Tema 10

 

Tema 10. - Los códigos ortográficos de la lengua inglesa. - Relación sonido-grafía. - Propuestas para la didáctica del código escrito. - Aplicaciones de la ortografía en las producciones escritas.  and Human language language is the fundamental vehicle convey ou our r thoug thoughts, feelings. Therefore, it is necessary to paytoattention to the hts, needs communicative process among people by concentrating on its two basic manifestations: oral and written language. With regard to writing in English,, this must not be seen merely as transcribed speech, as some of English the letters of the English alphabet do not match the sounds of the language . Due to this ir irregularity, regularity, the sound-grapheme relationships need to be worked on in the English-classroom. Based on this view, the present essay aims to study the English spelling code.. For this purpose, I will divide this topic into four main sections. In code the will clarify the writing concepts of Graphetics and Graphology and first then Ipart, will Iexplain the main systems. In the second part, I will examine the English-spellin English-spellingg system, system, considering its main spelling rules. Then in the third part, I will analyse the sound-spelling correspondences in correspondences in English as well as the importance of phonological awareness skills, reading and spelling skills. skills. Finally in the fourth part, I will concentrate on the teaching of the written code, code, suggesting several activities activities to  to do so.   We deal deal with an essential essential topi topicc since, according to The Organic Law on Education 2/2006 passed 2/2006 passed on the 3rd of May, the goal of FLT in Primary Education is the acquisition of CC CC.. According to Canale and Swain, Swain, one of the competences derived from this is grammatical competence, competence, which refers to the correct use of the linguistic code in both the oral and the written form s  s . In addition to that, the FL Curriculum for Curriculum for Primary Education emphasizes the significance of this topic by including in its 2 nd  block of contents the association of letters to the sounds of the alphabet. FIRST    In order to develop the first part of this topic, I will defin definee the con concepts cepts of Graphetics and Graphology. Graphology. On the one hand, we understand Graphetics as the study of the physical aspects of the symbols that constitute writing  systems and its unit is the symbol. symbol. On the other hand, Graphology Graphology is  is the  and its unit is study of the linguistic contrasts that writing systems convey  and grapheme which  which can be defined as the smallest contrastive unit in a the grapheme

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writing system that might produce a change in meaning . As we know, the main graphemes of the English language are the 26 units that make up the alphabet. When using these units in writing, we also use punctuation, punctuation, which has two functions. These are: to enable stretches of language to be read in a coherent way and the use of suprasegmental features which give an indication of the rhythm and tone of speech.

Apart from this, it is worth mentioning that there are several types of writing systems among systems among which we find on the one hand, there phonological systems,, which show a clear relationship between the symbols and sounds systems of language and on the other hand, the non-phonologic non-phonological al systems systems which  which do not show a clear relationship between the symbols and the sounds . In this regard, I must point out that both English and Spanish are phonological alphabetic systems, which means that they show a direct correspondence between graphemes and phonemes. However, these languages vary greatly in their regularity and whereas Spanish has a very regular system, English is notorious for its irregularity as it presents a great lack of correspondence between graphemes and phonemes which the number of spelling rules that students have to learn learn. . is reflected in SECOND    After having having consider considered ed these general aspects, I will go on to examine the English-spelling English-spelling code.  code.

In general terms, English spelling is considered to be difficult and unpredictable. However, recent studies show that English is approximately 75% regular. The problem is that the 400 or so irregular spellings are among the most frequently used words, which gives the impression of irregularity.. At this point, looking at the history of the language will help us irregularity to achieve a better understanding of English spelling.   In the Anglo-Saxon period an period an alphabet of 24 graphemes had to cope with a sound system of 40 phonemes. Consequently, many sounds had to be signalled by combinations of letters. Later in the Norman period, French scribes introduced scribes  introduced new orthographic conventions and then during the printing process many process many early printers were foreign and used their own spelling rules.   In the 15th century  century,, the Great Vowel Shift Shift,, which was a massive sound change affecting the long vowels, was the main reason for the diversity of vowel spellings. Some letters also became silent during this period, such as the of know. Later in the 16th century  century a  a new trend appeared: Latin and Greek etymology was reflected in the spelling of words. For example, a

