Orthographic Codes in English: Sound-Spelling Links

Posted on Jan 29, 2025 in Other civil servant exams

Unit 10: Orthographic Codes in the English Language: Sound-Spelling Correspondences

This essay aims to study the writing system in the English language. For this purpose, the topic will be divided into five parts. The first part will deal with the alphabetical writing system in the English language. The second part will consider English spelling from a diachronic and synchronic point of view. Next, I will introduce the sound-spelling correspondences of the English language. Then, I will point out the teaching of writing and visual skills. The last part of the topic will study the importance of spelling in writing activities at word and sentence levels. Finally, I will compile the main conclusions and the bibliography used to develop this topic.

Legal Framework

As far as foreign language learning is concerned, the legal framework is the Organic Law 2/2006 of Education, 3rd May, modified by the Organic Law for the Improvement in Educational Quality, 8/2013, 9th December. One of the most relevant aspects of the Organic Law for the Improvement in Educational Quality is related to the Order ECD/65/2015, 21st of January, which establishes the relation among the key competences, contents, and evaluation criteria in Primary Education. On the other hand, the Royal Decree 126/2014, 28th of February, establishes the Minimum Teaching Requirement for Primary Education, and it states in article 7 “to acquire basic communicative competence in at least one foreign language to enable expression and comprehension of simple messages and survive in everyday situations”. In addition, the Order EDU/519/2014, 17th of June, modified by the Order EDU 278/2016, 8th of April, establishes the minimum contents for Primary Education in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León.

1. Types of Writing Systems

Bearing in mind all these legal references, I will start by mentioning that there are several types of writing systems. The writing system of a language can be studied from two points of view: graphetics and graphology.

Graphetics is the study of the physical properties of the symbols that constitute the writing system.
Graphology is the study of the linguistic contrasts that writing systems convey.

Graphemes are the smallest units in a writing system capable of causing a contrast in meaning. We can classify writing systems according to the relationship between the symbols and sounds of the language. There are two basic classifications: non-phonological and phonological systems.

1.1. Non-Phonological Systems

In non-phonological systems, graphemes are recognizable pictures in the world. They are pictographic systems and constitute the earliest system of writing. Road signs are an example of modern pictographic symbols.

1.2. Phonological Systems

There are few phonological systems.

A) Syllabic: In a system of syllabic writing, each grapheme corresponds to a spoken syllable made up of a consonant and a vowel.

B) Alphabetic: In alphabetic writing, there is a direct correspondence between graphemes and phonemes. The main graphemes in English are the 26 units that make up the alphabet. Spanish has a very regular system, but English is notorious for its irregularity. The lack of correspondence between graphemes and phonemes is reflected in the number of “spelling rules” that children have to learn.

2. The English Spelling Code

Now, let’s move into the English spelling code. The learning of the written language implies the acquisition of two skills: reading and writing. Reading involves the decoding or interpretation of “graphic symbols” (the letters), whereas writing involves the encoding of those graphic symbols.

2.1. Why is Spelling so Difficult?

Partly because spelling is a productive skill that requires good visual memory and awareness of linguistic structure. To be a good speller, two skills are required: phonological strategies and visual strategies. We must introduce spelling, then, after oral language, that is, after learners have acquired the phonological stage.

2.2. How Irregular is English Spelling?

English has a non-phonological system; there is not always a clear relationship between graphemes and phonemes. The reasons for this lie in the complexity of the English language and its origins. Anglo-Saxon had no real alphabet, so there was an attempt to represent old English sounds with the Latin Alphabet. Nowadays, apart from one or two exceptions, there is a single orthographic standard of English. Slight differences are noticeable in American English, with words like “centre” spelled with “er” or “colour” spelled with “or”. Generally speaking, however, this does not cause too many problems for language learners.

2.3. Spelling Rules

Capital letters are used in:

Days of the week, months, and holidays.
Proper names and place names.
Nationalities.
Titles of books, films, and magazines.

Doubling of final consonants happens when there is a consonant after a vowel and the stress falls on the last syllable. Upset/upsetting.

Plural formation: In the vast majority of nouns, the plural is formed by adding –s to the singular: cat/cats.

Irregular plurals: man/men, child/children.

Adverb formation: An adjective usually changes into an adverb by adding –ly: nice/nicely.

Endings in –ise: In British English, most words ending in –ise can also be spelled with “z” like in “realise”.

3. Sound-Spelling Correspondences

Once I have explained the spelling of the English code, I will continue with the sound-spelling correspondences. In this section, we’ll look at the main correspondences between the sound of vowels, consonants, and morphemes and their spelling.

3.1. Vowel Graphemes

If we just look at one vowel grapheme like the letter “a”, we could find all sorts of pronunciation possibilities, ranging from /æ/ in “fat”, /ɑː/ in “car” or /eɪ/ in “China”. There is generally some sort of main pattern, but with so many pronunciation possibilities, it is a difficult task for teachers and students alike to make any sense of what seems very often to be a completely unintelligible writing system.

