From Traditional Spelling Instruction to Effective Word Study

From the Marshall Memo #445

In this Reading Today article, Radford University professors Katherine Hilden and Jennifer Jones criticize the traditional approach to spelling instruction – the weekly list presented on Monday, perhaps a few “bonus” words added during the week, homework practice writing each word three times, using each word in a sentence, writing the words in alphabetical order, and, of course, the Friday spelling test, grades recorded, and on to the next list the following Monday. 

The biggest problem with this approach, say Hilden and Jones, is that students in every classroom are not all at the same developmental level of spelling proficiency: “With everyone using the same spelling list, students in stages outside of the traditional list miss out on instruction that will propel them forward through the stages.” Here are the five stages of spelling development, through which children move:

• Sounds: emergent – Writes in letter-like forms, learning to recognize letters, begins to make representations of sounds in words;
• Sounds: letter names – Short vowels, consonant blends, consonant digraphs;
• Patterns: within-word patterns – R-controlled vowels, long vowel patterns, diphthongs (ambiguous vowels), complex consonants, homophones; 
• Patterns and meaning: syllables and affixes – Inflection endings, syllabication, common prefixes and suffixes
• Meaning: derivational relations – Assimilated and absorbed prefixes, suffixes and parts of speech. 

A single-list approach doesn’t take all this into account, nor do pacing guides that push teachers to move through the basal at a predetermined rate without meeting students’ individual spelling needs. 

Hilden and Jones have another concern: “Are the kids doing well on the Friday tests really good spellers, or are they just the products of parents who have assisted with study and homework consistently throughout the week?” Have students truly learned and mastered the words? And what about students who aren’t lucky enough to have effective home support?

What do Hilden and Jones suggest? “Differentiation is making a difference by making it different,” they say. Here are the steps:

• Assess first. This looks like a traditional spelling test, but teachers analyze the results looking for the word features students know and the ones they need to learn.
• Use the data. Form groups for spelling instruction and give students spelling lists tailored to their needs.
• Manage differentiation. Students have to be trained and monitored so they can practice with each other and work independently as the teacher moves around helping and prodding. 
• Teach. The teacher should engage students in the study of words by sound, pattern, and meaning.
• Monitor progress. Groups should be tested weekly on their assigned words, and the results should determine whether new word features can be introduced the next week or whether more work is needed on the previous feature. “Groups should remain fluid and flexible,” say Hilden and Jones, “with weekly data and students’ writing samples serving as guiding factors in students’ placement within groups.”

“Traditional Spelling Lists: Old Habits Are Hard to Break” by Katherine Hilden and Jennifer Jones in Reading Today, June/July 2012 (Vol. 29, #6, p. 19-21), http://www.reading.org; the authors can be reached at kclouse@radford.edu and jjones292@radford.edu.