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was added in reign. Finally in the 17th century  century a  a good amount of words were borrowed from French, Spanish and Italian. This caused new patterns of spelling, like in armadillo. Therefore, English is an amalgam of different traditions. As I said before, as a result of this irregularity and diversity, students need to learn relevant ones.some spelling rules. In what follows, I will highlight the most   Firstly, in in Eng English, lish, some words are are alw always ays wr written itten with with capital letters  letters  such as the days of the week, months and holidays; proper names and place names, nationalities and languages and titles of books, films and magazines.   Secondly, many English words double their last consonant before endings -ed, -ing, -er and -est. -est. It happens when the consonant is after a vowel and the stress falls on the last syllable as in the word “ omitted ”. ”.   Thirdly, only nouns have plural and plural and there are several plural formation rules: - The 1st one is that most nouns add -s to the singular: cat / cats . nd

- The 2ending  one is is –es: thatbus/buses  if the singular ends in -s, -ch, -sh, -ss, -x or -z, the plural . - The 3rd one is that if the singular ends in -o, the plural ending is usually –es: tomato/tomatoes . - The 4th one is that if the singular ends in consonant followed by -y, this is replaced by i, so the plural ending is –ies: spy/spies . - The 5th one is that if the singular ends in -f or -fe, the plural ending changes to –ves: wife/wives . - Lastly, other nouns have an irregular plural: child/children child/children,, man/men, person / people.   However these rules also present some exceptions .   Fourthly, adjectives usually change into adverbs by adding -ly: -ly : nice / nicely . THIRD    After having considered the the English-spell English-spelling ing code, I will go on to analyse the main sound-spelling correspondences in correspondences in the English language. For this purpose, I will look at the main correspondences between the sound of vowels and consonants and their spelling. spelling . The following rules do not intend to be exhaustive; unfortunately, there are many exceptions.

Regarding vowels vowels,, we can distinguish 12 vowel sounds sounds,, each of which has several graphic representations: / i:/ i:/ ee tree / ɔ: / or horse

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/ ɪ /

/ e /

/ æ /

/ ɑ:/

/ ɒ /

saw bought talk before door four

e ie ea ey

complete piece sea key

aw ou a ore oor ou

i, y e a ie u

rich, city pretty village ladies busy

u o oo ou

sugar woman good could

oo o ou u ew

food do group rude knew

ue ui oe u o ou oo oe ir, yr er, ear

blue  juice shoe sun son country blood does

/ ʊ /

e ea a ay ie

set dead many says friend

/ u: u:  /

a ai

cat plait

/ ʌ /

a ar ear

pass car heart

er al au

clerk palm aunt

o a ou au

gone was cough because

/ ɜ: /

/ ə / ure-furniture

ur wor our i e a u ar er or

bird her turn word  journey possible gentlemen vegetable difficult particular mother doctor

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Regarding consonants and semiconsonants we semiconsonants we can distinguish 24 sounds each sounds  each of which has several graphic representations: pp apple /b/ b /p/ p play t tea tt d utter th /d/ /t/ dd Thomas -ed  jumped past kind k cake c g /g/ occur cc /k/ gh conquer qu Christmas ch chain ch  j watch tch g Ʒ dg nature / t ʃ  /  / ture righteous / d  / teous gg question stion foot f v off ff /v/ f /f/ photo ph ph enough gh /θ/ th thief /ð/ th s so s ss pass /s/ /z/ z c niece zz sc science /  ʃ  /  / shoe sh machine ch sure s Russian ss si nation ti / Ʒ / s mansion si ge conscience sci special ci ocean ce /h/

h wh

hat who

/m/

m mm

consonant ball

day daddy

ago ghos

 jam gin bridge suggest violet of nephew there roses zoo dizzy

vision measure prestige

mum swimming 5

 

