The Daily Square – Los Angeles Edition

June 19th, 2008 · 1 Comment
by Kassia Krozser

Today’s links of interest:

File Under: The Daily Square

1 response so far ↓

  • Steve // Jun 23, 2008 at 4:40 pm

    “The cost of teaching English spelling is enormous” compared to the cost of teaching any other alphabetic written langauge. Dr. Frank Laubach said his teachers could teach an illiterates in 300 languages to read a newspaper written in the language they speak in 3 months. This was possible because 95% of the written languages in the world are spelled the way they are spoken.

    In one study, 50% of graduating high school seniors could not read a newspaper article with understanding. While a dictionary key can be taught in 3 months, the unruly traditional writing system which dates from around 1755 takes three years to get half of the students to a 3rd grade reading level. Eventually 60% of the population learns to read and write English as a system of word-signs as if it were a logography. If you goal is accelerate literacy at a reasonable cost, you have to consider upgrading the writing system by removing some of the ambiguities and irregularities.