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ImportanceofSpelling|VocabularySpellingCity

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WORDLISTS&LESSONS
EDUCATIONALTOPICS
Classroom
EducationalStandards
Reading
Spelling
ImportanceofSpelling(http://www.spellingcity.com/importanceofspelling.html)
SpellingAutomaticity(http://www.spellingcity.com/fluency.html)
SpellingIntoReading(http://www.spellingcity.com/incorporatingspellingintoreading.html)
Vocabulary
Writing
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TRAINING&HELP
FUNDING

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ImportanceofSpelling

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Cantwejustusespellcheckers?
Abstract:Theimportanceofspellinghasbeenquestionedinrecentyears,aswordprocessingprogramsareequipped
withspellcheckers,andsomeeducationalreformistshavesuggestedthatfocusingonspellingholdsbackthecreative
processesofwritingandthatstudentswillnaturallydevelopspellingskillsthroughreading.ReadingSpecialistSusan
Jones,M.Ed.,hasresearchedhowspellingimprovesreadingandwritingfluencyandhowitimprovesvocabularyand
comprehension.ProfessorJoneshelpsVocabularySpellingCity.comasamemberoftheeducationaladvisory
committee.Belowisherpaperdebunkingsomecommonmythsaboutspellingandhelpingtoestablishthe
importanceofspellingineducation.

TheImportanceofSpelling
bySusanJones,M.Ed.2/2009
SpellingoverthelastfewyearshasbeenthesubjectofacommonlymailedpieceofInternetwisdom.AndIquote:
AoccdrnigtorscheearchbytheLngiusiitcDptanmeretatCmabrigdeUinervtisy,itdeosnt
mttaerinwahtoredrtheltteersinawrodare,theolnyiprmoetnttihngistahtthefristand
lsatltteerbeattherghitpclae.Thersetcanbeatotalmsesandyoucansitllraeditwouthit
porbelm.Tihsisbcuseaethehuamnmniddeosnotraederveylteterbyistlef,butthewrodas
awlohe.
Translation:AccordingtoresearchbytheLinguisticDepartmentatCambridgeUniversity,it
doesntmatterinwhatorderthelettersinawordare,theonlyimportantthingisthatthefirst
andlastletterbeattherightplace.Therestcanbeatotalmessandyoucanstillreadit
withoutaproblem.Thisisbecausethehumanminddoesnotreadeveryletterbyitself,but
thewordasawhole.
ThisparagraphhasbeenwidelycirculatedontheInternetsince2003,anditisstillreferredto,eitherasapointof
interestortodefendinconsistent(poor)spelling,orchoosingnottoteachit.Isitbecauseitringsofthetruththatit
makesscholarsandeducatorscringe?Hardly.Amongotherthings,therewasnosuchresearch,andthewordsinthe
passagedontfollowtheruleofonlythefirstandlastwordsmatter.Itsamyth.Itisfluentreaderswhocanfigure
outthishighlypredictabletextandthepathtofluentreadingincludesafirmfoundationinthesoundsrepresented
bylettersandtheirspelling.1

HowDoWeRead?
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Dowereadwholewordsinaninstant,orbysounds?Thefluentreaderquicklyperceiveswholewords,butthepathto
fluencyisthroughmasteringtheconnectionbetweenlettercombinationsandthesoundstheyrepresent.Thefactis
(/)
thatourlettersstandforsounds,notideas.Whilesomestilldebatewholelanguageversusphonicsinstruction,
expertssuchasPriscillaVailrecognizethatlanguagehasstructureandtexture,andourstudentsneedtodevelop
both.Structurereferstothenutsandboltsusedinassemblingordecodingthewrittenlanguagephonics
instructionprovidesthissolidgrounding.Texturereferstotheornamentationwhichgiveslanguageitscolor,
intensity,rhythmandbeauty.Wholelanguageinstructionprovidestexturebysoakingchildreninliterature.Structure
byitselfwouldbeboring,justasfreefloatingtexturewouldbeflimsy.2
Ratherthanrelegatespellingtoabackburner,spellingcanandshouldbeanintegralpartoflanguageinstructionfor
everystudent.Itismortarthathelpsstudentsmasterthebasicsoflanguage,especiallystudentswhomaystruggle
withreading.Ratherthandismissitasafrilltofocusharderonreading,teachingspellingandhandwritingenablesa
strugglingstudenttousedifferentsensesandstrengthstolearnandmastertherelationshipbetweenthesoundsand
symbolsofourlanguage,whichisthebackboneofreading.Otherstudentswillbeabletomoredeeplyunderstand
thepatternsofourcomplexlanguageandbecomemastercommunicators.

