79 Water Street
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
B5A 1L4
Phone: 902-742-9266
1-800-915-0113
Fax: 902-749-5697
Stephen Walsh, Literacy Consultant, P - 12
79 Water Street, Yarmouth, NS B5A 1L4
Phone 902-749-2826, Fax: 902-749-5194 or Email:swalsh@tcrsb.ca
Teachers, specifically from grades primary to 9, are expected to integrate a
comprehensive word study approach into their literacy instruction. While this
work is done primarily in the ELA classroom, all teachers are teachers of the
key literacy skills we want eventual graduates to possess.
The reason for this “new” approach to spelling instruction is because there is
now overwhelming evidence that the traditional weekly word list and dictation
test on Friday provide no real learning for students who most need to learn how
to spell. The only students who “learn” to spell this way are those for whom
spelling just makes sense anyway.
When parents ask, “Why aren’t you teaching spelling anymore?” you can assure
them that you are. In fact, the point can be made that we didn’t really “teach”
spelling before. But good research has now been done, and we have effective
strategies and resources to use. Specifically, the teaching resource provided by
the DOE outlines why and how to move in this direction.
Spelling is best taught through an inquiry approach – investigating, questioning,
problem solving, discovering and forming generalizations about word patterns, concept
and meanings. Explicit instruction must be part of a complete program that includes
mini-lessons, shared reading and writing, formal and informal conferences, and word
work enterprises such as word sorts and working with tiles.
Routman, R., Conversations (2000, p. 409) as reprinted in
Spelling Primary-9: A Teaching Resource, 2008, NS Dept. of Ed.
Word Study is an inquiry-based approach to spelling instruction. Through focused
investigations, students begin to recognize how words are connected by how they
sound, how they look, and what they mean. Word study allows students to make
generalizations about how words work. It is more than learning specific rules.
Students can often tell you a rule but are unable to apply that knowledge when they
write.
Spelling Primary-9: A Teaching Resource, (2008, p. 43), NS Dept. of Ed.
We will ensure quality education for all our students enabling them to reach their full potential.
Students have typically approached learning the words for the weekly spelling test as a
simple memory task. They look at the word and try to remember the letters in order.
The reason there is little transfer to real-world spelling is that students only think
about holding that word in memory until they write the test. They do not worry about
learning the word in order to use it.
Memory is often the only strategy that struggling spellers use and it is one that
requires an enormous effort from them with little or no pay-off….They can
sometimes remember the words for the Friday test, but do not use them in their
writing. The weekly spelling test has a significant impact on how students view
themselves as spellers and their willingness to take risks in their spelling and more
broadly, in their writing.
One way to change this view is to minimize or eliminate assessment that only
judges words as right or wrong.
Spelling Primary-9: A Teaching Resource, (2008, p. 66), NS Dept. of Ed.
This comprehensive word study approach includes three types of activities to
engage students in learning about how English language words work:
Word Sorts:
• In word sorts, students are asked to compare and contrast words
according to specific features.
• They can sort words by sound, structure, or meaning patterns.
• If students are given categories for sorting, it is called a “closed sort”.
• When they’re allowed to sort the words in a way that makes sense to
them, it is called an “open sort”.
Word Hunts:
• Word hunts help students make the connections between the patterns in
the words they spell and the words they read.
• Students look for words with the patterns they are studying in spelling.
• As they find them, they add them to their word collections, such as word
walls or personal spelling dictionaries.
Making Words:
• When making words, students move around a pre-determined set of
letter tiles to make as many words as they can in a set time.
• In older grades, there is often a “big word” or “secret word” that uses
every letter tile they have.
• The teacher may then present a list made from the same set of letter
tiles. This would typically be followed by further investigation of those
words through the activities above.
Word study work must be part of a balanced literacy curriculum and must be
done in context (e.g. focus on words as they arise in “content” areas, build lists
from current reading material). Suggested time spent would be 10-15 minutes
a day in grades P-3 and 10-15 minutes about three times a week in 4-9. That
time need not be in a solid block each session. Especially in the older grades,
study words as they arise naturally in your reading and writing activities.
We will ensure quality education for all our students enabling them to reach their full potential.