Developmental Spelling Postcard from SP Bear

Reading may be fundamental;
It and spelling, developmental.
Edmund Henderson, et al
Made this known decades ago.
His and others' studies show
Whole-class spelling is a foe.
Within one grade, children may
Many stages of spelling display
On any fine school-calendar day.
Thus, spelling practices to address?
Developmental assessments -- YES.
Differentiated instruction -- YES.
Student constructivism -- YES.

1. 
   Rote-learned, pkgd lists must GO;
   Five times copied corrections, NO!
   
   
   
   Three Layers of Information That Spelling Represents ...

1. Alphabetic Layer: Matches letters and sounds in a left-to-right progression.
2. Pattern Layer: Operates within syllables and between syllables. Illustrates the principle that how certain sounds are spelled depends on their position within a syllable.
3. Meaning Layer: Reflects the fact that word parts related in meaning are usually spelled consistently, despite pronunciation changes ~ crumb/crumble, column/columnist, Newton/Newtonian. The meaning layer often overrides the other layers of information. Spelling also preserves the semantic or morphological core across words that on first consideration may not appear related, but which indeed share a common etymology and various degrees of relatedness (for example, impugn and pugnacious).

The proficient reader/writer calls upon any or all of these types of information when puzzling over spelling. While English spelling corresponds more predictably than commonly assumed to its sound system (phonology), it also represents quite predictably the meaning (semantic) system in the language. This is because a spelling system (orthography) has to do more than simply record speech sounds; ultimately, the written representation of a language is for the eye rather than the ear.

The Relationship Between Word Knowledge in Spelling and Word Knowledge in Reading ...

• Spelling and reading processes both draw on and reflect a common underlying base of orthographic knowledge. Spelling is a good test of the quality of representation. Examining students' spelling can provide insights into perceptions engaged during word recognition.
• A reciprocal relationship exists between kindergarten and first graders' developing awareness of beginning sounds and the concept of a word in print (the realization that a word is a series of letters bound by spaces at both ends) when they are able to point to or "touch read" words in a line of text as they recite the text from memory. Encouraging children to write is critical at this level, as the exercise of letter-name knowledge through writing facilitates the development of phonemic awareness.
• A stable concept of word indicates that a child has a stable mental representation that frames and sequences sounds and letters within words. Children's awareness develops from beginning sounds to ending sounds to medial sounds, which are last to appear.
• A beginning conventional reader is also an alphabetic or letter-name speller. For example, while a beginning reader may initially read the word tape as tap, the feedback that tape is pronounced with a long a sound has the effect, over time, of causing the child to look for reasons why: In this case, the presence of a word-final e emerges as the reason. Together with similar information about other words, this developing awareness gradually leads to the reorganization of the child's lexicon so that long vowel sounds are distinguished from short vowel sounds in print by letters which themselves do not represent sounds. This phenomenon, emerging first at a tacit level, becomes a conscious search for explanation.

Implications for Instruction ...

• Systematic spelling instruction drives orthographic knowledge that is important to spelling and to word recognition and, indirectly, to comprehension. Spelling instruction ought to be reconceptualized from having as its main purpose the simple mastery of conventional spellings to emphasizing more broadly word study. What type of instruction is most beneficial? Given the investigations of the effects of examining words in the context of an active search for patterns, several general but strong recommendations follow:

1. Significant amounts of reading and writing are critical if students are to advance in spelling ability.
2. For all children in the early years of schooling, invented spelling should be encouraged. Once students begin to explore spelling on a regular basis, they should be encouraged to look for patterns; this reflects the importance of the visual comparison of words.
3. For most students, an inductive or exploratory approach is appropriate; for severely struggling spellers working at an appropriate developmental level, a more deductive, systematic, and direct approach often is preferred.
4. There should be an emphasis on the interrelatedness of spelling and phonics, morphology, and vocabulary as students move farther along in their development. This emphasis should include the explicit presentation and discussion of how morphology or meaning is represented in the spelling system. Students who make errors such as solem for solemn and defanite for definite have the cognitive sophistication to conceptualize how the orthographic representation remains constant, despite changes in sound, in such related words as solemnity and define.

• First, teachers need to assess student levels of spelling knowledge. Too often, students are presented with new information about words before they have consolidated what they know about familiar words. Appropriate known words in reading may be examined to support conceptual development for spelling patterns; then, this pattern knowledge can extend to unfamiliar words. Start with what students know; build on it.
• Individual students progress at different rates along the developmental continuum. Spelling instruction should accommodate individual differences.
• Whether teachers fashion their own word-study program based on professional resources or teach from a published program, they must understand both the spelling system and the learner's stages. We need to focus more attention on providing a solid knowledge base in the content and application of a word-study curriculum in preservice teacher education and at the inservice level.

Templeton, Shane, & Darrell Morris. "Reconceptualizing Spelling Development and Instruction." Reading Online. Retrieved on August 15, 2006, from http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/templeton/index.html.