["European Journal of Education, Volume 61, Issue 3, September 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nProficiency in English reading and spelling is essential, as many professional environments require both spoken and written skills. Literacy development in English as a foreign language poses challenges for learners whose first language is transparent, such as Spanish, due to the complexity and inconsistency of English orthography. Spanish‐speaking students often struggle with these inconsistencies, adversely affecting their reading and spelling abilities. While prior research has primarily focused on primary students, this study investigates the reading and spelling processes of 78 Spanish‐speaking secondary school students, aiming to highlight their lexical processing, sensitivity to rime consistency, and the relationship between reading and spelling performance. Participants completed reading‐aloud and spelling‐to‐dictation tasks using English monosyllabic words with different values of lexical frequency and rime consistency. The analysis revealed that reading accuracy improved with grade level and higher feedforward rime consistency. Although reading speed did not show significant differences across grades, reading latencies were shorter for high‐frequency and high‐rime consistency words, while older students articulated high feedforward rime consistency more slowly. Increased lexical frequency reduced the influence of rime consistency. Spelling accuracy in secondary education remained low, influenced by grade level and feedback rime consistency. Writing latencies were affected by lexical frequency, and writing durations were influenced by both grade and frequency, with fourth graders benefiting more from high‐frequency words. A positive relationship between reading and spelling accuracy indicates that proficient readers are generally proficient spellers. Overall, increased exposure to English enhances students' reading and spelling performance of high‐frequency words and sensitivity to rime consistency.\n"]