I don't really think that native English speakers have a problem in knowing how a certain sequence of characters should be pronounced. This kind of problem is u

I don't really think that native English speakers have a problem in knowing how a certain sequence of characters should be pronounced. This kind of problem is usually typical of people (of any native language) with high levels of literacy - it happens when a substantial part of their vocabulary comes from reading books rather than oral communication (be it person to person or tv/ cinema). To me, the problem of native English speakers seems to be that they are often unable to write their native language well enough not to come across as uneducated people. I am an Italian living in an English speaking country. I never had any problem in remembering the correct spelling of English words, and I believe it's because I can read them with the Italian pronunciation (in which spelling and sound are perfectly matching). It's probably much easier for the brain to remember a sequence of sounds rather than a sequence of symbols. So I wonder if anybody has ever tried, as a teaching tool, to teach children to read English with an "alphabetic" pronunciation that associates exactly one sound to each letter. Assigning to every word a "written" sound on top of the "spoken" sound could help in remembering the correct spelling.