ABOUT

A little bit about me

Hello and welcome to Dencoding!

I’m Diane, I am a mother of two and am passionate about teaching. I qualified as a teacher more than 30 years ago, have worked in both the state and private sectors with all ages from reception to primary school, from secondary school students to adults, to those with learning disabilities or dyslexia. I have taught as a class teacher, taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL), provided 1:1 tuition, worked in Special Educational Needs, done supply work and have also been invited to give presentations to educational organisations.

Throughout my teaching career it has been clear to me that the teaching of spelling, which is inextricably linked to reading/writing/pronunciation, has remained an issue for people of all ages. Since the early 20th century, we have been trying to use Phonics to teach these skills. It was the only option we had and it had good intentions but unfortunately Phonics simply does not work. Mabe yoo hav allrede notisd haw it dus not werk as iffectivle as yood lik? Worse, they had to create alien/nonsense word tests to prove that Phonics works! (or perhaps to prove that it doesn’t !?)

However, I already know that if you are reading this now, it is likely because you have already made the above discovery yourself and you should be commended for being pro-active and seeking out a real solution!

The reason WHY spelling, reading and writing is complex

To find a solution we have to understand exactly what we are dealing with. We have to understand a very crucial concept - That our English language is a deep orthography.

Let me briefly explain this to you…

Firstly, an orthography refers to the written graphemes (letters or symbols) that make up an alphabet. Individual graphemes can then be grouped together to form words, and words can be grouped together to create sentences and meaning, thus creating a specific language and enabling people to communicate with one another.

Now, this is the interesting part: Each grapheme will be paired with a specific sound; however, some languages are a ‘shallow’ orthography and some are a ‘deep’ orthography. A ‘shallow’ orthography, is where each individual graphemes (letters) makes only one sound, no matter what context it is in. On the other hand, a ‘deep’ orthography is where a single grapheme/letter can make more than one sound, depending on the context. For example, here are some words in our English language which have the letter ‘A’ in:

cat
make
father
was
all
image
any
area

Notice how in each word the ‘A’ is pronounced in completely different ways!

This is true for combinations of words. For example, look at the different ways ‘ea’ is pronounced in the following words:

read (or read?)
feather
earth
theatre
great
create
heart
beauty
bureau
bureaucratic
bureaucracy

There are so many individual letters that make different sounds, as well as so many letter combinations that make different sounds, not to mention some letters/combinations that don’t even make any sound! (eg. The ‘e’ in ‘make’, ‘h’ in ghost’, ‘ea’ in ‘beauty’ or ‘ugh’ in ‘dough’). With all the possible combinations you can understand why our language is complex and why languages with a deep orthography (eg. English and French) have a trickier task ahead and why it is more challenging for us to learn to spell/read/write accurately. This explains why countries (like Spain and Finland) who have a shallow orthography, should have an easier time predicting the spelling of a word from hearing it aloud for the first time, if one sound is equal to only one letter.

It works both ways- its simply because our language is a deep orthography. A deep orthography makes it more challenging to decode (read/pronounce) and encode (write/spell). For example, if you hear the word ‘awesome’ and try to spell it straight away you could easily write ‘orsom’. Likewise, you might see the word ‘super’ but pronounce it like 'supper', not ‘sooper!'

So I can assure you it is not that you are a ‘bad speller’ or that your child has a 'problem' and ‘can’t read’- it’s just because our language is a deep orthography! And as of yet, we have had no strategy or solution to address this. Perhaps you can now understand why Phonics does not work- the principles of Phonics tell us that one letter makes one sound or a certain combination letters together make only one particular sound. With this advice we could be writing ‘Foniks’, ‘fonicks’, ‘fonix’, ‘phonicks’ or ‘ghonnix’ instead. Thus, the Phonics approach might work in a country with a shallow orthography but not English. And with the complexity our language presents, I’m sure you can also sympathise with why it is a topic people have shied away from and why there is a lack of research and solutions surrounding this area.

We should also have an appreciation for all the visitors, invasions and conquerors, who brought their own languages and cultures to our island, helping to shape our language and contributing to the complexity of it. We should be proud of our history, respect the reason why English is a deep orthography and congratulate our ability to master it.

So, we have a complex, weird and wonderful language! What can we do about it?

Firstly, it certainly should not deter our efforts to learn to spell and communicate well. I’m sure many of us are guilty of changing the impressive word you wanted to use in a sentence to something simple because it was ‘easier to spell’. Instead we should be ambitious, accept and embrace it! Our language might be more complex but it is a challenge and an opportunity to showcase a brilliant and respected ability! If we are not afraid to make mistakes, we can enhance our vocabulary with confidence and by using Dencoding we can learn to read / write / spell / pronounce / communicate accurately- essential skills we will be using throughout our lifetime!

ABOUT

A little bit about me

The reason WHY spelling, reading and writing is complex

So, we have a complex, weird and wonderful language! What can we do about it?

The solution?