Post on 31-Mar-2023
Workshop
Raising awareness of spelling difficulties and spelling strategies • Can you spell this for me? (see Slide 3) The theory on the difficulty of English spelling
• Spelling history • Phonemes and graphemes • Too many choices, too many irregularities, too many homophones
Spelling: teaching and learning • Rationalization • Facts about vocabulary usage in written English • Resource 1: The hundred most misspelled words in English in writing • Resource 2: The hundred most frequent words in English writing • Rules • Multisensory and situated strategies • Moving towards learner autonomy
Could you spell the following?
• Matthew McConaughey
• There
• Chrysanthemum
• Principle
• Believe
• Accommodate
• Sick
• Put
• Ache
• hinshink
• Business
• Occasion
• Lying
• Mimicking
• Openness
• Putt
• Station
• Sink
• Twesk
• particularly
Spelling history
• The English language
• The great vowel shift
• The printing press
• Dictionaries
• Limited reform
• American simplifications
• Text-speak
Phonemes • Phonemes are the individual sound of a particular language; English has
44 (20 vowels and 24 consonants)
Short vowels: Ship Pen Book Man Cup Got Again
Long vowels: Sheep Boot Ball Car Girl
Diphthongs: Go Year Boy House Cane Hi Chair
Unvoiced Pat Tat Kit Fit Sit Shot Church Thin
Consonants: Voiced Big Dig God Void Zip Wing Ran Log Man Nod Ring Jam Yes Vision There
It is, however, not the shortage of letters which makes English spelling irregular. Its irregularities are caused mainly by the use of many different spellings for some of its sounds
Graphemes
• Graphemes are the letters (visual symbols/the alphabet) used for particular languages and the combination of these letters:
English single letters: a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,I,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z As there is no exclusive one-to-one correspondence between graphemes and phonemes in English, many different letters and combinations of letters are used to represent the 44 sounds (phonemes) of English. In the tables in the next two slides I have listed the common spelling in English used to represent the sounds. I have counted 73 different ways of spelling the 24 consonants and 80 ways of spelling the 20 vowels. The list is not exhaustive. These do not include, for example, the combinations that are used to spell words such as scream. The complexity demonstrated here gives some idea of the huge task facing children and adults learning to read English, especially those with specific reading difficulties.
Too many choices
Take the vowel sound in the English word see. ([i:] is the phonetic symbol).
If someone is faced with representing on paper this sound, say in the word {} he
he or she is faced with the following choice:
ee, e_e, -e, ea, ey, -y, ie, ei, eo, oe, i-e, ae, ae, ue-e, i
so it could be written
Bleed • Bleed (as in deed)
• Bled (as in me)
• Blead (as in lead)
• Blied (as in chief)
• Bleod (as in people)
• Bleid (as in deceit)
• Blyd (as in lazy)
• Bleyd (as in monkey)
• Blede (as in these)
• Blide (as in machine)
• Bloed (as in phoenix)
• Blaed (as in paediatric)
• Bluayd (as in quay)
• Blid (as in ski)
• Bluede (as in Portuguese)
Too many irregularities:
• though: as in go So, the natural inclination might be to write this word as tho
• tough: as in cuff So, the natural inclination might be to write this word as tuff
• cough: as in off So, the natural inclination might be to write this word as coff
• hiccough in up So, the natural inclination might be to write this word as hiccup
• plough: as in cow So, the natural inclination might be to write this word as plow
• through: as in blue So, the natural inclination might be to write this word as thrue
• nought: as in taut So, the natural inclination might be to write this word as naut
• lough: as in lock So, the natural inclination might be to write this word as lock
• thorough: as in colour So, the natural inclination might be to write this word as thorour
Take the -ough combination
Too many homophones
• Their/they’re/there
• Pare, pear, pair
• Bye, by, buy
• Seas, sees, seize
• Cite, site, sight
• Right, rite, write,
• Prays, praise, preys
• Who’s, whose,
• Which, witch
• Dyed, died
A note on memory
• Long-term memory
You can remember past events and internalized learning.
• Short term memory
You can remember something that somebody said a few minutes ago.
• Working memory (remembering how much your purchases in the cart are costing)
Sentence comprehensions depends heavily on working memory
Carrying out tasks that you have been requested to do depends heavily on working memory
Working memory permits the listener to hold verbal information in mind long enough to make sense of the sequence of words, process them for long -term storage, and to perform verbal problem-solving tasks.
• Automaticity
With repeated practice at processing information some tasks require less effort and become more automatic. Examples are learning the alphabet letter names, and sight word vocabularies and spelling.