3.2. Consonant Graphemes

Looking at the typical consonant grapheme, the letter “c”, we can see similar problems. Words like “call”, “cot” or “cup” are pronounced with a velar plosive consonant /k/, but “cell” or “cinema” are pronounced with the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/. When combined with the letter “h” as in cheap, the pronunciation could be with the affricate consonant /tʃ/, although “character” is pronounced with /k/. Words like “chef” or “machine”, however, are pronounced with the voiceless fricative /ʃ/. Some patterns are predictable, like the spelling and pronunciation of –ed forms for past tenses and participles. This could be /d/ after voiced consonants and vowels, as in “loved” or “played”. /t/ after voiceless consonants, as in “jumped”, and /ɪd/ after verbs ending in “t” or “d”, as in “wanted” or “needed”.

As far as combinations of letters are concerned, it is important to highlight that English does admit many consonants which can be doubled, something which hardly occurs in Spanish. Examples could be “s” in “missing”, double “d” in “ladder”, double “o” in “food”, double “t” in “bottle”, double “g” in “bigger”, double “p” in “approach” or double “f” in “off”.

Likewise, there are many examples of consonant clusters in English: we can see three in words like “strength” or “quickly”, or four in a word like “demonstrate”. The pronunciation of letters can depend on where they are found in a word: initial letter “s” is pronounced with a voiceless sound, but if it occurs in medial position we can find examples like “chase”, with a voiceless sound, and “phase” which has a voiced consonant.

3.3. Silent Letters

Let’s continue with silent letters. These letters do not represent any sound at all.

B: comb, doubt
C: muscle
D: sandwich, Wednesday
G: foreign, gnome
H: honest, honour
K: knee, know
L: chalk, talk, could
N: autumn
P: cupboard, receipt
R: fork
S: island
T: castle
W: answer

4. Proposals for the Didactics of the Writing Code

It is very important to propose the didactics of the writing code. Written skills should be introduced after oral skills. This should be done in a guided way; students need intensive spelling practice. The process for teaching spelling follows these steps.

4.1. Word-Recognition Activities

First, word-recognition activities. In this stage, the students notice the word shape and the number of letters in the word so they can make a mental picture of it. Some activities could be:

Read and match the picture with the word.
Word-square.
Joining up dots to form words.
Putting the letters of a word in order.
Games (bingo, hangman, odd man out).
Look and guess.
Listen and guess.
Spelling dictations.

4.2. Practice Activities

Second, practice activities must be provided to the students. Later on, pupils will think about the spelling of the words by themselves:

Crosswords.
Labeling items.
Making lists of vocabulary sets.
Classifying items.
Completing texts.
Dictations.
Punctuating texts.
Correcting mistakes in written sentences.

4.3. Spelling Strategies

Last but not least, the teacher must provide the students with strategies to check their spelling:

Using dictionaries.
Making personal dictionaries.
Classifying words according to the similarities in their spellings.
Class posters.

Furthermore, we can use new technologies not only to check the spelling or the pronunciation with online dictionaries but also as an essential tool to practice real language in activities like reproducing chants.

5. Writing Activities at Word and Sentence Levels

Once the students are familiar with spelling at word and sentence level, the teacher must help them to write texts as purposeful and as contextualized as possible. The students must be provided with a variety of writing activities that range from controlled practice to freer practice, with different purposes in mind. Keeping in mind the students’ age and interests, we could make the following classification:

A. Writing for oneself: doing lists, addresses, diaries, recipes, notes.

B. Writing for maintaining social relationships: with seasonal greetings, instructions, letters.

C. Writing for entertainment: songs, jokes or games.

5.1. How to Correct Written Work

But, how to correct the written work? First of all, we have to understand the difference between mistakes and errors.

Mistakes are slips of some kind: the students have temporarily forgotten something.
Students make errors when they do something that they aren’t yet capable of doing. Errors of this kind must be seen as positive evidence of the learning process.

The teacher’s positive attitude to errors is of crucial importance for the learner. The teacher must be prepared for errors and do something about them. He/she must help their students to sort things out for themselves.

A. Correcting written work can be done both by the teacher and the student. Donn Byrne examines various procedures for correcting written work: correcting all mistakes, correcting mistakes selectively, and indicating mistakes so that the students correct them.

B. The teacher can use several remedial techniques to minimize the possibility of further errors: explaining the mistake and then, set written exercises to practice the problematic linguistic forms.

6. Conclusion

As a conclusion, I would like to say that the development of writing skills starts at the spelling level. But spelling in English is a particularly difficult area to learn because of the difference between the oral and written forms. Therefore, the foreign language teacher must provide the learner with intensive and systematic practice so they can learn how to write English words properly. Writing words properly is one of the aims of our current Educational System: the students, amongst other subcompetences, should know how to use the linguistic code correctly (grammatical competence) in order to develop communicative competence, which is the aim of the current educational law.

Bibliography

COUNCIL OF EUROPE. (2003). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
EMMER, E.T. & GERWELS, M.C. (2002). Cooperative Learning in elementary classrooms: Teaching practices and lesson characteristics. The Elementary School Journal.
GARDNER, H. (2001): Reformulated Intelligence. Multiple Intelligences in XXI Century. Buenos Aires: Paidós.
HARMER, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman, 2008 (4th ed.)
NUNAN, D. (2010): Language Teaching Methodology. University Press.