Nursery World - 'English takes longer for children to learn'

English-speaking children may be at a disadvantage when it comes to learning to read compared with their European counterparts because of thecomplex nature ofthe Englishlanguage, delegates at the BA Festival of Science conference at the University of Glasgow were told this week. In his lecture on how children learn to read, Professor Philip Seymour of the University of Dundee said English had a complex spelling and syllable structure, making it 'a particularly difficult' language to grasp. Researchers at the university investigated the literacy skills of primary schoolchildren in Scotland and 14 other European countries from 1995 and 1999 and found the time needed for children to establish the basic elements of literacy differed widely between the languages but was 'especially extended' in English.

In his lecture on how children learn to read, Professor Philip Seymour of the University of Dundee said English had a complex spelling and syllable structure, making it 'a particularly difficult' language to grasp. Researchers at the university investigated the literacy skills of primary schoolchildren in Scotland and 14 other European countries from 1995 and 1999 and found the time needed for children to establish the basic elements of literacy differed widely between the languages but was 'especially extended' in English.

Professor Seymour said, 'Mastery of the basic foundation elements of literacy clearly occurs much more slowly in English than in other European languages. The slow rate of progress in English may be related to some degree to educational factors such as age of starting school or teaching methods. However, it seems the real cause is linguistic and derives from difficulties created by the complex syllable structure and inconsistent spelling system in English.'

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