1. Assessing and Teaching Spelling
Lara McDowell
Janna Martinson
Tanya Kmiech
Carrie Shull
Molly Johnson

2. PreCommunicative Spelling
Typical of preschoolers, ages 3 to 5
The child uses scribbles, letters, and letterlike forms and shows a preference for uppercase letters.
There is no understanding of phoneme- grapheme correspondence.
The child’s writing shows a lack of understanding of conventions of print such as spaces between words and left to right progression of writing.

3. Semiphonetic Spelling
Ages 5 and 6
The child has some awareness that letters are used to represent sounds and may use abbreviated one-, two-, or three-letter spellings to represent an entire word ( e.g. DA for day, LF for laugh)
Demonstrates awareness to left-to-right progression but tends to run letters together with little or no sense of separate words ( e.g. RUDF for Are you deaf?)

4. Phonetic Spelling Typically, 6 years old
The child represent all essential sound features in spelling a word and chooses letters on the basis of sound (e.g. PEKT for peeked, KOM for come)
The child is aware of not only sounds but also of mouth positions used to make sounds (e.g. y may be used to spell /w/ because the mouth position to say the letter name y is the same as to say /w/.

5. Transitional Spelling
Typically 7 to 8 years old
The child begins to use conventional alternatives for representing sounds and includes a vowel in every syllable (e.g. AFTERNEWN for afternoon, TRUBAL for trouble).
Child becomes more aware of patterns in words
Many words are spelled correctly but words with irregular spellings continue to be misspelled.
The child’s spelling may become a mixture of phonetic components and salient visual features in words
Salient visual features – is how the word looks to them…. Does it look correct?

6. Correct Spelling Typically reach this stage by age 8 or 9
The child spells many words correctly and applies the basic rules of the English orthographic system.
The Child recognizes when words “look” incorrect and can consider alternative spellings.
English Orthographic system is the alphabetic spelling system used by the English language.

7. ENGLISH LANGUAGE 26 letters in the alphabet 44 phonemes
More than 500 spellings to represent the 44 phonemes!

8. Assessment of Spelling Skills
A variety of techniques are used to assess spelling. When choosing an assessment, the teacher should know what the test measures and its limitations. It’s important to supplement the assessment if possible with other measures to get an accurate picture of a student’s spelling abilities and limitations.

9. Formal Spelling Assessment
Achievement Tests
Standardized Spelling Tests
Norm referenced
Recall and Recognition
Achievement tests with Spelling Subtests
Iowa Tests of Basic Skills
Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement
Peabody Individual Achievement Test
Wide Range Achievement Test
Norm referenced (compares score against a group of students who have already taken the test) Achievement tests assess spelling by two procedures: recall and recognition. Tests using recall: student writes words presented orally and used in sentences. Related to the writing stage of the writing process. Using Recognition: student selects the correctly spelled word from several choices. Essentially proofreading. Related to the editing stage of the writing process.

10. Criterion Referenced Tests
Diagnostic Tests
Standardized Spelling Tests
Norm referenced
Provide Detailed Information
Criterion Referenced Tests
Fixed Criteria
Determines Mastery
Measures Progress
Used for Instructional Planning
Provide detailed information in various spelling skills. Aimed at determining the student’s strengths and weaknesses. Criterion Referenced Tests describe performance in terms of fixed criteria. Help teacher determine if student has mastered specific objectives. Also provides an objective measure of progress as student moves from task to task. Compares performance with previous performance. Helps teacher determine what the student has learned and what needs to be taught.

11. Informal Spelling Assessment
Diagnostic information
Written Work
Oral Responses
Attitude
Through informal spelling assessment, teacher can obtain diagnostic information through structured observation and evaluation of the student’s written work, oral responses, and attitude towards spelling (willingness to use a dictionary, work habits, frustration.) Written work provides information about handwriting problems that may be causing errors (letter forms, spacing), specific types of errors, range in vocabulary, knowledge of spelling rules. Oral responses provide information about pronounciation, articulation, and dialect.