Spelling: teaching and learning
• Rationalization: hopeful facts and figures
• Analysis of spelling difficulties
• Spelling rules
• Strategies
VAK > Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic
Memory aids
Top-down approach
Computer programmes
Apps
• Learner autonomy
Rationalization
• Give a simple explanation as to why people have spelling difficulties, emphasizing the difficulty of English spelling
• Mention that many people have spelling difficulties
• Reassure the learner by mentioning facts such as small core vocabulary in English
• Assure the learner that there are strategies to address spelling difficulties
• The student’s confidence needs to be reinforced, so be patient, but move generally towards the ideal that everyone has to take responsibility for their own learning, use the strategies, build vocabulary, move towards learner autonomy
Vocabulary use in English: the good news!
• The first 2,000 most frequent words in spoken English do most of the work, accounting for 80% of all the words
• The first 25 of the words in Resource 1(next slide) make up about 33% of all printed material in English.
• The first 100 comprise 50% of all printed material in English
• The first 300 make up about 65% percent of all
Resource 1: The 100 most frequent words in written English
1. the
2. of
3. and
4. a
5. to
6. in
7. is
8. you
9. that
10. it
11. he
12. was
13. for
14. on
15. are
16. as
17. with
18. his
19. they
20. I
21. at
22. be
23. this
24. have
25. from
26. or
27. one
28. had
29. by
30. word
31. but
32. not
33. what
34. all
35. were
36. we
37. when
38. your
39. can
40. said
41. there
42. use
43. an
44. each
45. which
46. she
47. do
48. how
49. their
50.if
51. will
52. up
53. other
54. about
55. out
56. many
57. then
58. them
59. these
60. so
61. some
62. her
63. would
64. make
65. like
66. him
67. into
68. time
69. has
70. look
71. two
72. more
73. write
74. go
75. see
76. number
77. no
78. way
79. could
80. people
81. my
82. than
83. first
84. water
85. been
86. call
87. who
88. oil
89. its
90. now
91. find
92. long
93. down
94. day
95. did
96. get
97. come
98. made
99. may
100. part
acceptable
accidentally
accommodate
acquire
allot
amateur
apparent
argument
atheist
believe
bellwether
calendar
cemetery
changeable
collectible
column
committed
conscience
conscientious
conscious
consensus
daiquiri
definite
discipline
drunkenness
dumbbell
daiquiri
definite
discipline
drunkenness
dumbbell
embarrass
equipment
exhilarate
exceed
existence
experience
fiery
foreign
gauge
grateful
guarantee
harass
height
hierarchy
humorous
ignorance
immediate
independent
indispensable
inoculate
intelligence
its
jewellery
judgment
kernel
leisure
liaison
library
license
lightning
maintenance
manoeuvre
medieval
memento
millennium
miniature
minuscule
mischievous
misspell
neighbour
noticeable
occasionally
occurrence
pastime
perseverance
personnel
playwright
possession
precede
principal
principle
privilege
pronunciation
publicly
questionnaire
receive
recommend
refer
relevant
restaurant
rhyme
rhythm
schedule
separate
sergeant
supersede
their
threshold
twelfth
tyranny
until
vacuum
weather
weird
Resource 2: the 100 most frequently misspelled words in English
However: many of the above words are not frequent in everyday writing
Rationalizing spelling miscues
The most common spelling miscues are caused by:
– Not knowing the spelling rule – Getting letters in the wrong order – Spelling words as they sound (phonetic spelling) – Visual memory deficit – Phoneme-grapheme association deficit – Irregularity in the word – Words which are frequently misspelled > occasion – A new word – Analogies applied incorrectly > option> optition – Homophone confusion – Dialectal transfer > tree for three; dere for there
Miscue word Irregularity Phonetic Rule Order New word Homophone Analogy Dialectal Common Phoneme-grapheme deficit Visual memory
abel able
statshun station
driveing driving
whit with
geting getting
McConikey McConaughey
how who
intencion intention
Rosey Rosary
coat’s coats
stare steer
tink think
accomodate accommodate
trafficed trafficked
Glenfesk Glenflesk
Rule= doesn’t know rule; order = gets the order mixed up; homophone = confuses homophones; analogy = applies analogy incorrectly; common- common spelling mistake;
Phonetic = phonetic spelling
Rationalizing spelling miscues
Rules
• Although, English spelling has been presented here as complicated due to the sound-symbol overmatch, there are rules and patterns that the student can follow, and which you can introduce to the student. However, some rules are over-generalized and confuse rather than help. For example, the “i before e except after c” has many exceptions, and to have any real value, should be taught with provisos such as – the rule will only work when the pronunciation of the –ei is as in the word weigh. Consider also that it doesn’t work for frequent words such as their.
