Spelling- what it is, why it is crucial for writing, and how to teach

Spelling
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
1
Is spelling important?
“One spelling mistake and dreams may be shattered”
Small slimeline fridge ... (ad)
Rotary gives grade 4 a vacabulary boost (ad)
Contractors were quick to stem the tide after a water man
burst (newspaper ad)
For sale. Pony poo. Big socks. $20 for 5 bags. (ad)
My Dad say’s boy’s rule! (on a t-shirt)
While your hair is still wet run a good dollop of mouse
through it (news report)
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
2
What is spelling?
Spelling involves writing alphabetic characters in a sequence that
corresponds to the sequence of phonemes in spoken words, but
also matches society’s agreed spellings as revealed in a
dictionary.
In English, learning to spell even common words is difficult
because
The same sound can have more than spelling e.g., the OO sound
in BOOT and SOUP and CREW
The same letter can represent more than one sound e.g., C in
COFFEE and C in CIRCUS,
Some sounds are spelled differently to normal, e.g. PH in
PHONE
Some letters are silent e.g., the E in HOUSE
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
3
Simple view model of literacy acquisition
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Stages of learning to spell
(Gentry, 1982)
•
•
•
•
•
Precommunicative, where the child uses letters but they are
strung together in a random way e.g., XRIAYETSIMCK (I am
going to the shop)
Semiphonetic, where the child can represent some of the sounds
in words e.g., I w f a wk (I went for a walk)
Phonetic, where the child spells words strictly according to their
sounds – this is true invented spelling e.g., I LIK SCOOL (I like
school) or Wen skl was finised I wnt to the libee my mm sed to me
haree up and I fwnd sum bks ( When school was finished I went
to the library. Mum said to me hurry up and I found some books)
Transitional, where the child shows some knowledge of
conventional spellings e.g., spells CAKE as CAEK, HOUSE as
HUOSE, uses vowel digraphs like AI, EE, AY, uses silent e.
Conventional, where the child spells correctly
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
5
What stages are these spellings at? (Gentry & Gillet, 1993)
Categories are: precommunicative, semiphonetic, phonetic, transitional,
conventional
Word
Attempt
Monster
MOSTR
United
YOUKNIGHTED
Dress
JRAS
Bottom
BODM
Hiked
H
Human
HUMUN
Eagle
DSFGKA
Closed
KD
Bumped
BOPT
type
TIPE
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
Category
6
What is spelling ability composed of?
Gough and Walsh (1991) found that the ability to spell
irregular words depends on children’s depth of
knowledge of regular letter-sound rules.
They found that children who had good "cipher
knowledge" (i.e., could read and spell regular words)
were better at learning to read and spell exception
words.
Tom Nicholson
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Two stage theory: cue spelling to cipher
spelling
Some researchers think there is a stage of spelling prior to
invented (or “cipher”) spelling called CUE spelling
In cue spelling the child relies on irrelevant visual cues
e.g., spells “rain” as RAMT or YES, spells “with” as PLAY,
spells “mother” as MOM, or has no idea how to spell “cat”.
Cipher spelling is invented spelling. The pupil relates letter
names to phonemes, e.g., GERAF (giraffe), BOT (boat),
KAM (came), CHRAN (train), AGRE (angry), FEHEG
(fishing)
Tom Nicholson
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Is this good spelling or not?
I hean a Big Dag at homesm. to bmev I am
rany to tors Hes to sare.
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
9
Is this spelling good or not?
Answer – not really so good because hard to decipher = cue spelling,
relying on visual memory
I hean a Big Dag at homesm. to bmev I am
rany to tors Hes to sare.
I have a big dog at home. Today I am going
to take him to school.
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
10
Is this good spelling or not?
Answer – good because easy to decipher = invented spelling
If I woz a dog I wood chas stiks and pla al
dae.
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
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Test of invented spelling
Sample of child’s invented spelling results
Longitudinal research on invented spelling
Treiman (1993) analyzed the spellings of 43 children over one
year. They spelled 6000 words during the year.
