Month: February 2016

regular and irregular spelling

The ill-conceived idea of ‘regular’ and ‘irregular’ spelling

John1 Comment

What do people mean when they talk about ‘regular’ and ‘irregular’ spellings? ‘Regular’, as the dictionary definition suggests, means ‘arranged in or constituting a constant or definite pattern, … well ordered, well structured, perpetual, constant…’ The problem is that there is only one constant in the spelling system in English and it isn’t the spellings! It… Continue reading The ill-conceived idea of ‘regular’ and ‘irregular’ spelling

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Letter names or sounds?

John1 Comment

This post has been written as a quick response to a debate on Twitter about whether teachers should be teaching letter names or sounds or both to young children just embarking on learning to read and spell.   Until young children (Reception/Y1) are secure with sounds – i.e. they understand that letters are representations of… Continue reading Letter names or sounds?