/n/

/l/

/j/

n nn kn gn

nose funny know foreign

l

colour

ll

 yellow

 y i u ew

 yes onion union new

/ŋ/

/r/

/w/

ng nk ck nx r rr

sing sink uncle anxious rat carry

wr rh w wh qu gu

wrong rhythm west white quick language

  Apart from these sound sound spelling correspondences, we must must not forget that there are also some letters in certain words which do not correspond letters   to any sound in the word's pronunciation pronunciation.. These are known as silent letters and we may highlight the following:          

B (mb, bt) comb, debt, doubt, plumber  C in muscle, Connecticut   G (gm, gn) foreign, gnaw  H in heir, honest, honour, hour, rhythm, vehicle  K (kn) knee, know  L (lk, lm, ld) chalk, salmon, could  N (mn) autumn  S in aisle, island, isle  T  (stle,  (stle, sten) castle, fasten ; also mortgage, postpone  W (wr, wh) wrong, who ; also answer, sword 

  After having having analy analysed sed the main sound-spelling sound-spelling correspondences in the English language, I will concentrate now on the importance of phonological  phonological  awareness skills, reading and spelling skills and skills and the relationship relationship between  between them.   On the one hand, phonological awareness refers awareness refers to the knowledge of the   phonological structure of sentences and words  and  and they constitute an essential basis to the acquisition of spelling and reading skills although they do not concern knowledge of letters . It does not develop naturally: like other metalinguistic knowledge most people do not develop it unless they are directly taught.

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  We can distinguish several levels of phonological phonological aw awareness areness skills which develop in a top-down direction: learners begin at the level of the whole word and gradually move to smaller parts of the word like the manipulation of single sounds in it. In this sense, the levels of phonological awareness can be classified into shallower, intermediate and deeper.   On the other hand, reading and spelling skills which skills which are connected to the written word are needed to read and spell successfully . Therefore, we assume that, in order to be good readers and spellers, knowledge of letters is needed in addition to knowledge of the phonological structure structure.. In this sense, spelling and reading skills include aspects like: Understanding of the alphabetic principle, mastering the regular sound-spelling correspondences, mastering spelling rules, memorizing irregular words, decoding, background knowledge and recognizing words as wholes and not as individuall letters. individua FOURTH 

  Once phonological, phonological, rreading eading and spelling spelli ng written skills have been I will concentrate now on the teaching of the code in considered, English . English. According to Matthews Matthews,, we can distinguish five subskills related to writing, which are graphic skills, that is writing words correctly including aspects such as capitalization, punctuation and spelling; grammatical skills, the ability to use a variety of sentence patterns and constructions; stylistic skills, the ability to express precise meaning in a variety of styles and registers; rethorical skills ,the ability to use cohesion devices in order to link parts of a text;  and  and organisational skills, writing ideas with coherence and summarize relevant points.  In the early stages of learning English, students will generally write very little. Since The FL Curriculu Curriculum m for Primary Education stresses oral skills over written skills, the approach to teaching the written code must have two principles: every written item must have been introduced orally before the written form, form, and writing activities must have a visual support. Apart from these general principles, we must bear in mind that t hat spelling is a productive skill, skill, which requires good visual memory and knowledge of linguistic structure. Thus, to be a good speller, two abilities are required: phonological strategies, strategies, which help us to cope with regular  and visual strategies, strategies, which helps us to cope with the spelling patterns  and exceptions to regular spelling patterns :

