How Words Cast Their Spell: Spelling Is an Integral Part of Learning the Language, Not a Matter of Memorization; by R. Malatesha Joshi, Rebecca Treiman, Suzanne Carreker, and Louisa C. Moats; American Educator, Winter 2008-09, American Federation of Teachers

6 AMERIcAN EdUcATOR | WINTER 2008-2009

B R. M J, R T,

S C,  L C. M

n 1773, Noah Webster stated that “spelling is the foundation

of reading and the greatest ornament of writing.”

He was

right. Good spelling is critical for literacy, and it makes writ-

ing much easier—allowing the writer to focus on the ideas

to be conveyed, not the letters needed to put those ideas on paper.

But ever since Webster’s “spellers” (which focused on how to spell

the sounds that make up words and thus taught spelling and read-

ing simultaneously) went out of fashion in the early 1900s, spell-

ing has not received as much attention as reading. is is unfor-

tunate because spelling instruction underpins reading success

by creating an awareness of the sounds that make up words and

the letters that spell those sounds. As children learn to spell, their

knowledge of words improves and reading becomes easier.

And

yet, even though there is a close relationship between reading

and spelling (the correlation between the two is quite strong,

ranging from 0.66 to 0.90, where 0 would indicate no correlation

How Words Cast eir Spell

Spelling Is an Integral Part of Learning the Language,

Not a Matter of Memorization

and 1 would indicate a perfect correlation), spelling in the ele-

mentary grades is usually taught as an isolated skill, often as a

visual task.*

Collectively, the authors of this paper have eight decades of

experience helping preservice and inservice teachers improve

their instruction in spelling, reading, and writing. One common

perception we have encountered is that visual memory, analo-

gous to taking a mental picture of the word, is the basis of spelling

skill. Teachers often tell us that they teach spelling by encourag-

ing whole-word memorization (e.g., using ashcards and having

students write words 5 or 10 times) or by asking students to close

their eyes and imagine words. We’ve encountered this percep-

tion that spelling relies on visual memory so many times that we

became curious about when and how it originated—after all, it’s

a far cry from Webster’s spellers. We traced it back to the 1920s:

one of the earliest studies to stress the role of visual memory in

spelling was published in 1926, and it found that deaf children

spelled relatively well compared with normal children of similar

reading experience.

Based on this study, and the perception that

the relationship between sounds and the letters that spell them

is highly variable, many people concluded that learning to spell

is essentially a matter of rote memorization. us, researchers

recommended that spelling instruction emphasize the develop-

ment of visual memory for whole words.

More recent studies, however, do not support the notion that

visual memory is the key to good spelling.

Several researchers

have found that rote visual memory for letter strings is limited to

two or three letters in a word.

In addition, studies of the errors

* Throughout this article, the research and instructional strategies discussed are

about spelling in English; they may not apply to other languages.

R. Malatesha Joshi is professor of literacy education at Texas A&M Uni-

versity, author of numerous books and articles on reading and spelling,

and founding editor of Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Jour-

nal. Rebecca Treiman is Burke and Elizabeth High Baker Professor of

Child Developmental Psychology at Washington University and author

of dozens of studies on reading, writing, and spelling. Suzanne Carreker

is vice president of program development at the Neuhaus Education

Center, author of several language and literacy programs, and a former

teacher and school consultant. Louisa C. Moats is consultant on profes-

sional development and research initiatives for Sopris West Educational

Services; author of several literacy programs, books, and reports, includ-

ing the AFT’s Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science; and a former teacher

and school psychologist.

ILLUsTRATEd bY MIchAEL WOLOshINOW

AMERIcAN EdUcATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 7

children make indicate that something other than visual memory

is at work. If children relied on visual memory for spelling, regu-

lar words (e.g., stamp, sing, strike) and irregular words that are

similar in length and frequency (e.g., sword, said, enough) should

be misspelled equally often. But they are not. Children misspell

irregular words more often than regular words.

So, if words aren’t memorized visually, how do we spell? at

will be thoroughly explained later in this article. For now, here’s

the short answer: Webster was right not just on the importance

of spelling, but on how to teach it too. Spelling is a linguistic task

that requires knowledge of sounds and letter patterns. Unlike

poor spellers, who fail to make such connections, good spellers

develop insights into how words are spelled based on sound-

letter correspondences,

†

meaningful parts of words (like the root

bio and the suffix logy), and word origins and history.

This

knowledge, in turn, supports a specialized memory system—

memory for letters in words. e technical term for this is “ortho-

graphic memory,” and it’s developed in tandem with awareness

of a word’s internal structure—its sounds, syllables, meaningful

parts, oddities, history, and so forth. erefore, explicit instruc-

tion in language structure, and especially sound structure, is

essential to learning to spell.

Don’t Students Learn to Spell through

flashcards and Writing Words?

Given both the widespread belief that English spelling is irregu-

lar and the previous studies that stressed visual memory for

words, it’s no surprise that many teachers teach spelling by writ-

ing words on ashcards and exposing students to them many

times or by having students write words 5 to 10 times. Unfortu-

nately, the eectiveness of such methods is not well established.

In contrast, studies show that spelling instruction based on the

sounds of language produces good results. For example, to test

whether a visual approach or language-based method is better,

researchers taught spelling to typical second graders using two

dierent methods: a visual method and a method in which stu-

dents focused on correspondences between sounds and letters.

After administering lists of words as spelling tests, these investi-

gators drew the attention of the visual group to their errors, wrote

the correct spellings on ashcards, and showed children the cor-

rect spellings. In contrast, the children in the language-based

group were given instruction on the sounds involved in their

misspellings. e group that received the language-based spell-

ing instruction showed signicantly greater progress than the

visual group. Similarly, another researcher, after examining ve

successful spelling instructional approaches for children with

learning disabilities, observed that the successful programs had

one thing in common: they were all based on structured lan-

guage instruction that explicitly taught principles like sound-

letter correspondences.

Researchers also have found that

second and third graders at risk of literacy problems improved

their spelling (as well as their word recognition, handwriting,

and composition skills) after structured spelling instruction

based on the concept that speech sounds are represented by

letters in printed words (i.e., the alphabetic principle).

And a

series of studies showed that training in phonological awareness

(i.e., awareness of the sounds that make up language) improved

the spelling and reading of children in low-income, inner-city

†

In technical terms, the smallest sounds of speech are known as phonemes, and

the letters and letter groups that represent them are known as graphemes. So what

we are calling sound-letter correspondences, other authors may refer to as

phoneme-grapheme correspondences.

8 AMERIcAN EdUcATOR | WINTER 2008-2009

schools. e training was especially eective among the lowest-

performing children.

In sum, these and other studies have

found that eective spelling instruction explicitly teaches stu-

dents sound-spelling patterns. Students are taught to think about

language, allowing them to learn how to spell—not just memo-

rize words.

As a result, linguistically explicit spelling instruction improves

spelling of studied words and novel words. Two exploratory

spelling intervention studies contrasted linguistically explicit

spelling instruction with implicit spelling instruction, and found

that the explicit instruction gave students the knowledge of spell-

ing patterns that they needed to more accurately spell novel

words. In the rst study, second- through fourth-grade students

were taught to spell Latin-based words that ended in tion or

sion.

e students were divided into two groups. One group was

taught to spell the words with an emphasis on the orthographic

patterns tion and sion, but without discussion of the words’

sound patterns. Instead, activities focused students on the words’

visual patterns. For example, students sorted spelling words by

the nal endings tion or sion. e second group, which received

linguistically explicit instruction, was taught to spell the words

with a simultaneous emphasis on the orthographic patterns tion

and sion and the sound patterns /shu˘ n/ and /zhu˘ n/.* For exam-

ple, students sorted words by letter patterns and by sound pat-

terns. e orthographic and sound patterns of the other syllables

in the words, in particular the syllables that preceded tion or sion,

were also emphasized. For example, /shu˘ n/ is most frequently

spelled tion. However, after a syllable that ends in /l/, the ending

/shu˘ n/ is spelled sion, as in compulsion or expulsion. Compared

with the students in the other group, the students who received

the linguistically explicit instruction were better able to dis-

criminate the sounds /sh/ and /zh/, spell the word endings

correctly, and generalize the spellings of the word endings to

novel words.

In the second study, rst-grade students were divided into

two groups.

Both groups were taught to spell one-syllable words

that ended in /k/. One group was taught to spell the words by

using letter units such as ank, ack, and ake. e other group was

taught to segment the sounds of the words and to think about

the pattern that would determine the spelling of /k/ (e.g., after a

consonant or two vowels, /k/ is spelled k; after a short vowel, /k/

is spelled ck; after a long vowel, /k/ is spelled k with a nal e). e

students in the second group spelled the words more accurately

and read them faster.

