Pronouncing Orthography

In 1864, Pronouncing Orthography was released as a simplified version of traditional English orthography to help children learn to read more quickly and easily; it became widely adopted by the United States public school system and incorporated into most basal reading schemes of the time. It aimed to improve literacy education by eliminating the irregularities of conventional English orthography and adhering to the alphabetic principle, wherein every letter represented a specific sound. This allowed children to read words by combining elementary sounds using phonics.
William Torrey Harris promoted Pronouncing Orthography after its invention by Dr Edwin Leigh who was inspired by another orthography called Phonotypy. This method resulted in children learning to read approximately 12 months faster than with traditional English orthography.
Children who used this method became self-reliant, diligent, and happy learners. When they transitioned back to traditional English orthography, they were better at spelling and became logical and analytical thinkers instead of relying on learning by rote. Teachers who used the method preferred it over conventional teaching.

Etymology

Although Pronouncing Orthography was the formal name of the new orthography, publishers and educationists recognised that many people did not know what an orthography was; consequently, it was known by many different names, including: – Leigh Print, ''Leigh's Phonetic Type, Leigh's Phonetic Method, Leigh's Pronouncing Edition of... after Dr Edwin Leigh, who devised the new orthography. It was also sometimes known as Phonetic Orthography.''

Purpose

Pronouncing Orthography was used to teach literacy; children were taught to read and write in a phonemic orthography and then transitioned to conventional English orthography. The concept originated when a predecessor, orthography, English Phonotypic Alphabet aka Phonotypy, was trialled to teach literacy and promote orthographic reform. Surprisingly, the newly literate transitioned effortlessly to conventional English, so the pedagogical theory developed that the best way to teach literacy was through an interim phonemic orthography. To this purpose, many orthographies have been developed and trialled, but only three have been widely adopted by public school systems, and these are: – Phonotypy, Pronouncing Orthography and the Initial Teaching Alphabet.

Background

Causes of poor literacy

The idea that the phonemic irregularity of the English language was a major cause of the poor levels of literacy in the English-speaking world had been well established in the mid-19th century by works such as Alexander John Ellis's treatise Plea for Phonetic Spelling, or the Necessity of Orthographic Reform, in 1848. Dr Edwin Leigh himself published a report quantifying the levels of illiteracy in the United States, which he used to advocate for his Pronouncing Orthography.

Precedent

Dr Edwin Leigh enthusiastically adopted Phonotypy as soon as it was published, so in 1846, he taught his daughter to read using Phonotypy; then, in 1849, he taught a class of fugitive slaves in Boston, which led him to set up the Boston phonetic school in 1850 which he used as a springboard to introduce phonetic teaching into the schools of Somerville, Massachusetts. In 1859, he used Phonotypy in evening classes to teach illiterate adults in St Louis, Missouri, where he tried unsuccessfully to introduce Phonotypy into the public school system.

Successor

Leigh was convinced of the efficacy of Phonotypy as a tool to teach literacy but realised that parents, teachers and school district officials were sceptical as they could not read the writing used by their children. Leigh was aware that Phonotypy had been designed for a multiplicity of purposes, but it was never designed to be a transitory mechanism towards literacy. Leigh reasoned that a much simpler interim teaching orthography was needed to improve literacy, which closely resembled standard English orthography for acceptance. Consequently, Leigh spent 20 years designing and refining his own interim teaching orthography.

Introduction

Leigh published his design of Pronouncing Orthography in a pamphlet in 1864, which he then promoted in learned education journals and through touring lectures. Leigh trialled the orthography in a school within his own school district of St Louis in 1866 and published the successful results. Gradually, publishers of the popular basal reading schemes released versions of their reading books in Pronouncing Orthography in tandem with school districts adopting the method, who in return vouched for its success in their annual reports.

