– Extraneous Sounds That Cause Shutdown
For decades, the “reading wars” have pitted Whole Language against phonics. Yet despite the swings in fashion, reading failure rates have remained stubbornly similar across eras: 20–30% of children still struggle significantly.
Why? Because both approaches often share a critical flaw: teaching stop consonants with an added schwa sound (/uh/).
Peter’s thread paints English spelling as chaotic — with “200,000 phono-illogical errors” supposedly blocking children from learning to read. But how many of those words does a Grade 1 child actually face?
The Reality in Grade 1
By the end of Grade 1, most children read simple books containing just 300–500 unique words. These are mostly high-frequency and basic decodable words like:
Why English Spelling Isn’t the Main Villain in Reading Struggles
Recently, Peter (@PeterDMayr) shared a passionate X thread arguing that English’s irregular and unpredictable spelling is the primary reason so many children struggle with reading. He highlighted the landmark 2003 study by Philip Seymour and colleagues, which found that children learning consistent orthographies (such as Finnish or Italian) often achieve near-perfect decoding by the end of Grade 1, while English-speaking children typically trail two to three years behind. Peter contends that this orthographic complexity inflates dyslexia diagnoses, widens inequality, and imposes heavy societal costs—a perspective echoed by many spelling-reform advocates. It’s an argument that’s easy to sympathize with.
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Preface (2025)
This article revisits a debate I first engaged with in 2021, when Jeffrey Bowers claimed that “no one” had addressed the lack of improvement in England’s reading outcomes after more than a decade of mandated phonics. At the time, I challenged that assertion directly, pointing out that the real issue was not phonics itself but the way letter sounds were being taught.
Four years later, the same misunderstanding persists. By presenting this updated reflection alongside my original 2021 post, readers can see the continuity of my argument and recognize that the “elephant in the room” has been addressed for years — yet still ignored by those who prefer debate over solutions.
📌 Revisiting the “Elephant in the Room” Debate (2025)
Back in September 2021, Jeffrey Bowers tweeted:
200,000 Defects or 26 Letters? A Twitter Debate on Literacy Reform
Setting the Stage
On March 11, 2024, a Twitter thread reignited a familiar argument:
“Kids are not dumb; the spelling system is. Research shows it delays learning to read by 2.5 years (Seymour, 2003).”
The claim: English orthography is riddled with “200,000 phono‑illogical errors” and only spelling reform can fix it.
Wrong Sounds, Not Spelling, Confuse Kids
Here is my response to a Tweet by one PeterDMayr on 23.12.2025 @PeterDMayr
I am sick and tired of countless people like Peter who speak as if they are experts in this field.
Hannah Ward 👩🏻🏫 Mom (x3) | Learning Designer @HannahWardEdu
On Dec 21 Hannah tweeted the following:
I've experienced this as a rule: rich kids abroad who are learning English as a second language read, write, and speak FAR better than native English-speaking kids in the USA because they're taught using phonics, direct instruction, and classic read alouds. It's embarrassing.
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Lipstick on the Pig — Recycling Narratives While Illiteracy Persists
Opening Challenge
For decades, literacy rates have stagnated. Every few years, a new theory is paraded as the solution. Yet children continue to leave school as functional illiterates. The question is unavoidable: Is anyone truly interested in reducing illiteracy, or only in preserving their narratives?
The answer matters, because every recycled theory cost children their chance at literacy. Each decade of avoidance is another generation lost.
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While institutions resist reform and avoid clarity, individual voices tell a different story. Parents, teachers, and relatives who have used Teach Your Child to Read show what happens when confusion is replaced with structure: children regain confidence, families find solutions, and progress becomes visible.
Alanna Maurin (Australia)
Alanna Maurin is an accomplished teacher in Australia, a mother of four boys, and a master’s student in Reading and Literacy. In late 2020, she reached out about her youngest son, Louis, who was confused, emotional, and resistant to reading.
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Chinese Podcast - jì de 记得 or jì dé
Lately, instead of scrolling aimlessly on Facebook I decided to improve my Mandarin. I found one excellent podcast that I am now fond of listening to.
Unfortunately like many other websites this site also pronounced many words ending with ‘de’ in the second tone instead of neutral tone.
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When I tweeted about foundational contamination in reading instruction, Geraldine Carter of the Reading Reform Foundation (RRF) replied that there are “thousands of requests” and suggested I write my own programme. My book, Teach Your Child to Read, is designed as a practical tool for parents and educators — a way to bypass institutional inertia and give children the foundations they deserve. Where avoidance stalls progress, this resource offers clarity, structure, and empowerment.
I read this Substack article from the Scottish Union for Education this morning:
It highlights falling standards but dodges the hard truths. Here's why it's yet another evasion from those who refuse to face the real problems.
Extract:
This is despite the fact that Scottish standards in reading, math and science have been falling, according to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
In Part 2, I explained that clarity in instruction—the correct sounds of letters, taught step by step—is the Grail. It prevents confusion and keeps children from shutting down. But even with clarity, some children still struggle. Why?
Because the human mind is like the human egg. Once an idea has entered, it is difficult for a new one to penetrate. This is especially true for curious, intelligent children. They absorb early input eagerly, and when that input is wrong, it embeds itself deeply. Later correction often bounces off. These are the very children who shut down—not because they lack ability, but because their early learning was contaminated.
In Part 1, I wrote that people aren’t struggling because they don’t care. They’re struggling because no one aligned the path for them. That’s true in education too—especially in literacy.
For over a decade, I’ve pointed to what I believe is the “Holy Grail” of literacy reform: the actual cause of why so many children leave school as functional illiterates. It’s not hidden. It’s not complicated. It’s not a mystery.
This post is influenced by a reflection I read on LinkedIn:
People aren’t struggling because they don’t care. They are struggling because they don’t know what actually matters today.