Is English Predictable Enough for Explicit

Spelling Instruction?

is is a question we hear often. If English spelling were com-

pletely arbitrary, one could argue that visual memorization

would be the only option. However, spelling is not arbitrary.

Researchers have estimated that the spellings of nearly 50 per-

cent of English words are predictable based on sound-letter cor-

respondences that can be taught (e.g., the spellings of the /k/

sound in back, cook, and tract are predictable to those who have

learned the rules). And another 34 percent of words are predict-

able except for one sound (e.g., knit, boat, and two).

†

If other

information such as word origin and word meaning are consid-

ered, only 4 percent of English words are truly irregular and, as

a result, may have to be learned visually (e.g., by using ashcards

or by writing the words many times).

Far from being irregular and illogical, to the well-known lin-

guists Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle, English is a “near opti-

mal system for lexical representation.”

How could they possibly

make such a claim? ey understand that written language is not

merely speech written down. e major goal of the English writ-

ing system is not merely to ensure accurate pronunciation of the

written word—it is to convey meaning. If words that sound the

same (i.e., homophones such as rain, rein, and reign) were

spelled the same way, their meanings would be harder to dif-

ferentiate. For example, if we regularize the spelling, then the

sentence ey rode along the rode and, when they reached the

lake, they rode across it would be hard to understand, while ey

rode along the road and, when they reached the lake, they rowed

Researchers have estimated that the

spellings of nearly 50 percent of English

words are predictable based on sound-

letter correspondences that can be

taught. And another 34 percent of words

are predictable except for one sound.

* To aid the reader, sounds of the letters are represented within / / rather than using

the symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet. Thus, /

∫

/ as in ship is

represented by /sh/, and /t∫/ as in chin is represented by /ch/.

†

Note that the exception was for one sound, not one letter. For example, only one

sound is wrong if automobile is spelled automobeal or if bite is spelled bight.

(Continued on page 10)

AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 9

In the mid-19th century, spelling was the

means by which children were taught to

read. In the 21st century, however,

spelling is the abandoned stepchild in the

family of language arts, overlooked by

federal grants such as Reading First,

federal and state assessment policies,

state program-adoption guidelines,

publishers of comprehensive instructional

programs, and the educational research

community. The reasons for this are many,

including the dominance of the “writers’

workshop” approach to composition, in

which spelling instruction is contextual-

ized, nonsystematic, and reactive (since it

often just addresses students’ errors). In

addition, many assumptions about the

nature of spelling—including the

widespread belief that spelling is a rote

visual-memory skill—are misinformed.

Knowledge of spelling, contrary to many

people’s expectations, is closely related to

reading, writing, and vocabulary develop-

ment, as they all rely on the same

underlying language abilities.

Spelling is most obviously connected to

writing. A consistent research ﬁnding is

that poor spelling, in addition to causing

the writer frustration and embarrassment,

adversely affects composition and

transmission of ideas.

On the whole,

students who spell poorly write fewer

words

and write compositions of lower

quality. Writers who struggle to remem-

ber spelling often limit themselves to

words they can spell, losing expressive

power. In addition, nonautomatic spelling

drains attention needed for the concep-

tual challenges of planning, generating

ideas, formulating sentences, and

monitoring one’s progress. The written

work of poor spellers, moreover, is judged

more harshly than that of students who

present neat, correctly spelled work.

Readers expect accurate spelling as a

courtesy of communication, and inaccu-

rate spelling may result in poor grades or

poor job evaluations.

Although not as obvious, the develop-

ment of spelling is also intimately

connected with the development of

reading.

Knowledge of speech sounds

and their spellings, and ﬂuent use of this

knowledge, are necessary for both word

reading and spelling. Young children

become better readers and spellers when

explicit instruction in speech sound

awareness and sound-letter correspon-

dence is emphasized in kindergarten and

ﬁrst grade.

Good spellers are almost always good

readers. Spelling, however, is more

difﬁcult than reading. We generally

cannot accurately spell words we cannot

read. On the other hand, since most of us

spend much more time

reading than writing, we typi-

cally read many more words

than we spell. Poor spellers

need dozens of opportunities

to write difﬁcult words

before they can remember

them. Indeed, poor spellers

(who form the majority of

students in many high-pov-

erty schools) in the intermedi-

ate and middle grades make

many spelling errors that

reﬂect poor understanding of

word structure, even when

they can read in the average

range.

If we do learn to spell a

word, the mental representa-

tion of all the letters in that

word are fully speciﬁed in

memory, and recall is likely to

be ﬂuent and accurate.

Recognition of words “by sight” is

facilitated by knowing the details of

sound-letter correspondence in the

spelling system.

Good spellers are also

familiar with the patterns and constraints

of English spelling

and use that knowl-

edge to help them remember speciﬁc

letters in speciﬁc words. On the other

hand, general “visual” cues, such as the

conﬁguration or outside contour of a

word in print, are not very helpful for

either recognizing or recalling printed

words. (See the main article for more on

language-based versus visual spelling

instruction.)

Spelling also has a strong relationship

with reading comprehension.

The

correlation between spelling and reading

comprehension is high because both

depend on a common denominator:

proﬁciency with language. The poorer a

child’s language abilities, the poorer that

child’s spelling will tend to be.

The more

deeply and thoroughly a student knows a

word, the more likely he or she is to

recognize it, spell it, deﬁne it, and use it

appropriately in speech and writing.

Systematic spelling lessons (such as

with the programs highlighted on page

14) provide an opportunity to learn to

think analytically about words and

language. The attention to detail

required by comparison and differentia-

tion of words like ﬂush, ﬂesh, fresh, and

thresh

nurtures a more generalized

consciousness about words that in turn

encourages careful consideration of all

aspects of language.

At its best, spelling instruction richly

supports vocabulary and language

development. Good spellers not only

demonstrate a good sense of the sounds

in words, they also have a good sense of

the meaningful parts of words (e.g., un-,

desir[e], -able), the roles words play in

sentences (e.g., packed is a past-tense

verb, but pact is a noun), and the relation-

ships among words’ meanings that exist

in spite of differences in their sounds (e.g.,

image and imagination). Precocious

spellers in the Scripps National Spelling

Bee display exceptional knowledge of

vocabulary, etymology (the history of

words), and parts of speech. A wide, deep

knowledge base underlies what on the

surface may seem like a “simple” skill. Not

all children can win spelling bees, but all

can beneﬁt from knowing how spelling

reﬂects word origin, meaning, and

pronunciation.

–R.M.J., R.T., S.C., and L.C.M.

The Real Magic of Spelling:

Improving Reading and Writing

(Endnotes on page 43)

e correlation between spelling

and reading comprehension is

high because both depend on a

common denominator: prociency

with language. e more deeply

and thoroughly a student knows a

word, the more likely he or she is to

recognize it, spell it, dene it, and

use it appropriately in speech and

writing.

10 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009

across it makes sense. In addition, the English writing system

reveals the history of the English language. For example, ch pro-

nounced as /ch/, as in chair or chief, appears in Anglo-Saxon or

Old English words; the same letter combination ch pronounced

as /sh/, as in chef and chaueur, appears in French words of Latin

origin; and ch pronounced as /k/, as in ache and orchid, appears

in words borrowed from Greek. Approximately 20 percent to 25

percent of English words are of Anglo-Saxon origin and about 60

percent are of Latin origin (of which 50 percent are directly from

Latin and another 10 percent are from Latin

through French, as in chef and chaueur). e

remaining 15 to 20 percent of English words are

primarily of Greek origin.*

What Types of Information Make

Spelling Predictable?

ere are three types of information that, once

learned, make spelling much more predictable:

(1) word origin and history, (2) syllable patterns

and meaningful parts of words, and (3) letter

patterns. Each of these is discussed briey below;

suggestions on when and how to teach them are

in the sections that follow.

Word Origin and History

Knowing the origins of words can be helpful in pronouncing and

spelling them.

For example, in words of Greek origin, which

tend to be long and scientic, /f/ is reliably spelled ph, as in pho-

tosynthesis and philodendron, and /k/ is often spelled ch, as in

chlorophyll and chemistry. Fancy French words use that same ch

combination for the /sh/ sound, as in champagne and chande-

lier, but Anglo-Saxon uses sh, as in ship and wish, while sophis-

ticated Latin words use ti, si, or ci, as in nation, percussion, and

special.