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  As I said before, English spelling is illogical aand nd difficult for children to learn. There are four main ways in which children learn the spelling of words. These are: visual style, style, learners respond to the shapes of words; auditory style, style, learners recognize the relationship between sounds and letters; kinaesthetic style, style, learners let the hand remember the kind of movements made when producing words; linguistic style, style, learners see the relationships between words based on grammar, meaning, etc. Because of that, a multi-sensory approach to the teaching of the written code is code  is the best option.   After having considered the main aspects that we need to take into account when teaching the written code in English, I will now suggest several activities to activities to do so. As we know, it is very difficult for children to work with abstract concepts like sounds . In order to understand the sound-grapheme relationship, they need first f irst to be familiarised familiaris ed with the alp alphabet habet.. In this way, they realize that. In letters, whichwhen are selecting somethingwriting real, activities are related the different sounds sounds. this sense, to to practise spelling, the next sequence sequence must  must be followed: word-recognitionn activities. In this stage,   Firstly, we need to work with word-recognitio the students notice the shape of the words and the number of letters so they can make a mental picture of it. Some activities at this stage include reading and matching a picture with a word, joining up dots to form words  and  and putting the letters of a word in order .   Then, we need to work with activities at word level. In level. In this stage, the teacher will not have to provide the students st udents with the words they need, they will think about the spelling of words by themselves. Some activities that can be carried out at this stage are making a list , a personal dictionary , crosswords, matching labels to pictures, anagrams and also  games  like  like Bingo, Hangman and Odd Man Out.   After that, we need to work with activities at sentence-level. In this stage, students will write the words they need and also will work with given sentences doing activities like writing speech bubbles for cartoons, sequencing sentences  and copying  and  and correcting mistakes .   Lastly, the te teacher acher must provide the students students with strategies to check their spelling. spelling. In this way, students will be more autonomous in their own learning process, which contributes to the development of two Basic Competences:: Learning to Learn  and Competences  and Autonomy and Personal Initiative . These strategies are: using dictionaries  (or  (or picture dictionaries in the

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early stages), making personal dictionaries  and  and classifying words according to the similarities in their spelling.  To finish off this section, it is worth mentioning that when analysing or correcting children´s written written work in the activities, it is very important to have a clear approach towards the correction of mistakes: this means that, instead of trying to correct every single mistake, it is wiser to focus on those mistakes that are really important to achieve comprehension of the Byrne,, we can follow four main correction whole. According to Donn Byrne procedures which are correcting all mistakes, correcting mistakes selectively, indicating mistakes so that t hat students correct them  and  and letting the students to identify and correct their own mistakes. In any case, we should not be over worried about mistakes since, as  as   Chomsky argued, “they are something natural and necessary and positive Chomsky  evidence that learning is taking place ””..   Conclusion   To conclude, I would like to remark remark that, as in I ha have ve. proven in this topic, learning to write is a difficult achievement life life. As English teachers, we must bear in mind that in the early stages of learning English, students will generally write very little. Moreover, the youngest ones may be still coping with some features of the writing process in their native language. Therefore, we must be especially sensitive to the different writing demands which we may find in our classroom and the different strategies of supporting their writing.   In this topic, I have studied the English spelling code. code. Firstly, I have clarified the concepts of Graphetics and Graphology and I have explained the main writing systems. After that, I have examined the English-spelling code,, considering its main spelling rules. Then I have analysed the soundcode spelling correspondences in correspondences in English as well as the importance of phonological awareness skills, reading and spelling skills and skills  and I have concentrated on the teaching of the written code in English, English , suggesting several activities activities to  to do so.   In order order to develop develop this topic, topic, the following bibliography has been used: used:  BREWSTER, J. et al. (2003): The Primary English Teacher’s Guide . Penguin English.  HARMER, J. (2003): The Practice of English Language Teaching . Longman.

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LARSEN-FREEMAN, D. (2003): Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching . Oxford University Press. VARELA, R. et al. (2003): All About Teaching English . Centro de Estudios Ramón Areces. DONN BYRNE: “Teaching writing skills” Longman, London 1988. DANIEL MCLAREN AND DANIEL MADRID: “TEFL in Primary Education” Universidad de Granada, 2004

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