Leren Spellen in Engels als Vreemde Taal

What makes it possible for learners of English as a second language to learn how to spell this complex system, without any instruction about phoneme-grapheme correspondences or rules? The author shows that a graphotactic description of English orthography reveals many systematic visual patterns. L2 learners appear to be sensitive to these patterns. This may explain how they acquire the spelling system: by picking up visual patterns.