Let’s take a little closer look at words of Anglo-Saxon origin.

ey are typically short, related to daily life (as opposed to sci-

ence, like a lot of Greek words, or lofty ideas, like a lot of Latin

words), and often have silent letters that were once pronounced

(e.g., knee, gnat, ghost, climb, wrist). e pronunciations of the

words changed over time, but the spellings did not—they con-

tinue to convey the earlier pronunciations. As students learn to

spell these words, they may enjoy using a special Anglo-Saxon

pronunciation to help them remember the silent letters. is

pronunciation cues students to the correct spellings of the words.

Students also can make connections among words that have

similar meanings but that vary in whether or not they have silent

letters. For example, in remembering how to spell words with a

silent w, such as wrist, wring, and wrench, it is helpful for stu-

dents to note that these words share the meaning “twist.”

The spellings of some words are unusual because of their

associations with certain historical gures. For instance, caesar-

ean is associated with Julius Caesar, who is said to have been

delivered through surgery, and silhouette can be traced to Eti-

enne de Silhouette, a French nance minister in the middle of

the 1700s who was known for his shady deals. Leotard, a garment

worn by acrobats and dancers, was named for Jules Léotard, a

19th-century French aerialist. Similarly, pasteurize comes from

Louis Pasteur, the famous French chemist and microbiologist,

and galvanize from Luigi Galvani, an Italian physician and physi-

cist. Maverick comes from Sam Maverick, who refused to brand

his cattle; hence a maverick is someone who is dierent, out of

the ordinary. Other words come not from historical gures but

from other words (especially, as we have seen, Latin and Greek

words). For example, radical means root, hence radish means

edible root. And anthology literally means ower gathering; thus,

an anthology editor is supposed to have gathered the choicest

owers in the eld.

†

Syllable Patterns and Meaningful Parts of Words

ere are two common types of syllables, called closed and open,

that are very helpful in spelling.

A closed syllable has one vowel

followed by at least one consonant and the vowel is short (e.g.,

cat, ball, and pencil). An open syllable ends in one vowel and the

vowel is long (e.g., he, go, and the rst syllable in hotel). Learning

about open and closed syllables is especially helpful for deciding

whether or not to double a consonant in the middle of a word. If

students have been taught about closed and open syllables, then

they know why rabbit is spelled with two b’s in the middle while

label is spelled with only one. e word rabbit divides between

the two consonants, rab/bit. e rst syllable, rab, is closed, and

the vowel is pronounced as a short a. e word label divides

before the consonant, la/bel. e rst syllable, la, is open, and

the vowel is pronounced with a long a sound. Known as the “rab-

bit rule,” it’s a simple formula to remember: in a two-syllable

word, there’s a double consonant in the middle after a short

vowel.

Instead of memorizing whether to use one or two con-

sonants in the middle of words like cotton, tennis, sudden, mun,

and happen, students can use the rabbit rule. Of course, there

are exceptions, such as cabin, robin, lemon, and camel, but these

words are not as frequent as words that follow the rabbit rule.

Knowledge of the meaningful parts of words—prexes, suf-

xes, and roots—is of great help in the development of spelling

(and vocabulary). Technically, what we’re talking about here are

known as morphemes—they are the smallest meaningful units

in words. When the units have meaning by themselves, such as

the words cat and play, they are referred to as free morphemes.

e major goal of the English writing

system is not merely to ensure accurate

pronunciation of the written word—it is

to convey meaning. If words that sound

the same (e.g., rain, rein, and reign)

were spelled the same way, their mean-

ings would be harder to dierentiate.

* For more on the history of English, see “How Spelling Supports Reading” by Louisa

C. Moats in the Winter 2005-06 issue of American Educator, online at www.aft.org/

pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/winter05-06/Moats.pdf.

†

An excellent reference for words from various languages, words from Greek and

Latin roots, and words from names is R. L. Venezky, The American Way of Spelling:

The Structure and Origins of American English Orthography (New York: Guilford

Press, 1999).

(Continued from page 8)

AMERIcAN EdUcATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 11

However, cats has two morphemes—a free morpheme cat and a

bound morpheme s. Bound morphemes do not have meaning

by themselves; they take on meaning when attached to a free

morpheme (another example is the ed in played).

Teaching morphemes often requires more information on

word origin. For example, when teaching the spellings of words

with the suxes er and or, which mean one who, as in worker or

actor, teachers can tell their students that words from Old Eng-

lish are basic survival words. Words such as worker, carpenter,

farmer, grocer, baker, brewer, and butcher are Old English and

use er, whereas words of Latin origin are more sophisticated and

use or, as in actor, professor, educator, aviator, director, and

counselor. e same principle applies to the suxes able and

ible, both meaning able to. We use able for Old English base

words and ible for Latin roots. us, we have passable, laughable,

breakable, agreeable, and punishable, as compared to edible,

audible, credible, visible, and indelible.

‡

Letter Patterns in Words

Knowledge of letter patterns in words provides students with

clues for spelling. English has certain constraints on how letters

can be used. For example, q is almost always followed by u and

then another vowel, as in queen and quail. Exceptions are mostly

proper nouns borrowed from other languages, like Qatar and

Iraq. Another example of a letter pattern is the rule that words

do not end with v; hence we have give, love, and live, with kiev

being an exception because it is borrowed from Russian. Also,

certain letters never or rarely double in any position, such as h,

k, j, v, x, and y. A nal example of a letter pattern is that words do

not begin with identical consonants, llama being one of the few

exceptions because of its Spanish origin. Even young children

often follow this pattern, although they are unable to verbalize

it. For example, researchers asked kindergartners and rst grad-

ers to tell which item looked more like a real word: nuss or nnus.

A majority of children were able to identify correctly that nuss

looks more like a real word. As noted in this and other studies,

rst graders do not often begin words with ck or with letter com-

binations like bc.

Students need not learn all of the possible letter patterns, but

they should learn the letter patterns that frequently represent

speech sounds. For instance, /k/ in initial or medial position can

be spelled with c or k. Before a, o, u, or any consonant, /k/ is

spelled c (e.g., cat, cot, cut, clasp, crust). Before e, i, or y, /k/ is

spelled k (e.g., keep, kite, sky). (One mnemonic device that is help-

ful involves the four criteria that are used for evaluating diamonds.

e four c’s stand for carat, color, cut, and clarity or, when applied

to spelling, /k/ is spelled with c before a, o, u, or any consonant.)

Of course, there are exceptions to this pattern, such as kangaroo,

skunk, and skate. By discovering exceptions, students can dem-

onstrate and reinforce their understanding of patterns. Students

may discover the exceptions on their own, or teachers may point

them out and teach these words through mnemonic sentences

(e.g., e kangaroo and the skunk like to skate) rather than asking

students to visually memorize these words.

Clearly, there is a great deal for students to learn, but it is

manageable when spread over several years. e next two sec-

tions provide an overview of what to teach in the elementary and

middle grades, and suggestions for how to deliver language-

based instruction. In addition, the sidebar on page 14 shows

samples from two carefully developed, well-sequenced spelling

programs.

What Should Be Taught in Each Grade?

e order in which various patterns are introduced may dier

from one spelling program to the next. However, the following

sequence oers some guidance for planning systematic, explicit

spelling instruction for kindergarten through grade 7.

In kindergarten, activities that heighten students’ awareness

of the sounds that make up language and that develop their

letter-name and letter-sound knowledge provide a foundation

for spelling. For example, students can (1) count the number

of syllables in words, (2) listen for a particular sound in words

and give a “thumbs-up” if the sound is heard, and (3) count the

number of sounds in words by saying a word slowly and moving

a counting token for each sound. By the end of kindergarten,

students should be able to quickly name letters on a chart as

the teacher points to each letter, and quickly give the sounds

of letters with one frequent sound (e.g., b, d, f ). In addition,

plentiful opportunities to write will help students connect

speaking and writing.

Anglo-Saxon words with regular consonant and vowel

sound-letter correspondences are introduced in grade 1. Stu-

dents learn to spell one-syllable words with one-to-one cor-

respondences such as the short vowels and the consonant

sounds /b/, /d/, /f/, /g/, /h/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /p/, /s/, and /t/. ey

learn a few common patterns for sounds that have more than

one spelling, such as that /k/ before a, o, u, or any consonant

is spelled c (e.g., cap, cot, cub, class, club) and before e, i, or y is

spelled k (e.g., kept, kiss, skit). Other common patterns to teach

in rst grade include (1) the fact that when a long vowel sound

‡

For detailed descriptions of morpheme meanings and their spellings in relation to

their origins, see: Marcia K. Henry, Unlocking Literacy: Effective Decoding and

Spelling Instruction (Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes, 2003).

