AN Oxford don questioning the importance of spelling and grammar was last night accused of undermining the fight to improve children’s failing literacy standards.

Prof Simon Horobin, a Magdalen College English don, has questioned the need to rigorously stick to current language rules in the Internet age – suggesting that if people wrote words such as accommodation incorrectly then it could be suggested its spelling had actually changed.

But the 40-year-old’s comments were criticised yesterday by Oxfordshire County Council’s education chief Melinda Tilley.

Mrs Tilley has been part of the campaign to raise the poor Key Stage One results of the city’s children.

She said: “I think these statements undermine our efforts such as the Oxfordshire Reading Campaign and I feel very strongly about this.

“I absolutely disagree with what he’s said.

Prof Horobin said: “The point I am making is that language changes and variation is part of its natural state.

“We accept that people have different ways of pronouncing words but for some reason spelling we consider to be completely stable.

“That is a relatively recent invention and spelling has been allowed to change over hundreds of years.

“If people start to spell ‘accommodation’ with one ‘m’ then might we say that its spelling has changed?”

He initially made his comments at the Hay Literary Festival in Hay-on-Wye, this week.

Prof Horobin told the Oxford Mail that apostrophes were “stylistic conventions” that were not necessarily needed to communicate a word’s meaning.

He added: “Part of the problem now is that we have a single fixed system which we impose on children, and all generations of children struggle to learn it.

“In the past it was regulated by the printed medium.

“But spelling is changing radically on the internet.”

But Mrs Tilley countered: “Spelling and grammar are very important.

“We have got a beautiful language which is living and growing and it is important for our children to learn it.

“When we are learning our language we should do it properly.

“It helps children to have a structure around what they write.”

Ed Finch, a member of the Oxfordshire branch of the National Union of Teachers, said new tests introduced this year based on spelling and grammar rules could disadvantage some children.

He said: “Children who in the past have been tested on their ability to write an exciting story are instead being tested on spelling and commas.

“These are things that a lot of adults would struggle with.”

The spelling, punctuation and grammar test has been introduced for year six children this year.

Abigail Moss, deputy director of the National Literacy Trust, added: “It is important to remember that language does evolve over time and Professor Horobin’s suggestion is an interesting one.

“However, as one person in six in the UK today is held back by their literacy levels, our focus should be on helping young people to gain the vital skills they need.”

In 2010 it was revealed Oxford’s seven-year-olds ranked worst in the country for reading and writing in their Key Stage One tests.

As result, Oxfordshire County Council and the Oxford Mail launched the Oxfordshire Reading campaign in September to improve the reading skills of children.

The initiative involved 81 primary schools from right across the county.

Prof Horobin has written a book called Does Spelling Matter?, which was published by Oxford University Press in March.