularity.

An examination of Unified English Braille and its efficiency in representing print

This study considers whether Unified English Braille provides an efficient representation of printed English. Two databases of English words were used to acquire and calculate information about English orthography that was then used to analyze Unified English Braille (UEB) using a computer program developed by the second author. In general, braille groupsigns and wordsigns represent many of the most frequently occurring letter combinations and words in English. However, there were some braille contractions that are so infrequent, they appear fewer than 100 times per million words or did not appear in the database at all. There was good braille representation within the 50 most frequent words, and our efficiency index showed that braille is already extremely efficient, although there is some mismatch between the order of introduction for braille and the frequency of certain words and letter combinations in English. There is a common understanding that we should teach all of the contractions by the end of third grade, but our results show that some contractions, many of which are shortform words, never appear in school texts. It may be possible to approach instruction of shortform words in a different way.

Collecting Words: A Clinical Example of a Morphology-Focused Orthographic Intervention

Purpose Morphological interventions promote gains in morphological knowledge and in other oral and written language skills (e.g., phonological awareness, vocabulary, reading, and spelling), yet we have a limited understanding of critical intervention features. In this clinical focus article, we describe a relatively novel approach to teaching morphology that considers its role as the key organizing principle of English orthography. We also present a clinical example of such an intervention delivered during a summer camp at a university speech and hearing clinic. Method Graduate speech-language pathology students provided a 6-week morphology-focused orthographic intervention to children in first through fourth grade ( n = 10) who demonstrated word-level reading and spelling difficulties. The intervention focused children's attention on morphological families, teaching how morphology is interrelated with phonology and etymology in English orthography. Results Comparing pre- and posttest scores, children demonstrated improvement in reading and/or spelling abilities, with the largest gains observed in spelling affixes within polymorphemic words. Children and their caregivers reacted positively to the intervention. Therefore, data from the camp offer preliminary support for teaching morphology within the context of written words, and the intervention appears to be a feasible approach for simultaneously increasing morphological knowledge, reading, and spelling. Conclusion Children with word-level reading and spelling difficulties may benefit from a morphology-focused orthographic intervention, such as the one described here. Research on the approach is warranted, and clinicians are encouraged to explore its possible effectiveness in their practice. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12290687

How Insurmountable a Problem is English Orthography?

The article tackles the issue of English orthography and the challenges it presents to people with various learning disabilities. A range of experiments is reported to elicit the responses of people with dyslexia to specific problems in the traditional system of English spellings. Approaches are put forwards to deal with such challenges both in the ordinary classroom and with people with disabilities. The author urges for more open-mindedness towards the challenge of English orthography.

Dimensionality of Early Writing in English and Spanish

Writing development is understood to be a multidimensional task, heavily constrained by spelling in its early stages. However, most available evidence comes from studies with learners of the inconsistent English orthography, so our understanding of the nature of early writing could be highly biased. We explored writing dimensions in each language by assessing a series of text-based features in children’s texts between mid-Grade 1 to mid-Grade 2. Results revealed that two constructs, writing conventions and productivity, emerged in both languages, but the influence of orthographic consistency started to be evident in the later time points. Other constructs of text generation seemed to emerge later and were less stable over time. The article thus highlights the language-general underpinnings of early text-writing development and the impact of orthographic consistency; furthermore, it strengthens the view that some writing components develop before others. We discuss implications for the assessment of early written products.

The ‘ph’ of English orthography; a digraph or a sequence of separate phonemes?

The aim of this short article is to offer a belated defense of L. M. Boyd (author of a daily, nationally syndicated column ‘Trivia’ in numerous newspapers throughout the USA) against a critique published in English Today over a decade ago by Alan S. Kaye (2006), and present arguments in support of Boyd's beleaguered claim. Kaye (2006: 54) writes: I do not mean to be picking on Mr. Boyd, but considering his track record, perhaps the time has come for his quitting pontificating on matters of English grammar, pronunciation, and the history of the language.