12 AMERIcAN EdUcATOR | WINTER 2008-2009

in the initial or medial position is followed by one consonant

sound, e is added to the end of the word (e.g., name, these, ve,

rope, cube), and (2) the “floss rule,” which helps students

remember that after a short vowel, a nal /f/ is spelled , nal

/l/ is spelled ll, and nal /s/ is spelled ss (as in sti, well, and

grass). Some common exceptions to point out are if, this, us,

thus, yes, bus, and his. Once students are secure with the spell-

ing of the rst three sounds, they can add /z/, as in zz.

By second grade, students should be ready for more complex

Anglo-Saxon letter patterns and common inectional endings.

Students learn to spell one-syllable words with

patterns such as:

nal /k/ after a short vowel in a one-sylla-•

ble word is spelled ck (e.g., back, peck, sick,

sock, duck);

nal /k/ after a consonant or two vowels •

is spelled k (e.g., milk, desk, book, peek);

final /ch/ after a short vowel in a one-•

syllable word is spelled tch (e.g., catch,

pitch, match), and after a consonant or

two vowels is spelled ch (e.g., bench,

pouch); the words which, rich, much, and

such are exceptions;

nal /j/ after a short vowel in a one-sylla-•

ble word is spelled dge and ge after a long

vowel, a consonant, or two vowels (e.g.,

badge, fudge, age, hinge, scrooge); and

initial and medial /au/ is usually spelled • ou and nal /au/

is spelled ow (e.g., out, found, cow, how).

Students also learn to spell words with inectional endings,

such as ing and ed. Spelling words with these endings may require

doubling or dropping a letter. For example, when a sux that

begins with a vowel is added to a one-syllable word that ends in

one vowel and one consonant, the nal consonant is doubled

(e.g., hopping, running, stopped, and bagged). e same is true

when a sux that begins with a vowel is added to the last syllable

of a multisyllabic word that ends in one vowel and one consonant,

and is stressed* (e.g., beginning and occurred). When a sux that

begins with a vowel is added to a word that ends in a nal e, the

nal e is dropped (e.g., hoping, naming, saved, joked).

Students learn how to spell multisyllablic words, the

unstressed vowel schwa (as in sofa and alone), and most com-

mon prexes and suxes in grade 3. ey learn more compli-

cated patterns such as using c for both the nal /k/ after a short

vowel in a word with more than one syllable (e.g., public, lilac,

fantastic) and for the medial /s/ in a multisyllabic word after a

vowel and before e, i, or y (e.g., grocery, recess, recite). Students

also learn to spell words with common suxes that may require

changing a letter. For example, they learn to change y to i when

a sux that does not begin with i is added to a word that ends

in a consonant and a nal y (e.g., happiness, babies, plentiful).

Latin-based prexes, suxes, and roots are introduced in

grade 4. Students spell words with meaningful word parts such

as vis (television), audi (auditorium), duc (conductor), port

(transportation), and spect (spectacular).

Greek combining forms are introduced in grades 5 to 7. Stu-

dents spell words with meaningful word parts such as photo

(photography), phono (symphony), logy (biology), philo (philoso-

phy), tele (telescope), and thermo (thermodynamic).

How Should Spelling Be Taught?

Students should be taught about the lawfulness of spelling, even

while irregularities are acknowledged. Students can be encour-

aged to recognize, learn, and use the patterns in English spelling

through systematic, explicit instruction and activities. Such

instruction requires careful planning, but is much more eective

than memorizing words in a rote fashion.

With guidance, students can be led to recognize the sounds

in words and their most frequent spellings.

For example, a

sound-spelling pattern might be introduced by preparing a list

of ve or six words that contain the same sound and the same

spelling of that sound. Let’s use the words ship, shop, wish, dish,

ash, and usher to see how such a lesson would unfold with rst-

grade students. Before diving into the list, students should be

taught the terms initial, medial, and nal to refer to the positions

of sounds and letter patterns in words. Initial is used to denote

a sound or letter pattern at the beginning of a word or syllable.

Medial includes any sound or letter pattern that is between the

initial and nal positions (e.g., the letter n is in the medial posi-

tion of the words snip and splint). Final denotes a sound or letter

pattern at the end of a word or syllable. e lesson then proceeds

as follows:

Teacher: Say each word after me and listen for the sound

that is the same in all the words. [e teacher reads the

words—ship, shop, wish, dish, ash, usher—one at a time.

Students repeat each word.] Tell me the sound that is the

same in all these words.

Students: /sh/

Teacher: In what positions did you hear /sh/? Did you

hear it in the initial position?

Students: Yes.

Teacher: In which words?

Students: In ship and shop.

This last condition applies to one-syllable words as well, but they are all stressed.

e spellings of English words are inuenced

by the positions of the letters within the words,

meaningful word parts, and the history of

English. Spelling, therefore, is a window on

what a person knows about words. Learning

about words and about the language will

improve spelling skills.

AMERIcAN EdUcATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 13

Teacher: Listen to the words again. [e teacher reads the

words again.] Did you hear it in nal position?

Students: Yes, in dish and splash.

Teacher: Listen to the words again and tell me if you hear

/sh/ in medial position. [e teacher reads the words

again.]

Students: Yes, in usher.

Teacher: [e teacher writes the words on the board.]

Look at these words and tell me what letter or letters are

the same.

Students: sh

Teacher: In what positions do you see the letter or letters?

Students: In initial position and in nal position and in

medial position.

Teacher: Tell me the pattern.

Students: When you hear /sh/, spell it sh.

is type of lesson heightens students’ awareness of sounds

in words and calls their attention to the letters and letter patterns

that spell the sounds.

Students can also recognize letter patterns through word

sorts. Table 1 shows a list of words where /k/ is spelled with k or

c in the initial position and with k, ck, or c in the nal position.

Students can be given the list of words and asked to write the

words where they belong in worksheets like those shown under

Table 1. After completing this activity, students can be led to see

when /k/ is represented by the letter k and when it is represented

by the letter c. ey will also see the spelling patterns of /k/ in

nal position. Even if only 10 to 30 of these words appear in the

weekly spelling lesson and on the spelling test, students should

be able to generalize what they’ve learned to all of the words that

follow the patterns of spelling /k/.

A similar activity can be developed to teach ch or tch at the

end of a word. Give a list of words that end in ch or tch, as in Table

2, and use this to help children gure out the spellings of the

corresponding sound.

How Should Spelling Be Assessed?

When testing students’ spelling, it’s important to go beyond sim-

ply marking words right or wrong. e assessment should be an

opportunity to evaluate students’ understanding of sounds and

conventional spelling patterns. e kinds of words that students

miss and the types of errors they make are important in evaluat-

ing their spelling achievement and their understanding of lan-

guage structures.

For example, by carefully reviewing students’

errors, a teacher may see that some students are confusing /b/

and /p/. Figuring out what to do requires some follow-up. Many

students confuse /b/ and /p/ because the letters that are used to

spell them are visually similar. But some students who consis-

tently confuse /b/ and /p/ may not be aware that even though

the positions of the tongue, teeth, and lips are the same when

pronouncing /b/ and /p/, one sound is voiced (i.e., /b/ activates

the vocal cords) and the other is unvoiced.

is diculty can

be corrected by having the student place two ngers on his or

her vocal cords as the word is pronounced in order to feel

whether or not the vocal cords are activated.

To deliver more targeted instruction, researchers devised a

Table 2.

List of words with ch or tch.

beach witch

pouch preach

starch church

batch notch

crunch clutch

hitch march

hutch sketch

ﬁnch scratch

botch punch

perch switch

ch tch

Table 1. List of words with various spellings

for /k/ in initial and ﬁnal positions.

trafﬁc dock lock

brick music seek

brook book block

keg meek lilac

hook keep kettle

public thick trunk

crash pack luck

track cure shook

kindle kilt culvert

week crater speck

quick kept duck

carpet sulk shellac

attic crook kin

cord combat elk

peck frantic rock

look task deck

Initial position

k c

Final position

k c ck

(Continued on page 16)

14 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009

English spelling is more regular and rule bound than commonly

believed, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to teach. Instruction needs to

be carefully sequenced so as to build up from common, regular words

(like cat) to uncommon, specialized words (like hydroponics). Since

such instruction must be spread across several grades, educators may

ﬁnd that a well-planned program is the best way to deliver coherent

spelling instruction.

Unfortunately, very little research exists to guide educators in select-

ing a program: we are not aware of any large-scale studies that

compare the relative effectiveness of various spelling programs.

Nonetheless, as explained in the main article, research has found

language-based spelling instruction (e.g., that focuses on sound-letter

correspondences) to be more effective than instruction that relies

heavily on visual memorization of words (e.g., that uses ﬂashcards).