12. Types of Informal Assessments
Dictated Spelling Tests
Informal Spelling Inventory
Curriculum-Based Measurement
Spelling Error Analysis
Cloze Procedure
Probes
Modality Testing
Dictated Spelling Tests: commonly used for assessing various skills and determining grade level. Assess skills in phoneme-grapheme (hike, bike, like) spelling generalizations (stories, cries, tries) homonyms (pain, pane, pear, pair) and functional words (menu, restaurant, cashier). Also assess proficiency in spelling frequently used words and words that are often misspelled can be determined.
Informal Spelling Inventory: Used to determine student’s approximate grade level in spelling. Constructed by selecting a sample of words from spelling books in a basil spelling series. 15 words from 1st grade book. 20 words from each book 2nd-8th grade. To get a random selection of words, divide the total number of words at each level by 20. For example, 300 words at level divided by 20 = 15; therefore each 15th word should be included in the Informal Spelling Inventory. Administered in a dictated word format with or without sentences depending on student preference. 7 second interval. Testing ends when student responds incorrectly to 6 consecutive words. Achievement level is highest level where student responded correctly to % of the items. Instructional level is 75-89% correct.
Curriculum-Based Measurement: skills measured using rate samples on words from a given spelling curriculum. Appropriate word lists should be selected using words from word families or frequently used words. Tested by selecting a word from group to fill in a sentence or word presented orally which is then written down. Scored in terms of words or letter sequences correct. Error analysis from this measurement can be used for planning instruction.
Spelling Error Analysis: Provides a profile of spelling strengths and weaknesses by analyzing written compositions and dictated tests. Weaknesses may include deleting letters in words, spelling the word as it sounds (doter for daughter) omitting a letter that is pronounced (aross for across) using wrong digraph (speach for speech) reversing letters in words, using incorrect vowel (jab for job) wrong homonym (peace for piece), inserting unneeded letters, doubling a consonant when not needed (untill for until) omitting a silent letter.
Cloze Procedure: visual means of testing spelling. Student may be required to complete a sentence by writing the correct response in the blank (The opposite of down is _____) , complete a word already started, supply missing letters, or choosing a word from a multiple choice list Ex. Mary needed __________ to pay for her lunch. (money, munny, mony, monie) Useful in evaluating knowledge of spelling generalizations.
Probes: Student works on worksheet for 1 minute and the teacher records the rate of correct and incorrect responses and notes error patterns. (See picture write word, see words write contractions, hear word write word) Must be administered several times to be reliable.
Modality testing: Assesses spelling performance through combinations of five-input/output channels: Auditory vocal, auditory motor: visual vocal: visual-motor, multisensory combination (teacher shows word on flash card and spells it aloud, student spells word aloud and writes it on paper.)
Testing procedure: 40 unknown words are divided into five sets of eight words each. Two words from each of the 5 modalities are taught for 4 consecutive days. Students are then given a dictation sentence on the 5th day of all 40 words. The number of correct responses in each modality shows if the student has a preference among modalities. This is useful for planning individual instruction.

13. Teaching Spelling Skills
An effective spelling program teaches spelling through the use of phonemic, whole-word, and morphemic instruction that use both direct instruction and other research-based supplemental materials.

14. Spelling Competencies
Auditory discrimination: Ability to discriminate consonant sounds and vowel sounds and use correct word pronunciation
Consonants: Knowledge of consonants in initial, final, and medial positions in words and ability to identify consonant blends i.e. /bl/ in blend and /cl/ in close
Phonograms: Ability to identify phonograms in initial, medial, final positions in words and ability to identify word phonograms
A phonogram is any written symbol that stands for a sound, syllable, morpheme, or word. (more commonly referred to as the rime part of the word that comes after the onset, from the vowel to the end of the word i.e. “dog”- d is the onset and og is the rime/phonogram

15. Plurals: Ability to form a plural by adding s, es, changing f to v, making medial change, and knowledge of exceptions
Syllabication: Ability to divide words into syllables gorilla- go/rill/a
Structural elements: Knowledge of root words, prefixes, and suffixes
Ending changes: Ability to change ending of words that end in final e, final y, and final consonants

16. Vowel diagraphs and diphthongs: Ability to spell words in which a vowel diagraph forms one sound (ai, ea, ei, ie) or a diphthong forms a blend (oe, ou, ow)
*A dipthong is a combination of the short vowel sound put together. (known as the “gliding vowel” because of it’s smooth movement when being spoken)
Silent e: Knowledge of single-syllable words that end in silent e i.e in the word game- the silent e creates a long /a/ sound.

17. Approaches for Word List Selection

18. When creating spelling lists you should…
Allow students to choose words from their writing.
Teach words that students commonly misspell when writing.
Teach words that students are most likely to use in their writing.
Identify words that fit different but related patterns (ee and ea for the long e sound, words that end in tion, etc.)

19. Here are a few great online resources for teachers!
Spelling City
edHelper

20. Rule-Based Instruction
Based on teaching rules and generalizations using linguistic or phonics approach
Linguistic approach stresses idea of the regularity in phoneme-grapheme correspondence and words are selected according to their linguistic patterns i.e. cool, fool, pool; hitting, running, batting
Phonics approach stresses this same relationship, but within parts of words. This allows the student to determine how sounds should be spelled
These generalizations apply to more than 75% of words. However, students should still be taught that there are exceptions to some rules that do not follow such generalizations
Despite the frequency of phonetic teaching approaches, only about 50% of words follow regular phonetic rules.

21. Multisensory Approach
Spelling involves using skills in visual, auditory, and motor sensory modalities.
Ferdinand’s Approach (VAKT)
Teacher writes/says word while student watches/listens
Student traces with finger while reciting word
Word is written from memory. If correct, it is place in file box. If incorrect, the second step is repeated.
Tracing method is not always needed at later stages. The student eventually learns the words by looking at it in print while writing it, and finally by just looking at it.