Results
1. Problem if several possible spellings (e.g. the /k/. sound can be
spelled as c, k or ck.
2. Many misspellings are legal e.g., HA for HAY
3. Some errors illegal. For example where cheese spelled as cez.
4. Children omit letters if they are the second sound in a
consonant cluster, like the t in star.
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
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Invented spelling
Treiman (1994) says that it is to hard for beginners to rote
memorise
Example
We kend the haos for the prte. We at kack.
i.e., We cleaned the house for the party. We ate cake.
Positive features of the spellings were:
• This child used letter names to represent sounds in words (e.g.,
at for ATE).
• The child is aware of lexical spellings. She knows that the /k/
sound at the end of a word is often spelled ck.
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
15
Spelling miscues – invented spelling - you can decipher it
Correct word
Miscue
dress
grs
shout
shat
train
chan
watch
woch
lowest
lowist
write
wright
remain
remane
worry
wurry
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
16
Spelling miscues - invented spelling - you can decipher it
Correct word
Miscue
damage
damige
cough
coff
search
serch
genuine
genowan
circle
cercal
correct
careked
recognise
recernise
opportunity
opperchoondy
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
17
10-year-old boy, reading level below 6 – has some phonemic skills but
not enough
Correct word
Spelling
net
nat
can
can √
fun
fain
top
top √
rag
rag √
sat
sat √
hit
het
yes
eas
had
hied
doll
gall
then
tin
may
mae
Teaching invented spelling (Dancing with the pen, 1996)
T- What are you writing Jade?
J – Tommy and I broke the kitchen window
T – What have you got so far?
J – Tommy and I
T – How will you spell broke?
J – I don’t know
T – Say it slowly and listen to what you hear
J – br-o-k
T – Now where does the k come in the word?
J – At the end
T- Good. Put that down. Now see if we can hear the start
sound.
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
19
Defining phonemic awareness (pa)
Is pa, that is, phonemic awareness –
a) a conceptual understanding - or
b) a skill – or
c) both?
If we say pa has increased, what are we saying?
A conceptual awareness of pa means knowing that a one syllable
word is a single beat of sound, and that the syllable can be broken
into parts
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
20
Defining pa ….
The skill of pa involves the ability to manipulate consciously
phonemes in words
At the end of kindergarten, 5-year-olds in USA, who are in
kindergarten, can segment 3-phoneme words like CAT
Definition of pa = an explicit understanding that words are
made up of segments smaller than the syllable
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
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Do you have phonemic awareness?
How many sounds in?
Box =
Boil =
King =
Thank =
Straight =
Shout =
Though =
Daughter =
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
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ANSWERS
Box = 4
Boil = 3
King = 3
Thank = 4
Straight = 5
Shout = 3
Though = 2
Daughter = 4
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
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Turtletalk – a way to teach phonemic
awareness (Gough & Lee, 2007)
Did you know that turtles move slowly?
Of course they do.
Did you know that turtles speak slowly as well?
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
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When a turtle says "turtle", she slowly says "t-er-t-l".
Can you say "fish" the way the turtle would?
Can you say “mop” the way a turtle would?
Can you say the other pictures the way a turtle would?
Reference – se also Nicholson (2005) At the cutting edge.
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
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List of CVC words for beginning spelling
Vowel sounds in syllables – some common rimes
for teaching spelling
at, an, ap, ack, ank, ash
ed, en,
in, ip, ick, ill, ink, ing
og, on, op, ock
ug, up, uck, unk, ump
-ate, ake, ame, ale, ay
Phonics
What to
teach
AND
When to
teach it
Age 5-6
1. Knows all letter
names and sounds
Aa
2. Aware of
phonemes in spoken
words
Age 5-6
Age 6-7
3. Knows all
CVC 3-letter
words e.g., cat,
log, sun, big
6. Knows all
consonant blends
e.g., crab, glad,
stop, swim
C-A-T in CAT
CR in CRAB
4. Knows most
frequent 50
sight words
Age 6-7
7. Knows all
consonant
digraphs e.g., ch,
sh, th, wh, ph
Age 6-7
8. Knows the “silent
e” rule for long vowel
sounds e.g., hathate, cut-cute
O__E in BONE
SH in FISH
Age 6-7
9. Knows the
doubling rule
for short vowel
sound e.g.,
hoping-hopping
Age 6-7
10. Knows the Rand L-affected
vowel sounds - ar,
er, ir, or, ur, and all.
