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Spelling and Spelling reform

updated August 22 2013

Human engineering for the English writing system
to meet the needs and abilities
of readers, writers, learners and the international world

The Rules of English spelling on one page!- Making English spelling obey its major rules would remove many of its difficulties.

Spelling reserch 1

Spelling reserch 2. Surplus letters

Parallel Texts to help those with difficulty

International Literacy Day, September 8, See these ozideas pages on literacy, Reading Cribs, education

Petition  –  a trial of help in the literacy crisis- Experiment! Petition to the public, Press and spellcheckers – See if u agree with it!   Tell yr frends. http://www.change.org/petitions/spellcheckers-the-press-the-public-trial-cutting-out-useless-letters-from-words

The principles of Interspel, Spelling on one page - modernizing present spelling, with 3 levels:-
Level 1.Dictionary Key and beginners spelling,
Level 2 with morfemic visual modifications for writing,
Level 3 with optional spellings for Reading without traps, making present spelling also readable.

Writing Systems and how they change, with particular reference to English spelling, available on amazon,

The Book of Spells and Misspells is now out of print, but can be downloaded here as a pdf

Key Papers

• Seven principles to repair the English spelling system. 2007. Also pdf
• The Design of Spelling to Match Needs and Abilities. 1986. pdf
  Problems in research in the design of English spelling. 1994. pdf
• Proposal for an International Commission on English Spelling reform. 2005.pdf

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Needs and abilities of users and learners
3. The nature and teaching of English spelling
4. Improving English spelling, and research
5. Spelling as entertainment
6. References
7. Bringing in improved English spelling
8. The 16-word spelling test - common words that prove that most people cannot spell.

1. Introduction

• Introduction to spelling improvement. Text of a radio broadcast
• Can literacy be made easier? The Psychologist, April 212-215.
• Rationale. How assumptions and barriers against improving the writing system do not hold. Answering the common objections to spelling improvement.
• An alternative introduction to the current Wikipedia entry on spelling reform 26.8.2006

Needs and abilities of users and learners

• Needs and abilities of readers
• Needs and abilities of writers to spell
• Needs and abilities of learners
• Needs and abilities of users of international English
• Spelling reform for the Internet (an older page) http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/spinternet.htm

3. The nature and teaching of English spelling

• See the online video, http://www.ozreadandspell.com.au
• The underlying English spelling system that could be made more consistent
  Spelling patterns for the English vowels
• The Book of Spells & Misspells - a treasury of spelling for everyone
• 22 Lessons in reading and spelling
• The 16 word spelling test for anyone who thinks they can spell
• Spelling and classroom practices - sclassprac.htm
• Pronunciation guides in children's dictionaries
• Analyses of English spelling by Masha Bell - www.EnglishSpellingProblems.co.uk
  
• Spelling improvement is possible. Lingua Franca, ABC Radio National, February, 2005.
• The 120 Worst Spelling Demons, and what makes them Demons

4. Improving English spelling

• English Spelling Rules on One Page 2009 and a base in the BBC Text Pronunciation Guide
• Where do you start? Beginners and users of present spelling, as writers and readers. See Spelling Rules on One Page
• Seven principles to repair English spelling, 2007
• Interspel 2007 - How the seven principls might be applied. -/spintersp.htm - (as for 7 principls)
• Diacritics for English 'long' vowels to cut the Gordian knot - /spdiacrit.htm       (à è ì ò ù)
• Some older pages, showing the development of ideas about reform, and complementing the updates:
• Spelling improvement. 2002.
• Cutting out surplus letters. Streamline - a first step in updating spelling
  
• Cutting out surplus letters. Materials that can be used in experiments.
• 
  Parallel Texts - an example, the Beautiful Princess in 3 stages of reform
• Experimental research in cutting surplus letters. Findings of pilot experiments.
  
• Quik gidelines for a next step, with sampl texts, and furthr notes for FASTR Spelling
  
• Further steps you can try yourself, with f, j, consistent word endings and vowel spellings.
  
