English language too hard?

[upinwath]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7880189/English-spelling-too-difficult-for-children.html

The complexity of the English spelling system is to blame for soaring levels of illiteracy among teenagers, according to a researcher.

 

In my opinion that horse poo. I know 11 year old kids from Indonesian villages that speak, read and write in English.

If English kids can't it has to be down to useless teachers or a crap education system.

 

Opinion?

[HeadingNorth]

The spelling of English words is ridiculously complex; that alone can't explain why so many British children struggle to learn it, as you amply point out.

 

English has one of the simplest of all grammar structures, which compensates a lot for the ridiculous spelling complexities.

[Chris_Sleeps]

What do you think of this?

 

But in Finland – where words are more likely to be pronounced as they look – children can read fluently within three months.

 

It sounds like she is advocating a spelling reform, rather than excusing poor education.

[rfs-001]

................Mmmm

[Chris_Sleeps]

English has one of the simplest of all grammar structures

I wouldn't say the grammar alone was simple. Our verb conjugations are so simple that no native speaker really thinks about it, and the use of the progressive tense (I'm __ing) makes this even simpler, but the overall grammar is quite complex really.

 

I think most grammar is complex unless the language is constructed (like Esperanto) because the rules build up and evolve over time on top of each other. It's hard to make something organic run smoothly.

[Tipex]

................Mmmm

 

Ban this user! he's used the same post on other threads now:loopy:

[upinwath]

What do you think of this?

 

But in Finland – where words are more likely to be pronounced as they look – children can read fluently within three months.

 

It sounds like she is advocating a spelling reform, rather than excusing poor education.

 

I can't agree. I think it's down to the education system at some point in the chain.

I was invited to a local school to do a talk to the new intake of 12 year old kids last week. They could all speak English to a better than reasonable level and a quick written test produced excellent results.

I suggest if these non-native speakers can do it, there is a serious problem in British education.

[JFKvsNixon]

I can't agree. I think it's down to the education system at some point in the chain.

I was invited to a local school to do a talk to the new intake of 12 year old kids last week. They could all speak English to a better than reasonable level and a quick written test produced excellent results.

I suggest if these non-native speakers can do it, there is a serious problem in British education.

 

Do you think that regional accents hinder people in this country though? It's like children have to learn two different forms of English, the English that is spoken with their friends and family, and formal English. The problem occurs when children spend most of their time using using their regional accent so they struggle with the formal version.

[Chris_Sleeps]

They could all speak English to a better than reasonable level and a quick written test produced excellent results.

It's complex with language learning. I don't doubt your story, a lot of children are wonderfully proficient in learning languages but (for the sake of argument) i don't think the rule would apply to all children around you. (Forgive me, i forget which country it is.) The cleverest pupils in any school with a good teacher would make a class of kids reasonable in a short time. For some it would take longer, and the rest would have a point saying "English is too hard". (Except they wouldn't say it in English, obviously).

 

Our language is erratic, especially with spelling construction. It is for this reason my computer history is full of wiktionary. How many "r"'s in erratic? How many "f"'s in proficient? I've lived here all my life and i still have to check my spelling. Despite this I am anti-spelling reform, i like eccentricity in the world.

[chimay]

When I went to school bad spelling, grammer etc was highlighted across the curriculum but when my kids were at school only the English teacher highlighted bad English. All the teachers for other subjects ignored bad English. This was especially confusing for my eldest lad who is slightly dyslexic.