Developmental Spelling:
Stages and Teaching Strategies
Tonja L. Root, Ed.D.
& Margie Tullos, Ed.S.
Department of Early Childhood
& Reading Education
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia 31698
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Precommunicative Spelling:
“Role Play Writing”
Characteristics of Writing
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Use scribbles, letters, letter-like forms, numbers.
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Show no understanding of phonemegrapheme (letter-sound) relationships.
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Show a preference for uppercase letters.
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Write from left-to-right, right-to-left, top-to-bottom, or randomly on the page.
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Know that the print carries the message.
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Precommunicative Spelling:
Teaching Strategies
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Develop interest in print: Read aloud daily, create a print-rich environment, spend time with books.
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Encourage children to write.
• Use LEA and teacher/student modeling.
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Teach letter names with letter forms.
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Precommunicative Spelling:
Teaching Strategies, cont.
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Introduce concepts and terms: letter, beginning/ending sounds, word, sentence.
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Begin developing understanding of letter sounds, concept of rhyming.
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Discuss and model directionality.
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Discuss spelling with children & family members.
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Find an appreciative audience.
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Semiphonetic Spelling:
Experimental
Characteristics of Writing
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Sometimes have not developed directionality: write from left to right, top to bottom.
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Use letters to represent sounds.
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Use abbreviated 1, 2, 3 letter spellings; omit some important letters in words.
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Use letter-name strategy for spelling.
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Semiphonetic Spelling:
Teaching Strategies
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Encourage attempts at writing.
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Continue to develop phonemegrapheme correspondence.
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Do LEA, asking for help with spelling.
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Model writing.
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Read daily.
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Brainstorm words (& spelling) to make word banks prior to writing
(sometimes).
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Semiphonetic Spelling:
Teaching Strategies, cont.
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Encourage children to write by representing sounds in the order they hear them.
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Display words used frequently in writing.
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Let children see what other children write.
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Discuss developmental spelling with children and family members.
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Phonetic Spelling:
Characteristics of Writing
• Select letters on basis of sound alone.
• Spelling represents all essential sound features.
• Spelling is readable (more or less).
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Phonetic Spelling:
Teaching Strategies
•
Read daily.
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Model writing and encourage children to write.
• Develop awareness of correct spelling, emphasizing visual features of words.
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Expose children to word families, spelling patterns, word structure.
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Teach students how to study a word.
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Transitional Spelling:
Characteristics of Writing
• Include a vowel in each syllable.
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Apply many spelling rules; may overgeneralize.
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Spelling resembles English spelling.
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Spelling is easily read.
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Transitional Spelling:
Teaching Strategies
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Provide correct model of spelling.
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Have students identify misspelled words by circling them.
• Provide writing resources and teach students to use them independently.
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Provide a spelling program.
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Study affixes, root words, and homophones.
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Transitional Spelling:
Teaching Strategies
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Provide word-sorting activities.
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Extend use of personal word banks.
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Encourage use of mnemonics.
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Emphasize importance of dictionary spelling for public sharing.
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Model writing and encourage children to write.
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Let students see what others write.
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Read daily.
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Correct Spelling:
Characteristics of Writing
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Have internalized the alphabetic principle.
• Have learned basic spelling words.
• Spell words according to adult standards.
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Correct Spelling:
Teaching Strategies
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Teach students to spell multi-syllable words that contain common word parts
(-tion, -able, inter-).
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Provide spelling instruction: increase spelling awareness & correct misspelled words.
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Keep spelling notebooks or personal dictionaries.
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Develop proofreading skills.
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Correct Spelling:
Teaching Strategies
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Develop responsibility for identifying & correcting own spelling.
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Encourage use of various strategies when spelling.
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Provide quality writing experiences.
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Continue to model and share writing.
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Read daily.
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References
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Some of the examples of student writing are from Temple, C., Nathan, R., Temple, F., &
Burris, N. (1993). The beginnings of writing
(3 rd edition).
New York: Allyn and Bacon.
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