Those who learn to read and write English meet a special problem because the written form of English presents two types of ambiguities.
- the same sound may be represented by a number of different signs (letters or groups of letters). For example:
Did the sleuth discover whose gruesome lieutenant threw two shoes, a suit, a flute and some soup through the zookeeper's window?
the same sign (letter, or group of letters) may stand for number of different sounds, as does a, for example in the sentence:
All was dark as many hares raced around the village swamp.
Neither rote memorization, nor learning the "rules" is sufficient to meet these complexities.
Click the link below to see a 3-minute video about the challenges of reading. (Opens in a new window.) |
Why is learning to read a challenge? |
