• Introduction
• Literacy
  Origin of writing Different spelling systems Learning to read and write Models of literacy processing Opaque vs. transparent orthographic systems Literacy Learning Disorder
• Good practices
• Portraits
• Reflection and exercices
• Advice
• Further readings
• Library
• Functional Multilingual Learning

Taking all of the above into account, Ziegler and Goswami (2005) propose a theory according to which strategies for learning to read should vary according to the characteristics of the language. Thus, in very transparent languages, with high consistency in grapheme-phoneme correspondences, simple syllabic structures and limited vowel repertoires, the most appropriate strategy would be the small grain (i.e. the grapheme). However, in more opaque languages, with more irregular grapheme-phoneme correspondences, complex syllabic structures and large vowel repertoires, the most effective strategy would be the large grain, i.e. taking larger segments and teaching their correspondence at the phonetic level (e.g., syllables: “ture”: as in “creature”, “moisture”, “forniture”; rhymes: “ould” as in “would”, “should”, “could”; clusters: “aw” as in “awful”, “awesome”, “straw”; words such as “muscle” or “honour”).

INSERT: psygrain
Figure 2: Schematic representation of different psycholinguistic grain sizes. Source: Ziegler and Goswami, 2005.

In this way, and without excluding the teaching of grapheme-phoneme correspondences, children in each language should be trained to adopt the most appropriate strategies according to the characteristics of their orthographic system. The systematic teaching of these regularities could benefit the rapid and efficient learning of reading and writing.

ISNERT: decoding
Figure 3: Example of grain sizes for learning to read according to language characteristics (Spanish, very transparent and English, very opaque). Source: Adapted from Duncan et al (2013).

INsert; fig4
Figure 4: Distribution on a continuum of some European languages, from the most opaque to the most transparent, and the grain size strategy adopted by their readers. Source: Lallier and Carreiras, 2017.

GOOD PRACTICES:

• Reflect in groups on the spelling system of the dominant language in the class: is it transparent or opaque? Why? Give examples of words which do not conform to the rules of grapheme-phoneme or phoneme-grapheme conversion.
• Think also about the syllabic structure of the orthographic system of the dominant language: in general, are they complex syllables, i.e. made up of many letters? What is the longest syllable you can think of?
• Repeat these same activities with the orthographic (alphabetic) spelling system of the other languages spoken in class.