Teaching materials

Basal reading schemes

Reading was taught in the United States of America during the mid-19th century using popular basal reading schemes consisting of primers & readers. The majority of which were re-published in Leigh's Pronouncing Orthography, and are listed below:

Author	Co-Author	Editor	Title	Year	View	Cite
G.S. Hillard	-	E. Leigh	Hillard's Primer. Edited in Pronouncing Orthography.	1866	Link
G.S. Hillard	L.J. Campbell	E. Leigh	Leigh's Hillard's Second Reader, in Pronouncing Orthography	1868	-
G.S. Hillard	L.J. Campbell	E. Leigh	Franklin Primer or First Reader – Leigh's Pronouncing Edition	1873	Link
G.S. Hillard	L.J. Campbell	E. Leigh	Franklin Second Reader – Leigh's Pronouncing Edition	1873	Link
-	-	E. Leigh	The Graded First Reader. Edited in Pronouncing Orthography.	1874
-	-	E. Leigh	The Graded Second Reader. Edited in pronouncing orthography.	1875
J.R. Edwards	-	E. Leigh	Analytical First Reader. Edited in Pronouncing Orthography.	1864	-
F.A. March	-	E. Leigh	March's A-B-C book	1881	-
W.H. McGuffey	-	E. Leigh	Leigh's McGuffey's New Primary Reader in Pronouncing Orthography	1864	-
W.H. McGuffey	-	E. Leigh	Leigh's McGuffey's New Eclectic Primer in Pronouncing Orthography.	1868	-
L.B. Monroe	-	E. Leigh	The First Reader. Edited in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh.	1864
Y. Sargent	-	E. Leigh	Sargent's Standard Primer. Edited in Pronouncing Orthography.	1866	-
C.W. Sanders	-	E. Leigh	Leigh's Sanders' Union Pictorial Primer, in Pronouncing Orthography	1868	-
C.W. Sanders	-	E. Leigh	Leigh's Sanders' Union Reader, Number one, for Primary Schools and Families	1868	-
J.M. Watson	-	E. Leigh	Leigh's Watson's National School Primer in Pronouncing Orthography.	1867	-
J.M. Watson	-	E. Leigh	Independent 1st–6th Reader. Edited in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh.	1867	-

PDFs

Bible

In the mid-19th century, the bible was extensively read by children in schools; as such, Leigh translated two gospels into Pronouncing Orthography: –

The Gospel According to Luke, reprinted in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh; – Link
The Gospel According to John, reprinted in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh; – Link
Teaching methods

Leigh simply converted existing basal reading schemes to Pronouncing Orthography for expediency. The existing basal schemes were orientated towards various methods, including the phonetic and word methods or combinations of the two. Hence, he was agnostic about how teachers taught literacy as he presumed the benefits of phonetic understanding would be secured by simply using his orthography regardless of how it was taught.
Conversely, the principal advocates of Pronouncing Orthography, superintendents William Torrey Harris of St Louis and John Philbrick of Boston, were both adamant proponents of the phonetic method; they merely considered Pronouncing Orthography as a useful tool in support of phonetic teaching. Other school districts such as New York, followed Leigh's guidance and allowed Pronouncing Orthography to be taught with different methods, but even here, by 1872–73, it was concluded by assistant superintendent Calkins that the phonetic method was superior.

Advantages

Over the period of its usage, Pronouncing Orthography was assessed in education journals, and in reports of the American public school system, where the following advantages were documented: –

Children learnt to read at least six to twelve months faster.
Children were better spellers after transitioning to conventional English orthography
Children were happier as they gained independence from teachers and became self-reliant
Children spoke with clear articulation and more eloquently after using Pronouncing Orthography
Teachers who had tried Pronouncing Orthography preferred it to conventional orthography.
Most importantly of all, children learnt to think logically. William Torey Harris described this further: –

It is desirable that the child who is just commencing his education should have something consistent and logical, methodical and philosophical to employ his mind upon rather than something without either analogy or system for these first impressions have the power to change and fix the whole bent of the mind...

The 1878 Boston headmaster survey demonstrated that as schools gained experience of using Pronouncing Orthography so they became in-favour of its use.

Headmaster Survey of 1878	In-Favour	Undecided	Opposed
> 5 Years Experience of Pronouncing Orthography	15	0	0
< 2 Years Experience of Pronouncing Orthography	1	3	1