When reading and spelling are taught together progress is faster, learning is more secure, and the learner becomes a writer as well as a reader. Spelling is the magic that locks learning into long-term memory. Spelling provides opportunities to
Before beginning instruction, a teacher or therapist tests to obtain information about a student’s abilities. Often, in school settings, spelling is not part of the diagnostic battery. Dictated spelling tests provide clinical information, identify students who need the system and structure of language, determine the point of intervention, guide grouping decisions and provide a baseline for measuring improvement.
When analyzing spelling tests, look for omissions, additions, transpositions, and reversals, but also observe the type of error. Is it an auditory error? For example, is the student writing the wrong vowel or omitting one letter of a blend? These errors can be addressed by having the student segment the sounds on fingers and attending to each segment/finger as the word is rewritten. Is it a rules error? Does the student write “blak” for “black”, “triming” for “trimming”? If so, the rule or generalization needs to be taught and reinforced. Is it a visual error? When the “b” is reversed or when a non-phonetic word is misspelled, the error cannot be corrected by segmentation, listening or rules. Other strategies must be employed to teach and correct those errors.
Once a student has been taught a sound, rule, or place value, correct responses may be elicited by asking a series of questions. These questions should be formulated to guide the student through a critical thinking process leading to the correct response without requiring the teacher to use negative language such as “No”, “Wrong”, “Try again”, or “Uh-uh”.
When the word “black” is spelled as “blak”, the student would have made an error involving a rule. The following dialogue might occur between teacher and student:
If the rule has been thoroughly taught, the questions should trigger the correct response. If that does not happen, teach the rule again, model it, and have the student read and write several words involving the rule. The next lessons need to include reinforcement of this rule along with a complete review of other phonemes and rules that have been taught.
Whenever a dictated word is spelled, the student must repeat the word (hearing), segment the word (hearing, kinesthetic/tactile), write the word while sounding aloud (visual, auditory, kinesthetic/tactile), and check for correct spelling (visual, auditory). This is optimal multisensory practice. The teacher or therapist monitors the procedure and can pinpoint any weaknesses in the sequence.
Since all spelling from dictation requires the student to write the word in manuscript or cursive, there is ample opportunity to observe legible handwriting and determine which letters are formed incorrectly. Many students need direction. Students who cannot read word lists or sentences they have written may need to begin with work on letter formation.
Spelling dictations are daily testing situations where constant, relevant feedback can be observed. Observing the correct and incorrect responses, recognizing mastered concepts, analyzing errors, and adjusting instruction to address those errors, helps to gauge the pace of instruction. At the same time, students can experience success. Moving through the language continuum too quickly, before mastery has been realized, compounds the confusion and requires going back and teaching again.
Multisensory reinforcement involving visual auditory and kinesthetic/tactile practice, converts learning letters, sounds and words into motor activities. Actions welded into motor memory stay forever. When reading, students can access their motor memory by tracing phonograms while saying the sounds they represent. This will enable them to retrieve elusive sounds being attempted. When spelling, elusive sounds can be accessed by segmenting the words into sounds or syllables and focusing on parts of the whole. Spelling is an important part of every learning plan.
When reading and spelling are taught together progress is faster, learning is more secure, and the learner becomes a writer as well as a reader. Spelling is the magic that locks learning into long-term memory. It offers an opportunity for kinesthetic/tactile practice through tracing and writing and it provides immediate diagnostic information regarding which sounds, rules and concepts have been learned. Short-term memory difficulties disappear and success is assured.
Arlene Sonday is a Fellow of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators, author of three curricula of the Sonday System, adjunct faculty at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Hamline University. She was recently named in Who’s Who in American Women. Past positions include Vice-President of the Orton Dyslexia Assn., now The International Dyslexia Assn. and Advisory Board of the Scottish Rite Children’s Learning Centers.
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