The two programs shown here—Primary Spelling by Pattern, for early

elementary students, and Spellography, for upper elementary

students—offer explicit, carefully sequenced instruction in the structure

and history of the English language. They both emphasize sound-letter

correspondences and provide an array of activities to help students

understand and remember the regularities and patterns in English.

–e d i t o r s

Teaching Spelling

These Language-Based Programs Provide the Grade-by-Grade,

Well-Sequenced Instruction That Students Need

Lesson 15 • Huge Smudge

Dictate words in the lesson word list for Pretest and Posttest

administration. Modify the number of words as needed.

Spelling Concept:

At the ends of words,

the /j/ sound is spelled with -dge

or -ge

. In

this lesson, we’ll review the work we did

with the -dge

or consonant + -ge

spellings

in Lesson 10—Hodgepodge, plus add a few

more wrinkles to the /j/ sound study and—

hopefully— to your brain.

First of all, it is a spelling fact that no

words in English end in a plain letter j

. So

spelling /j/ with a j

is NOT an option. That

leaves us with “soft g”: a g

followed by an e

to represent the sound /j/.

Short vowels need extra protection if you

add -ge

after them. If you add -ge

after a

vowel, a “magic e

” spelling results. For

example, the word wage has a long vowel

followed by -ge

. To spell a short vowel

before a /j/ sound, the -ge

needs some help

from a guardian that will keep the “magic

” far enough away. That’s why we add a

-dge

after short vowels, unless there is

already another consonant between the

vowel and the -ge

. The words in th is we ek’s

sp el li ng li st h av e t he se p at te rn s:

Long vowels can be followed directly by -ge

. The silent e

is doing two jobs: it is representing

the soft sound of g

and it is marking the vowel as long:

However, in multi-syllable words, the final syllable is often unaccented. This means that the

silent e

sometimes gets sleepy and doesn’t mark the vowel. The vowel is then muffled into the

dreaded schwa (



) vowel sound. When words get longer, watch out for the schwa!

1. dodge

2. bulge

3. page

4. ridge

5. forge

6. huge

7. pledge

8. fringe

9. judge

10. stage

11. largely

12. cage

13. verge

14. plunge

15. dredge

16. refuge

17. smudge

18. indulge

19. message

20. damage

21. village

22. knowledge*

23. wreckage

24. challenge

Lesson 15 Word List

LESSON 15

Huge Smudge

Irregular words:

sought, by, of, some

* Marks a word that does not follow the pattern.

short v + -dge

(ridge, dodge) short v + -nge

(fringe, plunge)

short v + -lge

(bulge, indulge) v + -r

-ge

(verge, forge)

long v + -ge

(page, huge)

unaccented v + -ge

= /



j/ (village, damage)

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM SOPRIS WEST EDUCA-

TIONAL SERVICES. PRIMARY SPELLING BY PATTERN: TEACHER EDI-

Primary Spelling by Pattern

Lesson 10 Parent Page

In Lesson 7, students were introduced to the pattern

for spelling the nal /k/ sound. We will be revisiting

that pattern this week. Students learned that the ck

spelling is used right after a short-vowel sound.

Spelling /ng/ and /nk/ Words

The second part of the lesson focuses on the /ng/ sound. The /ng/ sound is made by raising the

back of the tongue and pushing air out through the nose. Pinch your nose and try to say “sing, sang,

song.” Have your child do the same. You will soon be giggling together.

The sound /ng/ is spelled with ng unless it comes right before /k/. Then we use the letter n for

the /ng/ sound. The easiest way to help your child remember the spelling of ng and nk words is to

teach him or her that all the words that rhyme with the words sing, sang, and song and bank, wink,

and bonk are spelled in the same way.

On the Road to Success

This is a good time to assess your child’s progress. Check to see whether your child can spell these

nonsense words. Use the information you gather to help you work with your child at home.

Errors with the following nonsense words indicate . . .

Which consonants and short-vowel sounds are not yet

mastered:

jat feg pim hob kuv

That your child might still have trouble with blends: prad tref skib drom spug

That your child might need additional work with the

H-brother digraphs:

shap ched theb whum

That your child hasn’t yet mastered the ck pattern: ck bock rask feek

That your child might need more practice with ng and nk: ying nang mank runk

When the /k/ sound is right

after a short vowel in a one-

syllable word, spell it ck. The

/ng/ sound is usually spelled ng.

It is in these word families: ing,

ang, ong, ung (as in sing, sang,

song, sung).

Spelling Pattern

165631_SbyP_BLM_Parent.indd 17

8/3/07 9:06:48 AM

Primary Spelling by Pattern

Developed by Ellen Javernick, a ﬁrst-

and second-grade teacher, and Louisa

Moats, a researcher who specializes in

reading and spelling, Primary Spelling by

Pattern is a program for ﬁrst through

third graders, or for older students who

are having difﬁculty. Level 1 of the

program is currently available; two more

levels are being developed. The samples

shown here are all from Lesson 10 on how

to spell the /k/ and /ng/ sounds; there are

two pages from the teacher edition, one

student worksheet, and the parent handout.

Primary Spelling by Pattern

Lesson 10 Home Support Activities

Day 1

Review the pattern for choosing the correct spelling for a nal /k/ sound. Ask your child

to explain the ck pattern to you.

Day 2

Listen to your child read the silly sentences that were used for the dictation exercise today.

Encourage uent reading.

1. Nick sat on the stack of sticks.

2. He had a snack of Cracker Jacks and milk.

3. It was just luck that Jack did not sit on the tack in the back of the truck.

4. The duck ran to check on the ock of chicks stuck in the black mud.

5. The elk went past the big rock.

Day 3

Ask your child to explain why it’s impossible to hold your nose and say sing, sang, song.

Day 4

At school today, your child played a game called “I Spy.” You can play it at home, too. The

game is played as follows: Pick a word on the page of a book you have been reading together. Give

your child clues. Then ask your child to try to guess the word you’re thinking of. Here are some

example clues:

The word has a short ___ sound.

It starts with the ___ sound.

It has a __ _ ending.

It rhymes with ___.

When your child becomes good at nding words, you can reverse roles and let your child give the

clues.

165631_SbyP_BLM_Parent.indd 18

8/3/07 9:06:49 AM

Lesson 10 Sing, Sang, Song

Lesson 10 Sing, Sang, Song (Word Families)

Word Sort: A Slick Magic Trick

Write each word from the word list in the correct hat.

peek silk talk snack park slick make

spank ask speck week chick hike

pink disk neck yuck hulk

Vowel Is Not Short

Short Vowel +

Two Consonant

Sounds Short Vowel + /k/

peek silk snack

165606_SbyP_SE_Book.indd 37

8/3/07 9:32:05 AM

Primary Spelling by Pattern Teacher

Play the game using the following words or other single-syllable words.

fun

take

glad

shout

trick

boil

dream

duck

shed

draw

turn

list

slip

shook

milk

block

book

mine

champ

mine

Understanding the Spelling Pattern/Guided Practice

Word Sort: A Slick Magic Trick

15 min

Say: Turn to Lesson 10, page 37. We are going to sort these words together. I will read them to

you, and then you write them in the correct column on your paper. Remember, we use ck only

after a short-vowel sound, when there is not another consonant sound before the /k/ sound.

Show students the three magic hats. Point out that the word magic is not spelled with a ck

because it is not a single-syllable word (or a compound word—two words hooked together—

compound words will be introduced in Lesson 21).

Words List

peek

silk

talk

snack

park

slick

make

spank

ask

speck

week

chick

hike

pink

disk

neck

yuck

hulk

Vowel Is Not Short

Short Vowel +

Two Consonant Sounds Short Vowel + /k/

peek silk snack

talk spank slick

park ask speck

make pink chick

week disk yuck

hike hulk neck

Home Support Activity

Send home the Lesson 10 Parent Page. Encourage students to review the ck pattern.

133356_SbyP_TE_Book.indb 92

8/3/07 9:19:29 AM

Lesson 10 Sing, Sang, Song (Word Families)

Day 1

Spelling Pattern When the /k/ sound is right after a short vowel in a one-syllable word,

spell it ck.

The /ng/ sound is usually spelled ng. It is in these word families: ing, ang, ong, ung (as in

sing, sang, song, sung).

Words that rhyme with bank, wink, bonk, bunk are spelled with nk. The letter n before k

stands for the /ng/ sound.

Materials

Self-stick notes on which you have written the words cob, kitten, tack, cuff, kiss, and deck

Self-stick notes on which you have written c, k, and ck

Student pages, Lesson 10

Lesson 10 Parent Page

Review

Three Ways to Spell /k/

5 min

Place the self-stick notes with c, k, and ck on the board.

