Theoretical Basis of the ANJeL Tun

Phonetization
Elementalization
Regularization

Teaching Principles

Status and Completion Requirements of the ACCESS System

ANJeL Tun is based upon three theoretical principles, phonetization, elementalization, and regularization. These technical names are the designation of the author and came from the analysis and study of the theories of a number of experts.

Phonetization

Phonetization is the Simplified Spelling portion of the ACCESS System. There have been many attempts to develop an acceptable phonetical orthography for English. Historically, English was phonetic but because of the use of dictionaries as the authority for spelling the spelling did not change as the pronunciation did. Two of the best known present phonetic systems for English are WES (World English Spelling) and ITA (Intermediate Teaching Alphabet). Because the ACCESS system is tied to the character set encoded in new television sets under the law of the U.S. Congress we must use only the Roman Characters presented there. This, however, has the additional advantage of permitting materials to be developed anywhere there is type generating equipment that uses the standard English alphabet. The ANJeL Tun FXNeTiK builds upon the research of Dr. Rondthaler and Dr. Lias and a host of scholars that preceded them. Technically, it is possibly more correct to say that the ANJeL Tun is phonemic rather than phonetic. Rather than trying to represent existing speech it phonemically designates the sounds to be associated with its character set.

Elementalization

Ogden and Richards discovered in their process of writing The Meaning of Meaning that there is much redundancy in English both as to words and syntax. Moreover, there are certain core words that are necessary to every English speaker but there are many others that are simply subject oriented. This concept was further developed by Noam Chomsky and found its implementation in what are called Basil texts for teaching English. Extensive use of computer generated word frequency lists have been made to select the actual words used.

Elementary or basic ANJeL Tun uses the Chomsky concept of the distinction between 'form' and 'function' words (the latter including what some people call 'glue' words) to determine those words which should be taught and learned first. The English language has hundreds of thousands of form words which designate both concrete (words like boat, house, hammer, nail) and abstract concepts (like boating, housing, hammering, nailing and more particularly love, truth, beauty and other 'spiritual' ideas).

English, however, has at most only a few hundred 'function' words. These are the words that glue and relate the form words together. They are words like (of, to, if, and, for) and include relational words like (above, below, next, after). The function words are necessary to any form or discussion or writing that arises above pointing and naming. If one were to examine two entirely different essays - one dealing with the activity in a classroom and the other on a farm they would find entirely different form words. In the one essay they would find words like teacher, desks, chairs, blackboards, students, books and so forth and in the other they would find words like barn, cows, chickens, farmer, fields, tractors and so forth. It is easy to distinguish here which would probably be in which essay. However, both essays could share equally well the function words.

The most Elementary or most basic level of ANJeL Tun therefore seeks to teach only the function words. When one knows all the function words (just the few hundred involved) then one can say that they know the language. Of course they could not talk about anything, because they would not have any form words about 'things'. But still, we could not say that they did not know the language. If a Ph.D. in literature or language were to have opened before them a modern computer, and if they knew nothing about computers they could only say that there are colored wires and objects and things of this shape or that but they would not be able to talk intelligibly about the computer any more than they could stand at the elbow of a brain surgeon during an operation and describe the parts of the brain with which the surgeon was dealing. This is not to say, the Ph.D. does not understand the language, they just do not know the words or concepts for those subjects.

Once one has learned the several hundred function words of the ANJeL Tun - then they know the language. But of course they still cannot talk about anything since they do not have the form words. But it is now simple to teach a person the form words for say their employment. A maid might learn the form words for a hotel room (towels, sheets, closet, mattress, bed, and another hundred words) and be able to communicate quite well about her work. Likewise a cook in the kitchen with a different set of words, or any trade such as carpenter, plumber, bricklayer, or electrician. There may be a culturally shared experience involving a set of form words that are understood by most 12 year olds of average brightness. To learn these words - would be a second level of accomplishment. Beyond that, the vocabulary for college admission or some particular profession may be still higher standards.

The size of one's vocabulary is reflective of their education and intellect. Intellectual growth is measured in the concepts and terms that one comprehends. Likewise spiritual growth may well be measured by the abstract terms, reflected in words, that one comprehends in that sphere, and for some this would be the mark of success in life.

Regularization

English is a language of exceptions but the ANJeL Tun reduces the language as much as possible to a logical system of rules. Some of these concepts, but not nearly so extensively, were applied by Ogden and Richards. In regards to using the ANJeL Tun as an Intermediate Teaching Method (ITM) the idea is that it is easier to first understand and learn a system of rules and then later to comprehend the exceptions. This conformity to rules is what makes the ANJeL Tun a pidgin.

The ACCESS (Auxiliary Closed Captioned English with Simplified Spelling) system started from the foundation of research on the BASIC English system of C.K. Ogden of London England and Dr. I.A. Richards of Harvard University. The latter received a grant from the Carnegie Foundation to produce movies at Walt Disney Studio to teach the BASIC English system but the cell animation technique of the time proved prohibitively expensive. The BASIC English system initially received considerable personal support from Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt but they both became preoccupied with the concerns of World War II and consequently the BASIC English movement lost its momentum with the death of Ogden.

George Bernard Shaw offered to leave Ogden his fortune if he would combine BASIC English with some form of phonetic spelling but Ogden was adamant in his refusal because of the historic opposition to such phonetic spelling. Ogden’s system was used in twenty-two countries and proved extremely beneficial. The claim for the system was that it could teach a person to speak English in just thirty days. The Ogden/Richards system of BASIC English was based on a list of 850 words plus that they felt to be universally accepted. It also had some rules for simplified syntax. The ACCESS System uses the function versus form words insights of Noam Chomsky to further reduce this basic list.