AR in CAR
11. Knows the 300
most frequent sight
words and the
“advanced” list
Age 7-8
Age 7-8
12. Knows all 1sound vowel
digraphs – e.g., ai,
oa, oi, au, ew
Age 8-9
13. Knows all 2sound vowel
digraphs e.g., ea, ei,
oo, ow
14. Knows
compounding
patterns, e.g.,
hot/dog,
rain/coat,
night/fall,
steam/roller
Age 8-9
16. Knows Greek
letter patterns with
special sounds
ch=/k/, ph = /f/, y =
/i/ sound
OO in BOOK
EE in
PHONE
15.Knows silent
letters e.g., gh,
kn
BEE
OO in
ROOF
H in
GHOST
Age 9-10
Age 10-12
17. Knows the 6
syllable rules:
closed, open, raffected, silent e,
-LE, vowel team
Age 12-14
THE READER
18. Knows simple
Anglo-Saxon
prefixes (e.g., by, for-, over-) and
suffixes (e.g., ed, -ing, -ly) and
simple Latin
based prefixes
(e.g., pre, dis) and
suffixes (e.g., age, -ance)
19. Knows more
complex Latin based
prefixes (e.g., anti-,
trans-, inte-r, introsub-) and suffixes
(e.g., -cian, -cial, tious, -age, -ance, ive)
STATION
20. Knows
advanced
Greek root
words (e.g.,
chon, graph,
sphere,
thermo),
prefixes (e.g.,
semi-, photo-,
tele-, hydro-,
hyper) and
suffixes (e.g.; phobia, scope,-cracy, phile)
Spelling quizzes that teach regular phonemegrapheme correspondences (Tse, 2009)
30
Pyramid of English
Greek
Latin and French
Anglo Saxon
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
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Layers of Language – teaching more advanced
spelling
Tricky spellings - Why do we change y to i
sometimes?
•
•
•
•
•
fly – flying – flies
enjoy-enjoying
angry-angrier
baby-babies
carry-carries-carrier-carrying
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
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10 top tips for spelling
Start with phonemic spelling – teach phonemic awareness – use
turtle talk.
2. Teach phoneme-grapheme correspondences, e.g., at, cat, up, cup,
in, pin. Use rimes.
3. Syllable breaking - study more advanced spelling patterns like
doubling rule (rabbit rule)
4. Teach the layers of language: Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and Greek morphemic spelling - base words, prefixes, suffixes – e.g., is it
lovly or lovely - look for semantic relatives, e.g., competecompetition
5. Reading helps spelling e.g., strength, pitch
6. Mnemonics like “the principal is your pal”
7. Cipher quizzes – 15 minutes per day
8. Encourage invented spelling – lots of writing and dictation
9. Over-pronounce words like “choc-oe-late”
10. Use the dictionary
1.
Tom Nicholson –
Massey University
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Further reading
Dymock, S., & Nicholson, T. (2013). Dyslexia decoded. Auckland:
Dunmore.
Dymock, S., & Nicholson, T. Teaching reading comprehension.
Wellington: NZCER Press.
Nicholson, T. (2005). At the cutting edge: The importance of phonemic
awareness in learning to read and spell. Wellington: NZCER
Press.
Nicholson, T. (2005). Phonics handbook. Chichester, England: Wiley.
Nicholson, T., & Dymock, S. (2010). Teaching reading vocabulary.
Wellington: NZCER Press.
Tse, L. (2009). Can phonics instruction and big book reading in
combination work better than on their own? Unpublished
doctoral; dissertation, Massey University.