Hold up one self-stick note at a time for the words cob, kitten, ta ck, cuff, kiss, and deck.

Say: Let’s read this word. Is there a /k/ sound? How is it spelled?

Place the c, k, and ck words below the correct /k/ spelling on the board.

c k ck

cob kitten tack

cuff kiss deck

Say: What are three ways to spell /k/? Where is ck used? (ck is used only at the end of a

wo rd .)

Linguistic Awareness

Short- and Long-Vowel Discrimination

10 min

Say: Before we learn this week’s spelling pattern, we are going to be sure everyone can

hear the difference between short-vowel sounds and other vowel sounds. We are going to

play a game. When I say a word, listen to the vowel sound. If you hear a short-vowel sound,

squat down and make yourself short. If the vowel sound you hear is not short, stand up. For

example, if I say bed, you will squat down because the vowel in bed has its short sound. If I

say bike , you will stand up because the vowel in bike does not have its short sound.

•

133356_SbyP_TE_Book.indb 91

8/3/07 9:19:28 AM

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM

SOPRIS WEST EDUCATIONAL SERVICES.

PRIMARY SPELLING BY PATTERN: STUDENT EDITION,

AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 15

Word Construction Zone Compounding is an Anglo-Saxon way of forming new words

by combining shorter words. Compound words can be joined together (himself), separated

(White House), or hyphenated (dog-eat-dog).

Stage Fright Congratulations! You are at the stage in life when it’s just

right for you to find compound words built with the word stage. List four of

them here.

_____________________ ____________________

66 Spellography • A Student Road Map to Better Spelling

Exercise 9

Phoneme Substitution and Deletion

Create word magic by following

these instructions.

Say dot. Change the /t/ to /j/. Say forge. Change the /j/ to /s/.

Say batch. Change the /ch/ to /j/. Say verge. Change the /j/ to /s/.

Say refuge. Change the /j/ to /s/. Say large. Change the /j/ to /k/.

Say wreckage. Change the /j/ to /n/. Say strange. Say it without the /j/.

Mark the vowels

in these words from this lesson’s study list as long (L),

short (S), v + -r (R), or silent (/) (a diagonal line).

dodge forge judge verge smudge page

bulge huge stage plunge indulge cage

pledge largely dredge ridge fringe

These words also have schwa vowels.

Mark the vowels as in Exercise #2a,

and then underline the schwa vowels.

knowledge challenge

message damage

village wreckage

Spellography • A Student Road Map to Better Spelling

Exercise 1

Exercise

Spelling Concept: The ge

Complex

If a word ending begins with any letter other

than e

or i

, don’t drop the e

from -ge

words. The word needs the e

to keep the soft sound

of g

, which is /j/.

Add the given suffixes

and write the new spellings in the blanks.

gorge + ous ________________________

age + less ________________________

outrage + ous ________________________

arrange + ment ________________________

huge + ly ________________________

knowledge + able ________________________

dodge + ing ________________________

manage + able ________________________

engagement arrangement damageable knowledgeable

62 Spellography • A Student Road Map to Better Spelling

Exercise

Lesson 15 • Huge Smudge

Dictate words in the lesson word list for Pretest and Posttest

administration. Modify the number of words as needed.

Spelling Concept:

At the ends of words,

the /j/ sound is spelled with -dge

or -ge

. In

this lesson, we’ll review the work we did

with the -dge

or consonant + -ge

spellings

in Lesson 10—Hodgepodge, plus add a few

more wrinkles to the /j/ sound study and—

hopefully— to your brain.

First of all, it is a spelling fact that no

words in English end in a plain letter j

. So

spelling /j/ with a j

is NOT an option. That

leaves us with “soft g”: a g

followed by an e

to represent the sound /j/.

Short vowels need extra protection if you

add -ge

after them. If you add -ge

after a

vowel, a “magic e

” spelling results. For

example, the word wage has a long vowel

followed by -ge

. To spell a short vowel

before a /j/ sound, the -ge

needs some help

from a guardian that will keep the “magic

” far enough away. That’s why we add a

-dge

after short vowels, unless there is

already another consonant between the

vowel and the -ge

. The words in th is we ek’s

sp el li ng li st h av e t he se p at te rn s:

Long vowels can be followed directly by -ge

. The silent e

is doing two jobs: it is representing

the soft sound of g

and it is marking the vowel as long:

However, in multi-syllable words, the final syllable is often unaccented. This means that the

silent e

sometimes gets sleepy and doesn’t mark the vowel. The vowel is then muffled into the

dreaded schwa (



) vowel sound. When words get longer, watch out for the schwa!

1. dodge

2. bulge

3. page

4. ridge

5. forge

6. huge

7. pledge

8. fringe

9. judge

10. stage

11. largely

12. cage

13. verge

14. plunge

15. dredge

16. refuge

17. smudge

18. indulge

19. message

20. damage

21. village

22. knowledge*

23. wreckage

24. challenge

Lesson 15 Word List

LESSON 15

Huge Smudge

Irregular words:

sought, by, of, some

* Marks a word that does not follow the pattern.

short v + -dge

(ridge, dodge) short v + -nge

(fringe, plunge)

short v + -lge

(bulge, indulge) v + -r

-ge

(verge, forge)

long v + -ge

(page, huge)

unaccented v + -ge

= /



j/ (village, damage)

Spellography

Developed by Louisa Moats, a researcher who specializes in

reading and spelling, and Bruce Rosow, a middle-grades resource

teacher and curriculum coordinator, Spellography is a program

for fourth and ﬁfth graders (who read at or above the mid-third-

grade level) or for middle-grades students in need of more

structured language instruction. The sample pages shown here,

all of which are from the student workbook, are from Lesson 15

on spelling the /j/ sound.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM SOPRIS WEST EDUCATIONAL SERVICES. SPELLoGrAPhy:

To learn more about Primary Spelling by Pattern and Spellography, go to

www.sopriswest.com and use the “Search Products” box on the left side

of the page.

Speed Read This journal entry describes Professor Thunker’s life among the

natives in Anchorage. Speed-read this absolutely fascinating account

out loud, and record your time and errors on three different

days.

Strange Georgia

North of Anchorage—through a peaceful

village, along a ridge, and over an aged arched

bridge—sits a hermitage with a cottage. The

cottage is perched beside Three Cow Gorge,

named for the strange cow Georgia who lives

there with the sage, Page. For a cow, Georgia is

strangely arranged and about the size of the grange. Each sunrise,

Page trudges to the barn and gives Georgia a huge hug. Georgia nudges

Page gently with her bulging baggage. Page then indulges Georgia, feeding her tonnage of

organic wheat and corn porridge. Since Georgia gorges on porridge, her poundage is outra-

geously outstanding. Standing outside the hermitage, I often spot that huge cow and the

grungy dog Bess near the garbage, bingeing on compost. Page thinks this is funny and is

glad there is less wastage at the hermitage along the ridge.

68 Spellography • A Student Road Map to Better Spelling

Finally:

Take the Posttest, and record your score here. Number Correct: ___________

Exercise

Challenge Activity

Underline all of the letter

spellings for the /j/ sound

in this passage. How many

did you find?

________

Day 1

Time:

_________

Errors:

_________

Day 2

Time:

_________

Errors:

_________

Day 3

Time:

_________

Errors:

_________

Lesson 10 Sing, Sang, Song

Lesson 10 Sing, Sang, Song (Word Families)

Word Sort: A Slick Magic Trick

Write each word from the word list in the correct hat.

peek silk talk snack park slick make

spank ask speck week chick hike

pink disk neck yuck hulk

Vowel Is Not Short

Short Vowel +

Two Consonant

Sounds Short Vowel + /k/

peek silk snack

165606_SbyP_SE_Book.indd 37

8/3/07 9:32:05 AM

16 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009

seven-point rubric to judge kindergarten students’ spelling.

score of 0 designated a random string of letters with no alphabetic

representations.

Scores of 1 to 5 indicated increasing degrees of

accuracy, and 6 represented a correct spelling. e scores of low-

income, inner-city students improved on this measure after 11

weeks of instruction on the sounds that make up English words,

even though the trained students did not spell all of the post-test

words correctly. However, their post-test spellings demonstrated

improvement in segmenting sounds and sound-letter knowledge.

Although the assessment of spelling using a validated rubric takes

more time than marking words right or wrong, it provides a more

complete picture of students’ linguistic knowledge and is helpful

in designing appropriate instruction.*

ur knowledge of spelling (and writing) has lagged

behind our understanding of reading. It has often

been assumed that spelling mostly involves rote

visual memorization, but we have argued that this is

not the case. As Rebecca Treiman, one of the authors of this

article, has written, “For young children, spelling is a creative

linguistic process rather than a learned habit involving rote visual

memorization. Young children create spellings for words based

on their knowledge of language and their knowledge of print.

ey do not simply memorize letter sequences.”

