The Bopomofo Shadow Over Pinyin

 

Why China's Kids Are Shutting Down from Reading—and How to Fix It

As a dyslexia advocate who's spent over a decade battling misdiagnoses and flawed teaching methods, I've seen firsthand how "curious, intelligent kids" get labeled as broken when they're just confused. In English phonics, we add extraneous sounds like "buh" for B, turning bright minds into shutdown cases. Now, imagine that same error infiltrating Mandarin's gateway: Hanyu Pinyin. Across my recent posts, a pattern emerges—many Mainland China schools are teaching Pinyin not as the clean, syllable-based bridge it was designed to be, but corrupted by Bopomofo (Zhuyin Fuhao) initial sounds from Taiwan. This isn't just a phonetic hiccup; it's a literacy crisis misdiagnosed as dyslexia, affecting millions and stifling China's next generation of innovators.

The Core Problem: Extraneous Sounds That Don't Add Up

Why Educators Like Dr. Sam Bommarito Hesitate to Embrace Grassroots Innovations: A Centrist’s Polite Pivot

In 2021, I had a cordial Zoom call with Dr. Sam Bommarito—a self-described centrist who believes teachers matter more than programs. I shared my methods for reigniting reading in “shut-down” kids—those labeled dyslexic or unreachable—using sound-pure techniques that correct the muddled phonics often taught in English. He listened attentively, asked thoughtful questions, but the interview never aired. A year later, he called my work “a great gift to literacy” in an email. Still, no deeper engagement followed.

 

Evasive answers

 

I asked the same question I asked for many years on Twitter and other social media. I always get evasive answers. Read my question carefully and see if the answer below is appropriate.

This is the question I asked on LinkedIn.

But the question remains. Why don't kids who learn to read in Malay and Hanyu Pinyin effortlessly, have phonemic awareness when learning to read in English?

Emma Hartnell-Baker replied as follows:

Brain Research - Dr.Sam Bommarito

                                                      

The following are extracts from Dr. Sam Bommarito’s blog and my comments.

Dr. Sam

I also had a chance to hear Dr. George Hruby’s presentation as he talked about various issues including the issue of what we can learn from current brain research. Here’s a teaser- did you know that the pictures of the brain lighting up aren’t direct pictures? Those images are computer-generated and based on the data being collected. So, this picture of the brain lighting up is not an actual picture that was taken directly. It is a computer-generated statistical chart. It is only as valid as the application of the data being collected and the interpretation of that data.

He also pointed out the major limits and limitations of current research about the brain. “50% of all studies in cognitive neuroscience are reporting false positives.” My take: a lot of the brain research being used as a basis for new legislation around literacy falls into the “not ready for prime time” category.

Research on why kids can read in transparent languages but not in English

                                                     

Let us continue with the tweets by Dr. Sam and my replies on 8.10.23.

Dr. Sam:

You are at the starting stage of research. You need carefully designed research around this issue.  You have promising practices. But at the end of the day yes we need peer-reviewed research for ideas to become widely accepted.

I am not sure if I am at the starting stage of research. As far as I am concerned, I have finished my research. We'll leave this for another day. Anyway, here is my reply.

Luqman Michel @luqmanmichel

Beginning stage of research? Perhaps you are right. I gave up employment in 2004 to learn why kids could not read in English but could read in Malay. I taught > 80 'dyslexic' kids and read incessantly any article on dyslexia. There is hardly anything new on dyslexia to read.

When is anyone going to teach kids Malay or Hanyu Pinyin and at the same time teach them English to research why they can read in 2 languages but not the third?

When is anyone going to do research on why kids disengage from learning to read?

Educational Intervention

 

Here is a tweet I read this morning, 7.9.2023 and my reply.

Brad @BradleyKBusch

Dear lovely Twitter people, can you help?  (Yes I am talking directly to you dear reader). I am trying to create a list of education interventions that were popular, but in hindsight were built on correlational not causation studies.

Does anything come to mind?

Simple view of reading

 

Here is a tweet by Dr. Sam Bommarito that I disagree with. I have said this several times and I say it again, I have the highest respect for Dr. Sam and his blog posts but I believe he sometimes gets carried away and says things he ought not to. Here is one such tweet this morning, 30.7.2023.

Dr. Sam Bommarito @DoctorSam7

There is more to reading than just decoding (reading with your eyes). Students need to learn to read with their eyes, ears, mind and heart. That results in READING with comprehension and fluency.  Phonics first can result in creating word callers instead of readers.

One best way

Since 2010 I have written exhaustively on how to teach kids to decode. I have written the 3 reasons I have learnt from my students on how to teach decoding to ensure that no kid shuts down/ disengages from learning to decode. My book ‘Shut down kids’ explains this and is backed up with corroborative evidence from researchers. Educators who agree with me keep saying that there are other considerations including vocabulary and comprehension. But what has vocabulary and comprehension to do with decoding?

How Dyslexia Became the Child’s Fault

 

Here is a comment by Tom Berend on Educhatter I wrote about. LINK

He said the following:

The students are not “learning disabled”. There is nothing wrong with the CHILD. There was a famous but horribly flawed experiment, ‘dowel tapping’ that created the dyslexia industry. It should be as infamous as the vaccine-causes-autism fraud.

And here is a link he shared and my comments:  

Different perspectives – Part 5 – Research

 

Evidence-based practices have been gaining ground since the formal introduction of evidence-based medicine in 1992 and have spread to the allied health professions, education, and other fields.

Many educators continue asking for research reports for everything. Daniel Kahneman in his book –Thinking fast and slow - said, ‘We are far too willing to believe research findings based on inadequate evidence and prone to collect too few observations in our own research.' LINK.

Once a researcher says something everyone jumps on the bandwagon and repeats what he says without the slightest bit of thought. This is exactly what happened about 45 years ago when one researcher said that it was Phonological Awareness Deficit (PAD) that was the cause of dyslexia. More than a hundred so-called educators repeated what he had said.

I disagreed with the above theory and explained why it cannot be PAD which is the cause of dyslexia. Timothy Shanahan said that there were no research reports to support what I said.

Common sense will tell that if a kid can read in Malay and Hanyu Pinyin but not in English then the cause of that kid being unable to read in English cannot be because of phonological awareness deficit. 

Phonological Awareness Deficit is not the cause of dyslexics being unable to read fluently - A Myth Busted

                                                               

It is a fallacy to state that phonological awareness deficit is the main or even one of the causes of dyslexia as claimed by many researchers and Dyslexia Associations.

Let us clearly define what is not dyslexia.

 

Dyslexia - A Different Perspective

 

In 2004 one of my neighbours asked me to tutor his son. I said that I have not given tuition to any child and asked him to look for a proper tuition teacher. He replied that since my children have done exceptionally well in school I should be able to help his son. After much persuasion, I agreed to try. After three lessons which were nerve racking he told me that his son was dyslexic. His son John (not his real name) had just completed a year in a public primary school and was going to be transferred to a private school in Kota Kinabalu and would be placed in primary one as he could hardly read. I had not heard the word dyslexic and checked the internet to learn about dyslexia. Having checked a few sites I took it up as a challenge to teach John. By this time I had taken a liking to John as he was a jovial child.