Spelling

Kieran Harrington

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