SpellingHelpsReading
Learningtospellhelpstocementtheconnectionbetweenthelettersandtheirsounds,andlearninghighfrequency
sightwordstomasterylevelimprovesbothreadingandwriting.Joshi,Treiman,CarrekerandMoatsdescribethis
connection:Thecorrelationbetweenspellingandreadingcomprehensionishighbecausebothdependonacommon
denominator:proficiencywithlanguage.Themoredeeplyandthoroughlyastudentknowsaword,themorelikelyhe
orsheistorecognizeit,spellit,defineit,anduseitappropriatelyinspeechandwriting.Theyalsonotethatthe
majorgoaloftheEnglishwritingsystemisnotmerelytoensureaccuratepronunciationofthewrittenworditisto
conveymeaning.Ifwordsthatsoundthesame(e.g.,rain,reinandreign)werespelledthesameway,theirmeanings
wouldbehardertodifferentiate.3
Teachingspellingsystematicallycanalsodispelthemyththatspellingisunpredictableandtooconfusingforallbut
thosewithanaturalgiftforit,whichoftenhappenswhenacorrectmistakesastheyhappenapproachistaken.The
ideathatEnglishistoomixeduptomakesenseofisamythperpetuatedbylackofinstructionandpoorteacher
preparation.Spellingisnotsimple,butwhenpeopleunderstanditsstructure,itisperfectlydecodableandnotlimited
topeopleborntospelltounderstand.Forexample,manypeoplestrugglewithspellingthewordbroccoli.Which
lettershouldbedoubled?IfastudentorteacherorparentunderstandsthesyllabletypesoftheEnglishlanguage,
thewordmakessense.Closedsyllablesendinaconsonantandhaveashortvowelsound.Opensyllablesendina
vowel.Often,aconsonantisdoubledsothatavowelisclearlyshort,includingwhenweaddsuffixes.Examplesare
bagged,collie,andbroccoli,whichwouldbedividedintosyllablesasbroccoli.Perhapsitsunfortunatethat
peoplewhoarenaturallygoodatspellingandreadingarelikelytobeteachingittheymaynothaveneededtohave
theserulesexplained,orperhapsdontremembertheexplanationsbecausetheydidnothavetopracticethem.
Understandingtherulesandpatternshelpsthestudentwhodoesntintuitivelypickthemupandenablestheteacher
toclearupconfusioninsteadofhavingtoresorttoitsjusthowitsspelled.
Othersmightacknowledgethevalueoflearningtospell,butthinkthatlearningtherulesandpatternsisthestuffof
drudgery.Whenstudentsarepracticinginwaysthatareeffective,andgettingappropriatefeedbackandexperiencing
success,practiceisnotdrudgery.Itmaynotbeasfunasrecessbutoftenitcanbesatisfyingandevenenjoyable,
especiallywhentechnologyisusedcreativelysothatstudentscanusetheirstrengthswithindividualizedlessons.For
instance,studentscanchoosegamesandactivitiesatsitessuchasspellingcity.comtopracticetheirwordsasmuchas
theyneed.Byincludinglanguagerichexperienceswiththewords,studentsuseauditoryandvisualpathwaysinthe
learningtask.Thishelpsstudentsconquerthechallengeofrememberingthespellingsofwords,becausetheworking
memorycanbeusedmoreefficientlyifboththevisualandauditorychannelsareengagedinthelearningtask.4
Technologyisapowerfultoolthatcanmakelearningeasier.Somewouldarguethatitspowerfulenoughtomake
learningtospellunnecessary.Afterall,whatarespellcheckersfor?Spellcheckersarewonderfultoolsforthesmall
mistakesthatgoodspellersmakeandforcommontypographicalerrorssuchastypingtehinsteadofthe.Inthe
handsofthestudentwithgoodlanguageskills,thespellcheckerisarealtimesaver.However,itcanactuallyinterfere
withthelearningprocess.Thewritermustrelyonstartingthewordcorrectlyandgettingmostlettersright,andthe
spellcheckerwillnotcorrectwhenamisspellingisanotherlegitimateword.Therefore,thestudentwhospellsdoes
asdosewillnotseetheredcorrectmeline,andwillcontinuetoentrenchthemisspellinghabit,andthereaderwill
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beconfused.Themoreadvancedthewritingtask,themorelikelywellneedtouseexactlytherightword.Whena
collegestudentwriteslesseninginsteadoflistening,thatstudenthasnotlearnedtothinkabouttherelationship
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betweenthemeaningandspellingofwords.Hiswritingissufferingforthelack,andperhapshisreadingisaswell.
Spellcheckersalsocantbecountedonforgivingtherightwordevenwhentheyrecognizeanincorrectspelling.Ifa
writertypesdefinantlyinsteadofdefinitely,MicrosoftWordwillsuggestdefiantly.Surpisedwillyield
surpassed.Thelanguagelearnerwillbemoreconfused,notless.Inotherwords,spellcheckersgiveusreasonto
teachspellingandprecisewordusage*more*thoroughly,notless.5
Gooduse,evenmastery,ofourcomplexlanguagedoesnothavetobeathingofthepastorreservedforafew.By
usingtheknowledgefromyearsofresearchandexperienceandoureverdevelopingtechnologicaltools,wecanteach
eachstudenttospellwellandenablethemtoreadandwritefluently.Weoweittoourstudentstogivethemthe
skillsthatarethetoolstolearningandcommunicationthroughouttheireducationandtheirlives.
Resources:
1Rayner,K.,White,S.,Johnson,R.,Liversedge,S.(2006).RaedingWrodsWithJubmledLettresThereIsaCost.