• Further experiments to spel sensibly - Pronunciation and gramr, and a final solusion?
  
• The future of English spelling. What can be done?
  
• Spelling for international English language schemes, such as Globish and Basic Global English

5. Spelling as entertainment

• Spelling Games - starting with a Spelling ABC - different from a Spelling BEE
• 16-word Spelling Test of 16 common words that few experts can spell all correctly.
• International English Spelling Day, October 9, alternative date.
• How people spelled when they spelled as they liked before the 18th century dictionaries

6. References

• A short list of references that are still relevant.
• and PDF of further references
• Links - Let us know if they drop off the web
  • Archive of publications - Simplified Spellilng Society
  • Analyses of English spelling by Masha Bell - www.EnglishSpellingProblems.co.uk
    Masha's blog - all about why spelling is tricky - http://improvingenglishspelling.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/modernising-english-spelling.html
  • Niall Waldman's Spelling Dearest at http://www.spellingdearest.com - pithy summaries of facts about spelling and reform
  • The Children of the Code is a US reading-related TV project http://www.childrenofthecode.org
    Simplified Spelling Society. www.spellingsociety.org - A wide range of ideas of all types, plus archives
    Richard Wade's Freespelling guide - If you cant think how to spell a word, spell it as you would like it www.freespeling.com.
  • Steve Bett's http://www.unifon.org. A radical change of characters is put forward for initial learning to read, plus much other interesting information
  • John J Reilly's 1998 list of Societies, Persons and Resources promoting Spelling Reform, with further links.

7. Bringing in improved English spelling

• A start with cutting out surplus letrs.
• Reading cribs to help learners
  
• The case for an International Commission on English spelling

Spelling for the next 2000 years

No change at all?

Comunications Tecnology is changing fast. The basic element of written comunication is the oldest part of that tecnology - spelling - but spelling is still tecnology, and it can be made more user-frendly.

Internationally, the defects of English spelling affect the world.

Spelling has been made into a totem and a social screening device. These are not its primary purpose - which is comunication.

Few people read well. Most people cannot spell well. Learning to read in English is notoriously dificult. The iminent obsolesence of print literacy is now often predicted because it is 'more tedious' and needs 'enormous human and economic resources' to try to teach - unsuccessfully.

All other major languages have improved or even revolutionised their writing systems, but their teaching of literacy is still held back by following the lead of Anglo-American reserch and exampls, which are foxed by English spelling problems.

The present time of flux and innovation on the Internet is a millennial opportunity for global experiment.

These pages set out needs and abilities of readers, writers and lerners which must be taken into account and must be based on empirical reserch, not mere argument.Also described are features that might characterise a user-frendly spelling which remains close to our present system - by cleaning up its lackof system.

A simpl way to start improving English spelling by cutting the clutter.

FASTR's user-friendly features can be taken up by anyone at any time for personal use. Public experience during transition can clear a way to official development. 'Fastr Spelling' should not be dismissed by arguing from outdated assumptions. The real test is whether it could be useful in a time of English-language literacy's greatest challenge.

Five aims for a Fastr Spelling

• To meet the needs and abilities of users and lerners at home and abroad,
• To suit the nature of the English language
• To improve the efficiency and speed of readers and writers
• To promote the usefulness of English as an international language
• To be compatibl with present spelling and our heritage of print
• To make posibl greatly improved methods of teaching literacy

Five features of a Fastr Spelling

• Omit superfluous letters in words
• Use consistent consonant spellings
• Reduce over 240 spellings for English vowel sounds to 48
• Facilitate reading for meaning thru sound-symbol relationships modified by twelv grammatical, morfemic and problem-solving principls.
• Open the way to furthr reforms of vowel spellings and alfanumeric characters

The 16-word Spelling Test

If you cannot spell these 16 words correctly, do not worry. Most professors and educators and psychologists and teachers cannot spell them all.

Why don't you get all these spellings correct?

Because every word has letters in it that are not needed - a waste of your time and energy to remember what the surplus letters are, where they should go, and writing them out.

 More about the 16 word Spelling Test