One of the standard formats for testing children’s spelling abilities is the in-class spelling test. We all remember those tests, no matter what language we learned first, whether English, French, or any other letter-based system. In general, the teacher stands at the front of the class and reads out a list of words one by one, pronouncing each word slowly and often breaking them down by syllables. Some teachers follow each word by a sentence using that word, just to give the students a sense of how a word is used in context. The students are expected to write down each word and attempt to spell each of them correctly. At the end of the test, the students hand their test papers in, and in a day or two get them back from the teacher with the incorrect spellings marked, and a letter grade assigned. Unfortunately, that’s usually where the process stops.

It’s good for students to know which words they got wrong, but it doesn’t address the problem of why they got it wrong, or help them learn the correct spelling. By the time the corrected paper is received, the class has usually moved on to the next lesson. It’s up to the student to take the time to review the words they didn’t get right, and it’s a rare child that will voluntarily do that extra work. In addition, it doesn’t help the student correct the mistake at the most important point: the precise moment when the mistake is being made, so that the mistake doesn’t become habit.

Hearing a word out loud and being required to spell it out is excellent training for learning the association between the sounds that make up the word (the phonemes) and the letters used to create those sounds. Of course, this depends largely on having a person say the word out loud clearly and correctly (which most teachers focus on doing). If children hear normal speech patterns, which often blur or slur the sounds in words, they might think that the sentence “Didja think she should of gone to the liberry first?” has no spelling errors in it. Only by clear enunciation will they hear Did you and should have and library, and only by getting immediate feedback will they learn the correct spellings.

Once you write out a word incorrectly, it’s stored that way in your eyes, your muscle memory, and your mind. However, if you are immediately told that the spelling is wrong, and immediately shown the correct spelling of the word, the memory of the wrong spelling is overwritten by the correct spelling, and that’s the one you’ll remember. That’s why spelling training that provides immediate feedback is so important. On-line tests that combine audio files and instant results give the best possible spelling training, and help develop the link between sounds and spelling in the most efficient way. By using on-line tests, students will be able to take standard dictated spelling tests with more success.

At the end of this month, the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee will be broadcast on national television in the United States and around the world, and thousands of people will watch 278 young students compete for the title of champion speller. The competitors come from all over the United States, from China and Korea, from Japan and Jamaica, and all have been focused on learning the quirks and intricacies of English spelling. Some have been studying spelling for six years – and one of the competitors is only six years old! Lori Anne Madison is the youngest speller on record to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This second-grade student from Virginia is also a gold-medal competitor in science and robotics competitions, and takes part in swimming meets as well. You might wonder how she finds the time to study her spelling with such a busy schedule, but she says that she reads a lot, and that she loves to “find new interesting words in the dictionary.”

If you’re a parent of a young child, and want to encourage them to develop their spelling skills, take a hint from Lori Anne Madison, and start by encouraging your child to read. Many studies have proven that the more children read, the better they spell. Help your child learn to love reading, first by reading aloud to them and then later reading with them, or helping them pick out a book at the library. The benefits of reading include better spelling skills and more success at school even in classes other than English.

Children like to play games, so make it a game to find new words to learn. As part of learning a new word, draw pictures, tell a story using the word, and practice the word’s spelling. You can also make spelling quizzes into fun activities if you award points and prizes, or have two or more children compete against each other.

Incorporate spelling into as many aspects of the child’s life as you can, and you’ll find that they naturally pick up good spelling skills. And be sure to tune in to the Scripps Spelling Bee and cheer on the competitors – it’s a good way to learn new words, too!

One of the most important things a parent or teacher can do to help children learn is to encourage them to read. When children start to read, they get exposed to new information and new ideas. They find out about people and places in countries they’ve never visited, and get inspiration from the accomplishments of scientists, explorers, and even other children like them. No matter what the child’s age is, there will be hundreds and thousands of books available to them at school, in the library, and on line. There’s no better way to stimulate a child’s curiosity than by bringing them a book on a topic that interests them, especially if you talk with them about it afterwards. Your interest and enthusiasm is often the best reward for the work they put into reading the book.

On a more practical level, children will quickly learn new vocabulary through reading, and they won’t even feel like they’re studying. They’ll get practice in figuring out a word’s definition by looking at how it’s used in context, but if they can’t get the meaning right away, be sure that you’re there to help them find the resources that they need to look up words. Each new vocabulary word builds on the previous words learned. These new words will also provide the stimulation children need to think about new ideas.

While they’re using their new vocabulary to read increasingly complicated books, children learn the skills of writing well, just by observing how words are used by the authors of the texts they’re reading. They’ll unconsciously absorb the principles of good writing, and will naturally apply those principles to their own writing. They’ll also be absorbing the correct spellings of the words they see, and memorizing the shapes of the words, which will help them remember the way they’re spelled. It’s well known that the more times someone sees an image, the better able they are to remember that image exactly. The same principle holds for spelling – if a child sees a word spelled correctly multiple times, they’ll automatically memorize it.

Perhaps the best thing about introducing children to books and reading as something fun is that they’ll continue to see it as fun, and be more willing to spend time at it. Think about the difference between telling a child to spend an hour reviewing vocabulary and spelling lists, and inviting them to spend an hour reading. Which do you think they’ll want to do? If at first they’re reluctant to read on their own, try to spend time reading with them. Research has shown that children whose parents and teachers read out loud to them generally read more on their own as well. And if a child doesn’t want to read things they think might be “boring” then pick a book about their favorite hobby, or a graphic novel, or even a comic book. Once you show children that reading is fun, they’ll start to choose books on their own.