Treiman has

further argued that “knowledge of the alphabet and phonological

awareness are two foundations on which literacy learning rests.

Young children are not just rote memorizers when learning

about the sounds of letters, when learning about the printed

forms of their own names, and when learning to read their rst

few words. Linguistic factors are intimately involved in this learn-

ing, just as they are in the development of phonological

awareness.”

We do not wish to argue that visual memory has no role in

learning to spell. Rather, we emphasize that memory for spelling

patterns relies on and is facilitated by an understanding of lin-

guistic concepts, including speech sounds, sound-letter corre-

spondences, word origins, and meaningful parts of words. e

primary mechanism for word memory is not a photographic

memory, as many believe; it is insight into why the word is

spelled the way it is.

* To learn more about assessing spelling, see: Kathy Ganske, Word Journeys:

Assessment-Guided Phonics, Spelling, and Vocabulary Instruction (New York:

Guilford Press, 2000); and Donald R. Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane R. Templeton,

and Francine Johnston, Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and

Spelling Instruction (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003).

Sometimes, spelling instruction ends up

on the back burner because of the

existence of computer spell checkers.

Isn’t mastery of correct spelling within

the reach of every computer user? Not

really. Spell checkers do not eliminate

the need to learn to spell accurately.

When we used a computer spell checker

for the sentence The bevers bild tunls to

get to their loj, the spell checker gave

correct spellings for bevers (beavers)

and bild (build). However, the spell

checker did not come up with the words

needed to replace tunls (tunnels) or loj

(lodge). Instead, for tunls it provided

tuns, tunas, tunes, tongs, tens, tans,

tons, tins, tense, teens, and towns. And

for loj, it provided log, lot, lox, loge,

look, lost, lorid, load, lock, lode, lout, lo,

lob, lose, low, and logs. The fact is,

computer spell checkers are mainly a

tool for correcting typos. They are

helpful for those who are reasonably

good spellers, but they cannot compen-

sate for poor spelling. Further, computer

spell checkers cannot be relied on with

homophones. For instance, a spell

checker cannot correct the errors in the

sentence your sure glad to no for you’re

sure glad to know. It also misses errors

such as meet for meat and week for

weak.

A study with two fourth-grade boys

with learning disabilities reported that

spell checkers provided the correct

spellings of misspelled words 51–86

percent of the time.

Other studies

reported a wider range of performance

in identifying correct spellings, between

about 25 percent and 80 percent of the

time.

If a word was misspelled phoneti-

cally, the spell checker was able to

identify it about 80 percent of the time.

If a word was not spelled phonetically—

something that commonly occurs

among young children—the spell

checker was able to identify it only

about 25 percent of the time. Addi-

tional problems involving spell checkers

include words spelled correctly but used

inappropriately (e.g., then for them)

and the fact that some children cannot

pick the correct word from the list of

suggested words.

Thus, although

computer spell checkers are useful, they

do not substitute for explicit spelling

instruction.

–R.M.J., R.T., S.C., and L.C.M.

Endnotes

1. Bridget Dalton, N. E. Winbury, and Catherine Cobb

Morocco, “‘If You Could Just Push a Button’: Two Fourth

Grade Boys with Learning Disabilities Learn to Use a

Computer Spelling Checker,” Journal of Special Education

Technology 10 (1990): 177–91.

2. Charles A. MacArthur, Steve Graham, J. B. Haynes, and S.

DeLaPaz, “Spell Checkers and Students with Learning

Disabilities: Performance Comparisons and Impact on

Spelling,” Journal of Special Education 30 (1996): 35–57; and

Donna J. Montgomery, George R. Karlan, and Martha

Coutinho, “The Effectiveness of Word Processor Spell

Checker Programs to Produce Target Words for Misspellings

Generated by Students with Learning Disabilities,” Journal of

Special Education Technology 16 (2001): 27–41.

3. Charles A. MacArthur, “Using Technology to Enhance the

Writing Processes of Students with Learning Disabilities,”

Journal of Learning Disabilities 29 (1996): 344–54.

Don’t Computers Make Spelling Instruction Unnecessary?

(Continued from page 13)

(Continued on page 42)

42 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009

e spellings of English words are inuenced by the positions

of the letters within the words, meaningful word parts, and the

history of English. Teachers can draw children’s attention to the

types of information provided in this article, and this may be

expected to improve children’s spelling performance. Spelling

is a psychological, linguistic, and conceptual process involving

knowledge of the alphabet, syllables, word meaning, and the

history of words.

Spelling, therefore, is a window on what a

person knows about words. Learning about words and about the

language will improve spelling skills. ☐

Endnotes

1. Cited in Richard L. Venezky, “From Webster to Rice to Roosevelt,” in Cognitive

Processes in Spelling, ed. Uta Frith (London: Academic Press, 1980), 9–30.

2. Linnea C. Ehri, “Learning to Read and Learning to Spell Are One and the Same,

Almost,” in Learning to Spell: Research, Theory, and Practice across Languages, ed. Charles

A. Perfetti, Laurence Rieben, and Michel Fayol (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates, 1997), 237–69; R. Malatesha Joshi and P. G. Aaron, “Speciﬁc Spelling

Disability: Factual or Artifactual?” Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 2

(1990): 107–25; R. Malatesha Joshi and P. G. Aaron, “A New Way of Assessing Spelling

and Its Classroom Applications,” in Literacy Acquisition, Assessment, and Instruction: The

Role of Phonology, Orthography, and Morphology, ed. R. Malatesha Joshi, Bozydar

Kaczmarek, and Che Kan Leong (Amsterdam: IOS Press, 2003), 153–61; and Louisa C.

Moats, “How Spelling Supports Reading: And Why It Is More Regular and Predictable

Than You May Think,” American Educator 29, no. 4 (2005-06): 12–22, 42–3.

3. Linnea C. Ehri, “The Development of Spelling Knowledge and Its Role in Reading

Acquisition and Reading Disability,” Journal of Learning Disabilities 22 (1989): 356–65.

4. Arthur I. Gates and Esther H. Chase, “Methods and Theories of Learning to Spell Tested

by Studies of Deaf Children,” Journal of Educational Psychology 17 (1926): 289–300.

5. Leonard S. Cahen, Marlys J. Craun, and Susan K. Johnson, “Spelling Difﬁculty: A Survey

of the Research,” Review of Educational Research 41 (1971): 281–301; Gates and Chase,

“Methods and Theories”; Ernest Horn, “Spelling,” in Encyclopedia of Educational

Research, ed. Chester W. Harris, 3rd ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1960), 1337–54; and

Thomas Horn, “Spelling,” in Encyclopedia of Educational Research, ed. Robert L. Ebel, 4th

ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1969), 1282–99.

6. Marie Cassar, Rebecca Treiman, Louisa C. Moats, Tatiana Cury Pollo, and Brett Kessler,

“How Do the Spellings of Children with Dyslexia Compare with Those of Nondyslexic

Children?” Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 18 (2005): 27–49; and

Rebecca Treiman and Derrick C. Bourassa, “The Development of Spelling Skill,” Topics in

Language Disorders 20 (2000): 1–18.

7. Guojun Zhang and Herbert A. Simon, “STM Capacity for Chinese Words and Idioms:

Chunking and Acoustical Loop Hypotheses,” Memory and Cognition 13, no. 3 (1985):

193–201; and P. G. Aaron, Susan Wilczynski, and Victoria Keetay, “The Anatomy of

Word-Speciﬁc Memory,” in Reading and Spelling: Development and Disorders, ed. Charles

Hulme and R. Malatesha Joshi (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998),

405–19.

8. Rebecca Treiman, Beginning to Spell (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).

9. Cassar et al., “Children with Dyslexia”; Linnea C. Ehri, “Grapheme-Phoneme

Knowledge Is Essential for Learning to Read Words in English,” in Word Recognition in

Beginning Literacy, ed. Jamie L. Metsala and Linnea C. Ehri (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum Associates, 1998), 3–40; Linnea C. Ehri, “Learning to Read and Learning to Spell:

Two Sides of a Coin,” Topics in Language Disorders 20 (2000): 19–49; Louisa C. Moats,

Spelling: Development, Disability, and Instruction (Baltimore, MD: York Press, 1995); and

Louisa C. Moats, “Phonological Spelling Errors in the Writing of Dyslexic Adolescents,”

Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 8 (1996): 105–19.

