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The cost of English spelling
7-8 June 2008
Coventry University, UK
How much time, effort, and money is spent in schools, and in educational contexts generally, merely to cover the complexity of the current “traditional” English spelling system rather than teaching the joy of reading and writing? This conference aims to draw attention to the financial, educational and cultural costs for all levels of the English Educational system, comprising Universities, Schools, teachers and students arising from the difficulties in teaching reading and writing in the current spelling system, using recent research and comparisons related to the ease with which better structured orthographies in other languages are learned and taught. The above costs also include the often unrecognised expense (time and money) that employers and authorities incur in offering remedial courses to help otherwise vocally skilled people who have not managed to master the illogicality of English Spelling while being verbally adept in the language The event is sponsored by the Spelling Society.
Schedule
(times subject to variation)
Members who have booked a space will be able to use a display stand throughout the conference, on the theme of “The Cost of English Spelling”. Delegates will be able to view these during the refreshment breaks, and to receive a presentation by the displayer at one of the times shown in the indicative schedule below.
Saturday 7 June 2008
0900 Refreshments
1000 Welcome: Mr Jack Bovill, Chair of the Spelling Society
1015 Sessions
- 1015 Ms Masha Bell: “The most costly English spelling irregularities”
- 1100 refreshments
- 1115 Dr Stephen Bett: “The cost argument in historic appeals for spelling improvement”
1215 Cold buffet
1300 Keynote speaker: Prof John Wells, President of the Spelling Society, Emeritus Professor of Phonetics, University College London: “Why do we need pronunciation dictionaries?”
1500 Refreshments
1530 Sessions
- 1530 Mr Christopher Jolly: "Remedial teaching of reading: a trial with reformed spellings"
- 1615 breakouts & refreshments, time for members to visit displays by members
- 1700 Ms Zuzana Koterčova: “The cost of teaching English in primary schools”
- 1730 Ms Raffaela Buonocore: “Does being a Chinese speaker reduce the time of learning English spelling?”
1800 close of day's business
1900 Dinner at the Ramada hotel for the overnight delegates
Sunday 8 June 2008
0845 Transport from the Ramada for residential delegates (and checkout)
0900 Refreshments
- breakouts and personal presentations (continued)
0945 Sessions
- 0945 Dr Anatoly Liberman: “The emotional costs of learning modern English spelling”
- 1030 Refreshments
- 1100 Dr Valerie Yule, “The international costs of English spelling, and the comparative costs of improvement” 1145 Mr Tom Zurinskas: “The costs of poor reading skills”
Press Contact
For all press enquiries please contact:
Vikki Rimmer
Tel:01322 866293
Mobile: 0788 667 3412