The ACCESS system also adds further rules of syntax simplification, to such a degree that there are no exceptions, the language becomes a pidgin for the purpose of using it as an Intermediate Teaching Media (ITM) on the path to learning traditional English. The teaching language is combined with FXNeTiK spelling so there are no extra or silent letters and the learner can see on the video screen exactly what it is that they are supposed to be hearing.

At least eleven major technological advances have occurred in the fifty years since Ogden’s and Richards’ time that make the development, use and distribution of such a system as this much more feasible than it was in their time. Further specific beneficial developments are anticipated in the near future.

	1.	There has been the widespread implementation of television into people's homes.
	2.	There has been the development of home VCRs.
	3.	There has been the development of captioning technology.
	4.	There has been the development of large main frame computers for analysing word lists, which were used by the early spelling researchers.
	5.	There has been the development of the microprocessor and desk"TOP" computers for assisting individual communication and word processing.
	6.	There has been the key development of non-linear on-line video editing labs (NOVEL) for inexpensively developing and modifying the teaching programs.
	7.	There have been developed cable distribution systems to provide sufficient channels and efficient distribution of the material.
	8.	There is being implemented a world wide satellite system with sufficient channels for the efficient distribution of the material world wide.
	9.	Project Gutenberg has made available hundreds of volumes of classical literature in machine readable form.
	10.	The Internet has become available for world wide control of distribution of the project. Most importantly, an eleventh reason makes the distribution of the ACCESS system much more feasible today, and that is the defacto acceptance of English as the world wide auxiliary language of business, air traffic control, sea communication, science, and tourism, and perhaps we could also say the world wide web. Over ninety-five percent of all scientific literature is originally written in or later translated into English. There are more movies, videos and other entertainment media originally published in English than in all other languages put together. English has become the Second Language of choice world wide. While English has become, in the eyes of some, by default, the universal auxiliary language and with the spread of the Internet, and Hollywood videos and movies by satellite, is becoming more entrenched daily, the ACCESS system being used by the World Language Program gives English a number of additional advantages such as permitting traditional English to be machine translated into it untouched by human hands, while the spoken word remains understandable to any traditional English speaker. While the ACCESS system requires high technology for its development, it has a low technology inexpensive delivery system, working out to a capital cost of less than $20 per student as compared to the thousands of dollars it often costs to learn a language in North America. Moreover, the other attraction is its great efficiency, requiring only thirty days to teach a person to speak English.

The ACCESS presentation method of the language is also based upon certain specific pedagogical principles using the formula of listen, look, say, write and do which are tied to a particular theory regarding certain physiological processes of the brain as to learning a language.

The first basic teaching principle behind the ACCESS system is that it is easier for an Adult learner of a new language to see the language (captioning) than it is for them to hear it. With English the problem of using captioning to learn the language has been that since the orthography was not phonetic the learner still could not see what it was they were supposed to have heard.

The second basic teaching principle behind the ACCESS system is that a new English speaker needs only a few hundred words in order to be understood by someone who speaks English. The reciprocal, however, is not true because most native English speakers use a considerably larger vocabulary. Consequently, when the learner knows only a few hundred words they must use a sort of twenty questions game type of communication in order to comprehend what is being said to them.

The third basic teaching principle behind the ACCESS system is that while the learner initially learns a limited rationalized and logical syntactical system that sounds odd to the native speaker it still gives the learner very rapid access to communication and the incentive and confidence to go further.

The theory of the actual pedagogical method, such as "total physical response" will be explained in the teacher correspondence training course and the step by step procedures for applying the method will be outlined in the teacher guide that accompanies each lesson.

There is associated with the ACCESS system a bridge orthography that permits the learner to learn traditional orthography, if they so desire. The main thrust, however, because it is the most difficult learning problem, is to teach the individual to hear the language. This is done through the incentive of entertainment video which is phonetically captioned so that they can see what they are hearing and therefore painlessly practise their hearing skills while watching entertainment video.

However strange the ANJeL Tun may appear to the traditional English speaker and however unlikely it may seem to them that it could ever become a universal language the real issue here is its effectiveness as an ITM for teaching ESL. If the ANJeL Tun is widely accepted then a future committee of scholars may find within it a prototype upon which to build even more rigorously the reforms necessary to make it a universal auxiliary language.

It takes the average literate English speaking person only about two days to become proficient in learning to read and write the ANJeL Tun.

  Additional projects include:

	h.	The publishing of a 8,000 definition simplified phonetic and pictorial dictionary.
	i.	The machine translation to simplified phonetic English of all the material on the Project Gutenberg files.
	j.	The making available of automatic translation on the Internet of all English files to the simplified phonetic English.
	k.	The making of a captioned simplified phonetic English animation series.
	l.	The printing of comic books based on the same series.
	m.	The publishing of a series of large type simplified phonetic English books of literature.
	n.	The publishing of a comprehensive series of a simplified phonetic English books that are an introduction to the sciences.

Future but more immediate to the World Language Program will be:

	q.	The training and sending out of the first 1,000 teachers.
	r.	The establishing of Internet procedures to coordinate the teachers’ activities.
	s.	The establishing of schools and classes throughout the world.

And as real far out future dreams:

	o.	The publishing of an international newspaper or magazine in simplified phonetic English
	p.	A world wide television network captioned in the simplified phonetic English.

And longer term to the World Language Program:

	t.	The establishing of satellite World Language Institutes throughout the world for the training of teachers.
	u.	The establishment of the institutions for further research and development and the establishing and maintaining of standards.

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