Some spelling rules for adding prefixes, suffixes, plurals, etc
When a word ends in a single consonant and a short vowel comes before it, double the consonant and add the suffix
(-ing,-ed, - er) Stop > stopping, stopped, stopper
When a word ends in “y” with a consonant before it ,change the “y” to the letter “i” and add the suffix/plural >
Baby-babies; happy – happier; easy – easier
When a word ends in “y” with a vowel before it, don’t change the “y” when adding a suffix or plural
Monkey-monkeys; employ – employed, employing
When a word ends in –ie, change the “ie” to “y” and add the suffix
Lie-lying, die – dying, tie –tying
When a word ends in the letter “e”, drop the “e” if the suffix starts with a vowel (-ing, -ed, -er)
Care >caring
When a word ends in the letter “e”, keep the “e” if the suffix starts with a consonant (-ful, -ment)
Hope > hopeful
When “all” is prefixed to a word, it is written –al > alright, also, always
When a word ends in –ic , add “k” before the suffix > mimic> mimicked
Full added as a prefix is written –ful > beautiful
When an adjective ends in the letter “n”, keep the “n” when adding –ness > greenness, openness
“Q” is always followed by “u”
When a word ends in “l” keep the “l” when adding the suffix –ly > final- finally
Note: fully is an exception
Some spelling rules for plurals
For most plurals just add “s”
Cat > cats; house > houses
For words ending in a hissing sound (s,z, ch,sh, x) add –es
Bus> buses; fox > foxes; witch > witches; rash > rashes
For words ending in an ef sound (f, fe, ), change the “f” or the “fe” to “v”
Wife > wives; calf > calves; thief > thieves
Exceptions: chiefs, roofs, safes, proofs
Plurals that don’t use an “s” or “es”
Man> men; foot > feet; mouse > mice; tooth > teeth; child > children
Notes:
The plural of fish the food is fish; the plural of fish the live animal is fishes
The plural of son-in-law is sons in law
Some words don’t change. They are the same in singular and plural: deer, sheep, salmon
Some words are only used in the plural: scissors, suds, pants, trousers
Miscellaneous spelling rules When a word that ends with a “t” sounds is followed by a –ual, -ial, or -ion ending, the sound of the new word changes, and this confuses spellers – act – action (there is a tendency to write acshun) So the rule is, no matter what the sound, the “t” remains. addict addiction; predict prediction act actual or action; fact > factual
Ch pronounced “sh”
brochure
champagne
chandelier
chaperone
chef
charade
charlatan
chauffeur
chauvinist
chic
chiffon
chivalry
chute
cliché
crochet
machete
machine
moustache
parachute
quiche
Multisensory and situated strategies
• Multisensory: VAK
• Mnemonics and other memory aids
• A top-down approach: social words, context, interests
• Learner autonomy
VAK
Visual
• Looking for smaller words within words can help with the difficult part of a word: for example, strawberry, there .
• The look-cover-write-check is a well known strategy for learning to spell that involves looking at the word, covering it, writing it and then checking to see if the word is correct.
• Cloze and other similar visual exercises (crosswords, hangman, the Boggle App) aid the internalization of visual patterns.
Auditory
• In adults the phonic route has limited value, but collecting and practising letter combinations can lead to internalization of letter combinations (scr/bl, etc).
Kinaesthetic
• Tracing and doing floor puzzles, for example, can be a useful exercises, but the tutor
(when working with adults) always needs to be conscious of not using strategies that may be associated with children or school
Examples of visual methods
Visual cues in the words
• There Their They’re
• Hear Here
Visual cues outside the words
Mnemonics and other memory aids
• A mnemonic is a memory aid, like Every good boy does fine which is used to remember the lines on the treble clef in music. A common spelling mnemonic is: A friend is there to the end
Examples of mnemonics of commonly misspelled words:
• Accommodation – Tell a story about going on holidays with twin babies who need two cots (cc) and two mattresses (mm)
• Customer - , to create a story about Tom who works in customer service.
• Separate – There’s a rat in separate
• Island - An island is land surrounded by water.
Top down approach
• Generating stories with visual cues and mnemonics
Their There They’re *See story sheet
• Use social sight words for letter combinations Stop Street Stores Bank
• Contextualize special interests/ hobbies/work and situate spellings in daily social practice
Chef Champagne Quiche but chip, cheese, cheddar , chop, (working in a restaurant/cooking) Church Chapel Chosen Chaplain Charity
Fomenting learner autonomy
• Encourage learners to keep a personal spelling dictionary, or a notebook, in which they can add difficult or unusual spellings.
• Encourage learners to use a dictionary
• Provide learners with material that they can work on at home
• Recommend websites and Apps for learners
Important points to remember
• We are not hard-wired for reading or writing
• Reassure the learner by rationalizing spelling mistakes
• But, assure the learner, that although English spelling is difficult and may seem random, it does follow patterns
• Be ready to come up with alternative strategies as necessary
• Don’t overburden the learner with rules and lists of exceptions
• Don’t attempt to achieve results too fast
• Teach spelling in the context of reading and writing and the interests of the student (using a top-down approach)
• Foment learn autonomy