English is a difficult writing system for children to learn: Evidence from children learning to read in Wales

A number of studies have shown that the word recognition skills of children learning to read English develop much more slowly during the first years of formal reading instruction than in other countries that use alphabetic writing systems. This chapter discusses the results of a research programme that investigated the word recognition skills of children living in Wales in order to understand this discrepancy more fully. Even though the children were matched for age, teaching methods, and the syllabic structure of their native language, children learning to read Welsh (a transparent orthography) progressed much more quickly than children learning to read English (an opaque orthography). There was also evidence of an underachieving tail of English readers that did not exist in children learning to read Welsh. These findings indicate that English is a particularly difficult writing system for children to learn. Consequently more extensive phonics training of letter-sound relationships together with training at larger grain sizes (Ziegler & Goswami 2005) may be required if all English children are to develop adequate literacy skills.