10. Christopher T. Arra and P. G. Aaron, “Effects of Psycholinguistic Instruction on Spelling

Performance,” Psychology in the Schools 38, no. 4 (2001): 357–63.

11. Steve Graham, “Handwriting and Spelling Instruction for Students with Learning

Disabilities: A Review,” Learning Disability Quarterly 22 (1999): 78–98.

12. Virginia W. Berninger, Katherine Vaughan, Robert D. Abbott, Allison Brooks, Kristin

Begay, Gerald Curtin, Kristina Byrd, and Steve Graham, “Language-Based Spelling

Instruction: Teaching Children to Make Multiple Connections between Spoken and

Written Words,” Learning Disability Quarterly 23 (2000): 117–35.

13. Eileen Wynne Ball and Benita A. Blachman, “Does Phoneme Awareness Training in

Kindergarten Make a Difference in Early Word Recognition and Developmental Spelling?”

Reading Research Quarterly 26 (1991): 49–66; Benita A. Blachman, Eileen Wynne Ball,

Rochella Black, and Darlene M. Tangel, “Kindergarten Teachers Develop Phoneme

Awareness in Low-Income, Inner-City Classrooms: Does It Make a Difference?” Reading

and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 6 (1994): 1–18; and Benita A. Blachman, Darlene

M. Tangel, Eileen Wynne Ball, Rochella Black, and Colleen K. McGraw, “Developing

Phonological Awareness and Word Recognition Skills: A Two-Year Intervention with

Low-Income, Inner-City Children,” Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 11

(1999): 239–73.

14. Yolanda V. Post and Suzanne Carreker, “Orthographic Similarity and Phonological

Transparency in Spelling,” Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 15 (2002):

317–40.

15. Yolanda V. Post, Suzanne Carreker, and Ginger Holland, “The Spelling of Final Letter

Patterns: A Comparison of Instruction at the Level of the Phoneme and the Rime,” Annals

of Dyslexia 51 (2001): 121–46.

16. Paul R. Hanna, Jean S. Hanna, Richard E. Hodges, and Edwin H. Rudorf, Jr.,

Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences as Cues to Spelling Improvement, USDOE

Publication No. 32008 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Ofﬁce, 1966).

17. Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle, The Sound Pattern of English (New York: Harper and

Row, 1968), 49.

18. Suzanne Carreker, “Teaching Spelling,” in Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language

Skills, ed. Judith R. Birsh, 2nd ed. (Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes, 2005), 217–56; and

Marcia K. Henry, “A Short History of the English Language,” in Multisensory Teaching of

Basic Language Skills, ed. Judith R. Birsh, 2nd ed. (Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes, 2005),

119–39.

19. Marcia K. Henry, Unlocking Literacy: Effective Decoding and Spelling Instruction

(Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes, 2003); and Louisa C. Moats, Speech to Print: Language

Essentials for Teachers (Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes, 2000).

20. Carreker, “Teaching Spelling.”

21. Marie Cassar and Rebecca Treiman, “The Beginnings of Orthographic Knowledge:

Children’s Knowledge of Double Letters in Words,” Journal of Educational Psychology 89

(1997): 631–44.

22. Treiman, Beginning to Spell.

23. Carreker, “Teaching Spelling.”

24. R. Malatesha Joshi, “Assessing Reading and Spelling Skills,” School Psychology Review

24 (1995): 361–75.

25. Louisa C. Moats, Spellography for Teachers: How English Spelling Works; Language

Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS), Module 3 (Longmont, CO: Sopris

West, 2005); and Moats, “How Spelling Supports Reading.”

26. Darlene M. Tangel and Benita A. Blachman, “Effect of Phoneme Awareness Instruction

on Kindergarten Children’s Invented Spelling,” Journal of Reading Behavior 24 (1992):

233–61.

27. Rebecca Treiman, “Beginning to Spell in English,” in Reading and Spelling:

Development and Disorders, ed. Charles Hulme and R. Malatesha Joshi (Mahwah, NJ:

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998), 371–93.

28. Rebecca Treiman, “Knowledge about Letters as a Foundation for Reading and

Spelling,” in Handbook of Orthography and Literacy, ed. R. Malatesha Joshi and P. G.

Aaron (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006), 581–99.

29. Shane Templeton and Darrell Morris, “Spelling,” in Handbook of Reading Research,

ed. Michael L. Kamil, Peter B. Mosenthal, P. David Pearson, and Rebecca Barr (Mahwah,

NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000), 3:525–43.

Language-Based Spelling Instruction

(Continued from page 16)

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AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 43

Endnotes

1. Catherine E. Snow, Peg Grifﬁn, and M. Susan Burns,

eds., Knowledge to Support the Teaching of Reading:

Preparing Teachers for a Changing World (San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005).

2. Bonnie D. Singer and Anthony S. Bashir, “Develop-

mental Variations in Writing Composition Skills,” in

Handbook of Language and Literacy: Development and

Disorders, ed. C. Addison Stone, Elaine R. Silliman,

Barbara J. Ehren, and Kenn Apel (New York: Guilford

Press, 2004), 559–82.

3. Louisa C. Moats, Barbara R. Foorman, and Patrick

Taylor, “How Quality of Writing Instruction Impacts

High-Risk Fourth Graders’ Writing,” Reading and

Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 19 (2006):

363–91; and Anna Maria Re, Martina Pedron, and

Cesare Cornoldi, “Expressive Writing Difﬁculties in

Children Described as Exhibiting ADHD Symptoms,”

Journal of Learning Disabilities 40 (2007): 244–55.

4. Linnea C. Ehri, “Learning to Read and Learning to

Spell: Two Sides of a Coin,” Topics in Language

Disorders 20 (2000): 19–49.

5. Benita A. Blachman, Darlene M. Tangel, Eileen

Wynne Ball, Rochella Black, and Colleen K. McGraw,

“Developing Phonological Awareness and Word

Recognition Skills: A Two-Year Intervention with

Low-Income, Inner-City Children,” Reading and

Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 11 (1999): 239-73;

Linnea C. Ehri, “Grapheme-Phoneme Knowledge Is

Essential for Learning to Read Words in English,” in

Word Recognition in Beginning Literacy, ed. Jamie L.

Metsala and Linnea C. Ehri (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum Associates, 1998), 3–40; and Joanna K. Uhry

and Margaret Jo Shepherd, “Segmentation and

Spelling Instruction as Part of a First-Grade Reading

Program: Effects on Several Measures of Reading,”

Reading Research Quarterly 28 (1993): 219–33.

6. Moats, Foorman, and Taylor, “Quality of Writing

Instruction”; and Marie Cassar, Rebecca Treiman,

Louisa C. Moats, Tatiana Cury Pollo, and Brett Kessler,

“How Do the Spellings of Children with Dyslexia

Compare with Those of Nondyslexic Children?”

Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 18

(2005): 27–49.

7. Linnea C. Ehri and Margaret J. Snowling,

“Developmental Variation in Word Recognition,” in

Handbook of Language and Literacy: Development and

Disorders, ed. C. Addison Stone, Elaine R. Silliman,

Barbara J. Ehren, and Kenn Apel (New York: Guilford

Press, 2004), 433–60.

8. Kenn Apel, Julie A. Wolter, and Julie J. Masterson,

“Effects of Phonotactic and Orthotactic Probabilities

during Fast Mapping on 5-Year-Olds’ Learning to

Spell,” Developmental Neuropsychology 29 (2006):

21–42.

9. Ehri, “Learning to Read”; and Paras D. Mehta,

Barbara R. Foorman, Lee Branum-Martin, and Patrick

Taylor, “Literacy as a Unidimensional Multilevel

Construct: Validation, Sources of Inﬂuence, and

Implications in a Longitudinal Study in Grades 1 to 4,”

Scientiﬁc Studies of Reading 9 (2005): 85–116.

10. Alan G. Kamhi and Linette N. Hinton, “Explaining

Individual Differences in Spelling Ability,” Topics in

Language Disorders 20 (2000): 37–49; Carolyn Lennox

and Linda S. Siegel, “Phonological and Orthographic

Processes in Good and Poor Spellers,” in Reading and

Spelling: Development and Disorders, ed. Charles

Hulme and R. Malatesha Joshi (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum Associates, 1998), 395–404; and Louisa C.

Moats, Spelling: Development, Disability, and

Instruction (Baltimore, MD: York Press, 1995).

11. Patricia C. Lindamood, “Issues in Researching the

Link between Phonological Awareness, Learning

Disabilities, and Spelling,” in Frames of Reference for

the Assessment of Learning Disabilities: New Views on

Measurement Issues, ed. G. Reid Lyon (Baltimore, MD:

Paul H. Brookes, 1994), 351–73.

Spelling, Reading, and Writing

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