Section 4.3.3: Spelling
Many
literacy learners feel that learning to spell is not worthwhile
or too much work. Part of the problem is the fact that the English
language is frustrating because it is not as “phonetically regular”
as other languages. That is, language symbols and spoken words
don’t always correspond. Essentially, there are three "chunks"
or types of words in the English language.
The
first "chunk" involves words that sound like they
are spelled. These are termed phonic
words. They are the easiest for learners to deal with
once they have learned the sounds that vowels and consonants
make.
·
hat, sat, rat
·
run, bun, fun
·
sin, bin, tin
·
met, bet, let
·
got, hot, lot
The
second "chunk" involves words that the learner needs
to know a spelling rule or guideline in
order to spell them correctly. These are termed decoding words, and take
a little longer to learner since the student must become familiar
with the guidelines associated with them.
·
knife (silent
"k" and "e")
·
telephone ("ph"
pronounced as "f", silent "e")
·
bomb (silent
"b")
·
city ("c"
pronounced as an "s" versus a "k", "y"
pronounced as an "e")
·
geography ("g"
can make two sounds, "ph" pronounced as an "f", "y" makes "e"
sound)
The
third and final "chunk" of words seems to have a logic
unto themselves. In other words, they cannot be sounded out
phonetically nor do they follow any spelling rule/guideline.
As such, learners must simply recognize and memorize them. These
are referred to as sight words.
·
one (sounds
like "won")
·
bough (sounds
like bow)
·
cough (sounds
like cawf)
·
build (sounds
like bild)
·
heart (sounds
like hart)
The
table below outlines the three stages used to identify Manitoba
literacy learners in terms of their spelling ability. For each
stage appropriate techniques and strategies, and objectives
and materials for each stage are identified. Additional information
can be found in your Journeyworkers course resource.
|
|
Stage
One
|
Stage
Two
|
Stage
Three
|
|
Ability
|
- Recognizes the letters of the alphabet
- Can mainly spell one syllable words
or familiar words from memory
|
- Uses conventional spelling for simple,
regularly spelled words and invented spellings for more
complex words
- Knows some prefixes and suffixes
- Knows some basic spelling guidelines
(e.g., silent "e")
|
- Spells many words automatically
- Consistently identifies misspelled
words
- Looks for spelling patterns and word
families
- Knows most prefixes and suffixes
- Knows most spelling guidelines such
as how to form plurals correctly
|
|
Objectives
|
- Know the sounds associated with each
letter of the alphabet
- Break words into separate sounds
- Construct new words by changing the
beginning, middle, or ending of simple words
- Introduce the concept of invented spelling
(i.e., guessing at the spelling of a word)
|
- Use conventional spelling for high-frequency
words and words with regular spelling patterns
- Start and maintain word log for spelling
and vocabulary development
- Begin to provide formal spelling instruction
(e.g., how to form plurals correctly)
|
- Decode more complex words
- Use conventional spellings fairly consistently
- Independently locate correct spellings
|
In the initial assessment of the learner, program staff
will undoubtedly have identified the problem areas in spelling
that you will need to work on with your learner. According to Klein & Millar (1990), there
are five typical spelling errors that are commonly being made
by learners:
1)
spell it like it sounds (e.g., hart
for heart)
2)
get letters out of order (e.g., dose
for does)
3)
don't know spelling rule (e.g., nife
for knife)
4)
mix up sounds (e.g., naturl for natural)
5)
miss out or add bits (e.g., rember
for remember or beginining for beginning)
Once you have an idea of what to work on, there are several
aids that you can use help the learner to remember how to spell words correctly:
·
Rhyming
o
Beginners - Give learners a list of words
of 5 to 10 words and ask learners to come up with rhyming words
from the same word family (freeze, sneeze, breeze; crack, smack,
lack, back, hack, track; cut, hut, nut, but, gut, rut).
o
Intermediate - Move on to words that
sound the same but are spelled differently (freeze, please,
peas, leaves)
o
Advanced - Move to homonyms (words
that sound the same but are spelled differently) (e.g., red,
read; to, too, two; won, one), and then to words that are spelled
the same, but said differently
(cut, put; cough, dough)
·
First letter mnemonics - using the first letter of the words
in a sentence to remember a spelling.
e.g., Big Elephants Aren't Ugly, they are BEAUtiful.
·
Image associations - When there is confusion about which
homonym to use, associate the words with an image (e.g., Which
is the head of the school? The "principle" or the
"principal"? The principal is my pal)
·
Find words within words - For example, the learner wants to
spell "business" as "bizness." Point out the "bus" in the correct spelling and have him/her
imagine a bright yellow school bus. (This is also an image association.)
·
Say the word in a 'funny' way - (e.g., the student keeps leaving
the "h" out of "when" so together you say
the word as "w" "hen")
·
Use different sizes or colors - write the part the learner is having
difficulty remembering in a different size or color
e.g., BUS iness
·
Link word to its word family - for
example, site, bite, kite; cow, sow, bow
·
Beat out the syllables of a word and write out each part
of the word as it's said (e.g., "leg-is-la-ture")
·
Use rhythm say the names of the letters in a
rhythm (e.g., p-e o-p l-e)
·
Trace the word
several times with a finger
·
Play word games such as Scrabble, Boggle,
word search, crossword puzzles, word jumbles, etc. There are
lots of interactive activities such as DiscoverySchool.com’s
Word and Math Puzzlemaker.
·
Make a word
bank – as students come across unfamiliar words
in their reading or have difficulty spelling a word when they
are writing, they record them and practice them (e.g., spelling
bee, recorded
spelling, Cloze
activity)
·
Break words into chunks - This literally means separating the word into
smaller parts so that it’s more easily remembered. Normally
you would divide the word into syllable chunks. (e..g.,
fantastic - fan / tas / tic). You can start with one-syllable
words though, and divide them into two or three letter chunks.
(e.g., great - gr / ea / t). Then you can go on to
bigger words, and sound out the syllables or letter blends.
(e.g., terrific - ter / rif / ic). When you're chunking,
you can also focus on the letter blends. (e.g., great - gr / ea / t - that's an 'ea' word,
and a 'gr' word). Develop a list of words together that have
meaning for your learner. Work
on about ten words at a time
·
Play memory games - Select 24 commonly recognizable
items and cover them. Tell students they will have 2 minutes
to memorize as many items as possible. Mention that they may
use any memorizing technique that will help them. Display the
items one at a time, saying the name of item as you uncover
it. After the two minutes is up ask the students to write down
as many items as they can remember. When they have had sufficient
time to write down as many items as they can remember, have
a group discussion about how each person tried to remember the
items. Write the methods on a flip chart or the board. Divide
the class into smaller groups and have the groups try to devise
other methods of memorizing words.
Resources:
On to Section 4.3.4
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page last updated
November 13, 2002
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