Cross-posted at The Vocabulary Builder’s Blog.

Children often get different advice about spelling from different sources. Depending on who they’re listening to, they might hear any or all of these statements:

“Just leave the space on the spelling test blank when you don’t know the word, and fill it in later if you have time.”

“When you can’t spell a word, write it out according to the way it sounds, using the letters that seem to fit the best.”

“If you don’t know how to spell a word, use a different one that has the same meaning.”

“Make something up that looks right – what’s important is that you fill in every blank on the test.”

“Look it up in the dictionary, or ask someone else how to spell the word.”

Which of these statements is good advice depends on the situation. If your child’s taking a spelling test, it probably is better to leave a space and move on to the next word, coming back to the trouble spot later if they can. It’s important that they fill in all of the words they know how to spell correctly, saving the hard ones for last. This just makes sense – if a child really knows 18 out of the 20 words on a test, but spends most of their time trying to figure out a word in the early part of the test that they don’t know, they’ll leave blanks for words they do know, and get a much lower grade. It’s usually better to get two blanks “wrong” and 18 right, than to only fill in 10 words before running out of time.

The second statement can be good advice as well. If your child understands phonics – that is, the relationship between letters and the sounds they represent (alone or in combination) – then they’ll probably have a fairly good ability to guess logical letters. However, the fourth statement, though it seems similar, isn’t very good advice. By making up their own spellings to words, children might confuse themselves about how a word is spelled, and start focusing on their own made-up words instead of the ones that are correctly spelled. It’s a good idea to apply the rules of phonics to spelling unfamiliar words, but not a good idea to write down random letters without really thinking about the logic behind your choices.

If your child is answering an essay question instead of completing a spelling test, the advice to use a word with similar meaning is good. In this situation, communicating ideas, information, and meaning is what’s important, as much as how the words are spelled. Choosing to use the word explain and spelling that word correctly will usually be more effective than using the word elucidate and spelling it incorrectly. There will be time to expand vocabulary skills once a firm foundation has been built on spelling skills.

Finally, it’s always a good idea to encourage children to not be afraid to ask questions, or to ask for help. Of course, this usually isn’t encouraged during spelling tests, but teachers may be open to giving some spelling help during other types of tests, and you can be there to help them while they’re doing homework. It’s best to encourage them to look up words on their own, rather than just giving them the answers, though. If children get used to using resources like a dictionary, they’ll get into the good study habit of actively looking for answers.

If you’re the parent of a child with a learning disability, you know the difficulties they can experience in school if they have problems with some aspect of classroom instruction. This can be particularly hard in a child’s early years at school, when they’re learning the fundamentals that they need to continue to progress, including the basics of reading, mathematics, and spelling. For many children, it’s not that they can’t learn these skills, but rather that they need extra time, or a different approach to the learning process. As a parent, there are several things you can do to help your child improve their spelling skills if they’re having problems.

Isolate the problems. In a classroom setting, the teacher often has to “teach to the group” and present solutions to problems that the average student has. However, your child might have a specific difficulty that isn’t being addressed. Try to identify what aspect of spelling is causing the most problems, and focus on that one first. For example, does your child pronounce words correctly but miss the spellings? You might need to look at linking letters and sounds with vocal exercises.

Demonstrate the right way instead of pointing out the wrong way. In class, a student will often get a spelling test back that’s marked up with all of the words they got wrong, and nothing more. This just tells the student they made mistakes, but not what the mistakes were. Instead, write the correct spelling of the word next to the incorrect one, so that the child can easily compare the two, then have them write out the correct spelling several times.

Don’t rush the process. Some children have no problem spelling words until they’re in the high-pressure environment of a test or when they’re called on by the teacher. When children are nervous or feeling stress, they’ll find it harder to learn and remember. Because many children with learning disabilities need more time to process information, help them cut down their spelling lists to a manageable size, and have them work on a shorter list in each study session.

Be generous with your praise. As your child completes each list successfully, make sure you tell them how well they’re doing. When you’re correcting a list of words, point out how many they got right, rather than scolding them for the number they got wrong. By using encouragement instead of punishment, you’ll help your child get better scores on their spelling tests, and also help them develop a love of learning.

There have been many studies done over the past few years to judge the effect that the “text speak” (shortened and abbreviated word forms) used in text messages and e-mails has on spelling skills, particularly in children. At this point in time, many children are using cell phones and sending text messages more often than they’re writing out notes to friends, and because of the limited number of characters that can be sent, number/letter clusters like CUL8R (“see you later”) are commonly used. Parents are often concerned that their child’s spelling abilities will be compromised by this use of spelling slang, and some studies in the past have underlined that concern, citing school papers that include “text speak” language inappropriately. However, a recent study done by researchers at the psychology department at Coventry University in England provides evidence that rather than decreasing a child’s ability to spell, cell phones and text messaging may actually increase their skill with words, because they’re forced to actively use their brains to decipher the meanings of the abbreviations and connect the letters with their sounds (this is referred to as phonological awareness). This implies that these children will therefore have a better ability to learn new words, spellings, and pronunciations, because they have learned to pay attention to how words are put together and how letters are used.

In fact, it might be that it’s adults who suffer from “text speak-itis” because they’re using abbreviations that are replacing previously-learned word spellings. While children are able to apply the texting skill they have to the words they’re learning, adults are taking shortcuts and possibly forgetting the correct spellings of words. It’s easier to use a shorter form of a word, and that ease of use is something adults need to guard against.

Whether you’re an adult or a child, make sure that you know how a word is spelled correctly, and use abbreviations appropriately.

Reference: Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (Vol 27, February 2011)