22. Multisensory Approach Cntd.
Gillingham Method Day 1- Students get word list and study on their own Day 2- Teacher gives verbal feedback after taking spelling test, and students simultaneously say aloud and write the correct spelling of any incorrect spelled word 5 times Day 3- Procedure is repeated, except misspelled words are written correctly 10 times Day 4- Repeated 15 times Day 5- To assess accuracy, students write words from list verbally presented by teacher

23. Test-Study-Test Technique
Pretest at beginning of each unit of study.
Words misspelled on pretest become study list.
After instruction, posttest determines mastery.
Misspelled words on posttest are added to the next unit.

24. Fixed and Flow Word Lists
Fixed Word Lists
Frequently Used
New list every week
Tested on Fridays
Seldom Results in Mastery
Flow Word Lists
Words are dropped from list only after mastery.
New word replaces mastered word.

25. Lists for Learners with LD
Initially should be limited to high frequency words.
Misspelled words from their writing.
5-10 words per list
2-3 words introduced daily and practiced until list is mastered.

26. Modifications and Other Considerations
For Students with Learning Difficulties

27. Study Strategies
This strategy has been found to increase immediate recall of words in students with learning problems:
1. Say the word
2. Write and say the word
3. Check the word by comparing it to a model
4. Trace and say the word
5. Write the word from memory and check.
6. Repeat 1-5.
Teaching good study strategies can help provide structure for independent study, and can give those with learning difficulties a structure to their studies.
****This strategy was found to increase immediate recall of words than students using an unstructured strategy

28. Self-correction Hear the word on audiotape Write each word
Compare each word with a model on an answer key
Correct misspellings with proofreading marks
Write the word correctly
Repeat the task.
This technique has been shown to increase performance on weekly tests, and increase the student’s ability to correctly spell previously learned words.

29. Visual Mnemonics Can be used on spelling lists or flash cards Method:
Student closes eyes
Visualizes the word
Attempts to see the mnemonic in the word
Writes the word from memory
*general recall can also be used, such as “the principal is your pal” or “dessert is something sweet”.
Show a flash card with the word look on one side, and the mnemonic on the other. Then do the one on the board with mnemonic, with the m circled and crossed out.

30. Self-Questioning Do I know this word?
How many syllables do I hear in this word? (write down # of syllables)
I will write the word I think it should be spelled.
Do I have the right number of syllables.
Is there any part of the word that I am not sure how to spell? (Underline and try spelling it again)
Does the word look right to me? (No? Underline and try again. Listen to find any missing syllables)
When I finish spelling, I will tell myself that I have worked hard.
Effective for teaching word analysis, syllable rules, and spelling patterns

31. Peer Tutoring S - spot the word P- picture the word E- eyes closed
L- look to see if the visual picture is correct
L- look away and write the word
E- examine the spelling word by checking it
R- repeat the procedure if the word is spelled incorrectly or reward if spelled correctly
Classwide or individual peer tutoring can be a great alternative to intense one-to-one instruction.
Mnemonic strategy called SPELLER
Uses visual imagery, systematic testing, and auditory reinforcement
20 min session of peer tutoring- 10 minutes as tutor, 10 minutes as tutee

32. Imitation Methods
Teacher provides both oral and written model of spelling word.
Student imitates model by spelling word out loud, and by writing it.
Student is given immediate praise or feedback for a correct response, and incorrect responses are retrained.
Repeat the method until student can spell and write the word without any assistance.
Administer spelling probe to check mastery and retention.
Imitation methods are designed for students who have struggled repeatedly with traditional methods of teaching and learning to spell
Especially useful in teaching words that do not follow regular phonemic rules

33. Types of Correctional Procedures
Visual image
Word Meaning
Add words misspelled in compositions to spelling lists.
Increases motivation
Visual image- use if student omits silent letters or misspells phonologically irregular words
Stress word meaning for students who struggle with correctly spelling homonyms
Student can see need for learning the correct spelling

34. Teaching and Reinforcing Spelling in a Language Arts Curriculum
A program that teaches both learning to spell and read can be very effective
-reading gives the student the meaning of words, and correct usage
Oral reading helps the student to learn correct entire word sounds
Spelling lists can consist of words from reading vocabulary
Can encourage use of spelling words in writing
Oral reading- close attention to sounds of words, and gives meanings
-learning to spell words that are just a series of letters (memorization) will not be retained

35. Dictionary Usage
Training in using the dictionary is an important part of a spelling program
Encourage independence in finding spellings
Provide information such as syllabication, meaning, pronunciation, synonyms and homonyms
Picture dictionaries for younger grades
Dictionaries can encourage independence by allowing student to find correct spellings, and they provide such information as….

36. Dictionary Usage Technique Predict possible spellings
-determine root words and affixes
-determine related words
-determine sounds in the word
-- Check predicted spelling by using dictionary
Root words and affixes, related words, determine sounds in word

37. Considerations for Secondary School
Social and practical significance
Own interests and areas of study
Vocational words
Teach with other activities
Strategies to compensate for poor spelling can be taught
1- employers, job applications
4- reading
5- Poor spelling can affect grades in other content areas- provide with spell check, etc.