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Learning To Spell by Dr. Miles Olson

Americans don't spell well. Fifty years ago, that may not have been a cause for alarm. However, today's information revolution depends a great deal on writing, and spelling has become very important. Inaccurate spelling is a problem for two reasons: Poor spelling may cause a reader to have difficulty comprehending a message; probably more important, poor spelling sometimes labels a writer as illiterate.

 Why do we have problems with spelling?
 Phonetic inconsistency. When someone asks you how to spell ``fish," you might, logically, respond, ``g-h-o-t-i." That's the spelling a famous writer used to illustrate the impossibility of English spelling. He noted that if you take the ``gh" from ``tough," the ``o" from ``women," and the ``ti" from ``nation," you have ``ghoti" which is a perfectly logical spelling of ``fish." Makes sense, doesn't it?

Contrast English and Spanish spelling. Most native Spanish speakers have little trouble with spelling. That fact illustrates how helpful a consistent, predictable spelling system can be. Unfortunately, English is sometimes phonetic and sometimes not. As a result, we have the worst of both worlds, for we must know the rules, but we must also know when the rules apply and when they don't.

Processing limitations. There's another reason we have difficulty with spelling. George A. Miller noted nearly a half century ago that most individuals' minds are capable of processing only about five to seven distinctions or discriminations at a time. This limitation means that most of us can't spell words letter by letter, for many words are longer than five to seven letters.

Chunking. Most of us deal with this problem by ``chunking" - processing clusters of letters as if they were single elements. For example, good spellers probably see ``na-" and ``-tion" as chunks which, when combined, make the word ``nation."

Phonics. Children's first ``chunks" are often based on sounds. In early writing, for example, ``Mom" may be written with only the letter ``M." As children have more experienced with reading and writing, they normally develop more complex phonetic understandings. They soon learn that the ``-at" in ``cat" is the same ``-at" they find in ``bat," ``rat," and ``sat."

As children develop, they bring their phonetic memories with them. The ``-at" they learned when they first wrote ``cat" will serve them throughout their lives.

Visual memory. We also seem to develop visual or ``iconic" images of words and parts of words. These, too, become ``chunks" which we use as we spell. Many writers can see whole words in their ``mind's eye," and these become ``chunks." Almost all of us retain at least some words and parts of words in iconic memory.

Is it possible to learn to spell today? Two things make me optimistic about learning to spell today. The first is technology; the second is a sequence of learning activities which work together to help us learn how to spell English words.

Technology. Today's computers, with their advanced audio, video, and data processing capabilities, can create environments which come close to tutoring. Through the use of CD-ROM technology, we can provide authentic voices which pronounce words clearly and precisely. Through the use of data processing and graphics technologies, we can provide images of words to be learned. Computers can provide mazes for word-search activities. They can provide puzzles for word-recognition activities. They can even provide sentences as contexts for spelling

Schoolhouse Learning Solutions has developed a program which utilizes the capabilities of the computer to help students learn to spell. The program is based on the learning sequence described in the remainder of this article.

Sequence. If we were free to choose an ideal sequence for learning to spell, what would it be?

First, we should help children learn those spellings which are phonetically regular. From observing their early writing, we know children commonly spell phonetically. We need to build on this tendency.

There are several reasons for beginning here. First, it's natural for children to spell phonetically when they first realize that written words are representations of spoken words. Second, phonetic spelling is systematic and quite easy for the beginner to learn; as a result, young spellers are successful with phonetic spelling and they feel good about the process of spelling. Third, beginning spellers, working with predictable clusters of phonetically similar words, tend to begin making rules for spelling; this rule-making process carries over to other spelling situations for many young writers. Finally, because there are many simple, phonetically regular words, the beginning speller who learns them will have a fair sized vocabulary to use in writing.

Will students who spend a substantial amount of time learning phonetically spelled words have trouble when they encounter irregularly spelled words? Probably not. Even phonetically spelled words have variations. The sequence ``cheer," ``deer," ``steer," etc., is a case in point. The word, ``deer" can also be spelled ``dear," and is in the sequence ``dear," ``fear," ``near," etc. We encounter both sequences in a study of phonetically regular words. The result is an understanding that the sound of the word is not always perfectly reflected in the word's spelling. The only danger is if students study a limited number of phonetic clusters.

Schoolhouse Learning Solutions program The Sounds of Spelling reflects this understanding of the appropriate use of phonics in a spelling program.

Second, we should introduce young spellers to those words they will commonly use in their writing. When we realize that the 100 most commonly used words make up approximately 40% of the running words of almost any piece of English prose, we realize how important it is to spell those common words correctly. The beginning speller should learn at least 2,000 of these most common words.

Many of these commonly used words are words learned phonetically; these words will be old friends when the student meets them in this new context. But the most frequently used are not phonetic.

These words are functional - note the ten most common: the, of, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, and it. Note, too, that few of these words follow a consistent phonetic pattern. Reading teachers often refer to the first hundred words in this list as ``sight words," words that should be recognized on sight. These are sight words for spellers as well. Spelling them correctly should be as automatic as recognizing them when reading.

These words quickly get more difficult. Words such as ``would" and ``people" appear in the first hundred.

The Schoolhouse Learning Solutions program Spelling Words We Use helps students learn these basic words.

Third, we should help children deal with homonyms and other commonly confused words. Schoolhouse Learning Solutions has produced a program entitled Homonym Revue which helps students learn these confusing spellings.

Finally, they should study the most difficult English spelling words, those words which adults struggle with. The Schoolhouse Learning Solutions program Spelling Difficult Words includes these challenging words.

Miles C. Olson, President
 Schoolhouse Learning Solutions and
 Professor Emeritus
 University of Colorado at Boulder