THREE FACETS OF SPELLING

This chapter discusses spelling as a representation, an activity, and a human ability, considering research on these topics and its implications for instruction. As a representation, spelling in alphabetic writing systems is related to sound and some other aspects of a word. Research shows that seeing a word’s spelling supports learning the word’s pronunciation beyond exposure to the spoken word alone. