Teaching Spelling Within
the New Literacy Curriculum
Arlyne
LeSchack
Chances are that many parents feel the only way for
their children to learn how to spell is for them to come home with
10-20 new words per week and memorize how to spell them. In truth
this doesn't work--the student may get an A on the Friday spelling
test, but they are unable to transfer their knowledge of the correct
spelling to their writing.
Like almost everything else, learning to spell is a developmental
process. Young children, even before they start school, develop
an awareness of written language. Some may be fascinated with the
alphabet. Once they learn the names of letters, many begin to relate
the sounds in words to the names of the letters. They often begin
to use invented spelling—i.e. representing sounds with letters.
Some kindergarteners will progress from invented spelling to conventional
spelling, while others may use strings of letters that don't represent
sounds. One strategy teachers can use to help their students move
from invented spelling to conventional spelling is to have students
write a list of commonly used words that can then be put in their
writing folders or taped to their desks. In first grade most children
will use some invented spelling particularly for the first sounds
in words. By second grade this becomes more sophisticated- children
will have already picked up patterns in our language and they may
even have two vowels represent a long vowel sound, for example.
By third grade, students are using more standard spelling than invented
spelling and by fourth grade students will spell about 92% of words
correctly, according to the NEAP Writing Report Card.
We, as teachers, can help parents with spelling instruction for
their children by advising them of this developmental progression
and giving them ideas about how to help their children become better
spellers. Parents will be very interested to learn how their children's
invented spelling reflects literacy development. Encouraging lots
of reading and writing—probably the best way to improve spelling—is
key. The children must also become comfortable using their whole
vocabulary in writing in school as well as at home.
How children learn to spell can provide us as educators a window
into our student's progress towards becoming fully literate. Our
teaching can be enhanced when we look at what students are able
to do—and at their progress--rather than focusing on what
student's can't do.
Bibliography
National Council of Teachers of English, SCHOOL TALK,
January 2004, Vol.9, No. 2
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