Episode Details

Why doesn’t sounding out a word always tell us how to spell it? Bruce Howlett welcomes speech-language pathologist and literacy specialist Anya Maloney to explore common misconceptions about the alphabetic principle and how English spelling works. Anya explains how borrowing, pronunciation changes, and other historical influences shaped a system that represents pronunciation, meaning, and word history. Through examples of unexpected spellings and expansive word families, she shows how etymology can help students understand spelling, connect related words, and deepen their vocabulary. The conversation offers educators a fuller picture of English spelling and accessible ways to bring word history into literacy instruction.

Anya’s website: https://languagelearninglink.com/

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