Determining if the spelling error was dysphonetic or orthographic
It is important to analyze the type of error the student made in their spelling as this provides
clues as to the type of phoneme and grapheme processing that is occurring in the student’s head
and will change your approach to instruction.
1. Make a list of the words the student has spelled incorrectly. This can come from a spelling
inventory or from their writing samples. You might not have enough words from writing samples
as students with ‘risk taking’ issues may only write using words they already know the correct
spellings.
2. Review the spelling expectations for the specific grade level of the student. This can come from
the Common Core State Standards, the district spelling scope and sequence or national norms
and expectations. Here is a list of expectations based on Words Their Way (see the Words their
Way Spelling Inventory for examples of words within each stage of spelling development)
Emergent
Late
Letter Name
Early
Middle
Within Word Pattern
Late
Pre K-------1.5 grade K --------------2.5 grade
Early
Middle
Late
1 grade -------------- 4th grade
Syllables and Affixes
Early
Middle
Late
3rd grade ----------------------8th grade
Derivational Relations
Early
Middle
5th grade ----12th grade
a. Here are suggestions for which words to test by grade level
i. Kindergarten- don’t’ test until January and use the primary spelling list
ii. 1 grade –words 1-10
iii. 2-3 grade- words 1-15
iv. 4th grade and up- 1-25
3. What type of error does the student make in their spelling words that fall within their stage of
development?
a. Student is in the middle of second grade. They should be able to spell words found in
the Letter Name Late stage to Within Word Pattern stage. This is how the child spelled
these words.
bed for bed
sip for ship
win for when
lup for lump
trane for train
b. Did they make an phonological error or an orthographic error?
i. Phonological error- the grapheme representing the phoneme is not plausible.
For example if they spell the word table as tibl, the grapheme i is not a plausible
grapheme for the sound /ā/. This is a dis-phonetic error. Dis-phonetic or
phonological errors may be typical in prek-3rd grade but should not be present
after 3rd grade. If the student is only making phonological errors in multiple
syllable words, then it might indicate poor strategy development when
decoding/encoding these words as they trying to hold all the sounds in their
working memory instead of using strategies such as identifying the syllable type
or using morphemic awareness.
ii. Orthographic error- the graphemes representing the phoneme is plausible,
however it is not the standard English spelling. For example, it the student
spells the word table as tabl, all the sounds are present however the final e is
missing. This might be due to lack of instruction on the purpose of the final
silent e in the word table (final stable syllable type) or poor activation of the
orthographic processor (does it look right?). Orthographic errors are present at
all levels of instruction.
iii. Error of Transfer- if the student is a second language learner they might make
linguistic confusions in their spelling. If their first language is Spanish and they
spell the word table as tebl, this is an error of transfer. The grapheme e in
Spanish says /ā/. They are transferring linguistic information from their first
language into their second language. This simply requires instruction to
remediate and is not a processing disorder.
c. Analysis and Interpretation of the spelling errors (phonological confusions)
Error
Phonological Orthographic
bed for bed
sip for ship
x
win for when
x
lup for lump
x
trane for train
x
i. For a second grade she is making a large number of phonological errors in very
basic words. This might indicate phonological confusion that will require
additional phonology instruction to treat the concern. She is confusing speech
sounds that are similar in production. If this is not corrected, the graphemes will
never make sense.
d. Analysis and Interpretation of spelling errors (orthographic confusions or omissions)
Error
Phonological Orthographic
Instruction Needed
shoping for shopping
x
Doubling rules
spoyl for spoil
x
OI - OY patterns
cheud for chewed
x
EU - EW patterns
bodl for bottle
x
Allophonic variance
faver for favor
x
Sight word
i. These are common 3rd-4th grade words. The student only confused speech
sounds in one word (bottle), however the rest of the words they used plausible
graphemes for the speech sounds. They simply don’t know some of the
conventions of spelling that are difficult to intuit or discover. They need direct
instruction in spelling.