PsychologicalScience17(3),192193.Discussedat:
http://blogs.msdn.com/fontblog/archive/2006/05/09/594050.aspx
(//blogs.msdn.com/fontblog/archive/2006/05/09/594050.aspx)
2Vail,Priscilla(1991).CommonGround:WholeLanguageandPhonicsWorkingTogether.Rosemont,NJ:Modern

LearningPress,p.4
3Joshi,R.,Treiman,R.,Carreker,S.,&Moats,L..(20082009,Winter).Therealmagicofspelling:Improvingreading

andwriting.AmericanEducator,9.http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/joshi.pdf
(//www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/joshi.pdf)p.10
4Mousavi,S.Y.,Low,R.,&Sweller,J.(1995).Reducingcognitiveloadbymixingauditoryandvisualpresentation

models.JournalofEducationalPsychology
(//visuallearningresearch.wiki.educ.msu.edu/file/view/Mousavi,+Low,+&+Sweller+%281995.pdf),
87(2),319334.p.319
5DonnaJ.Montgomery,GeorgeR.Karlan,andMarthaCoutinho,TheEffectivenessofWordProcessorSpellChecker

ProgramstoProduceTargetWordsforMisspellingsGeneratedbyStudentswithLearningDisabilities,Journalof
SpecialEducationTechnology16(2001):2741.http://www.editlib.org/p/93990/
(//www.editlib.org/p/93990/)

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