Truespel Book One

Make no mistake about it.  Truespel Book One is a must-read for those wishing for a better understanding of the sound-spelling relationships of USA English.  There are data here present nowhere else.  This book shows that truespel is a mature spelling system, double-checked, configuration controlled, ready for prime time, and it’s free.  Any teacher or student can access the web converter to see how USA English is pronounced.

The author states that truespel is in fact the world’s first USA English "pronunciation guide spelling system."  As such it consistently uses one spelling per sound for each of the 40 USA English sounds (phonemes).  Truespel also indicates the stressed syllable in a word, as pronunciation guides should do.  It’s big advantage, because it uses no special symbols, is being keyboard enterable.  This creates the possibility of keying into a computer the sounded-out version of words to return traditional spelling, a major enhancement. 

The author states that another great advantage of truespel is the integration of three reading areas: 1. pronunciation guides, 2. initial phonetic teaching (synthetic spelling for learners prior to traditional spelling), and 3. standardized intermediary spelling between languages (translations guides).  This has never been done before, but, as Truespel Book One shows, other languages can be spelled by truespel.  In fact the data show that 95% of the phonemes of 13 other languages are common to USA English.  The author draws a graph of the results showing another first, a “leengwuprint” of these data and how the frequencies of sounds of various languages differ.  The author hopes to replace present dictionary phonetic guides (which use special symbols) with truespel.  Truespel is actually more accurate for USA English than these generic guides.  This also would supplement the use of truespel as a teaching aid for learners, creating a link between present pronunciation guides and initial synthetic spelling - a total system approach that does not exist now.  This is necessary, the author states, for three reason:

First, English spelling is a problem.  It has been found that English “causes” twice as much dyslexia as languages with more consistent spelling, such as Italian, according to a major international study by Paulescu 2001. 

Second, “phonemic awareness” is the best predictor of reading success (Stanovich, 1993-94).  Preschool phonemic awareness is a better measure even than IQ, vocabulary, or listening comprehension for predicting reading success.  From this it follows that the teaching of phonemic awareness using truespel would be a good early reading tool greatly enabled by its simplicity and link to pronunciation guides.

Third, using simplified (synthetic) phonetic schemes for initial instruction does help teach reading with demonstrated success.  Jane M. Flynn shows that a phonetic scheme (sometimes called synthetic phonics) is better even than phonics using regular words.   A synthetic spelling system in Scotland found the same results after a recent 5-year follow-up study (2003) for 264 children of average ability.  Boys (which usually lag behind girls in reading) were especially helped.  This synthetic system introduced in 3rd grade aided traditional reading and writing in later grades.

It is now the position on the USA government, as a result of the National Reading Panel study, that teaching phonetics is of ultimate importance for learners (see "Teaching Children to Read" (April 2000).  The author agrees and offers truespel with the promise of its new capabilities as the way to go.  New methods are needed.  Recently 87% of the children in his state were tested BELOW standard for reading by national No Children Left Behind testing.  The author says, something needs to be done.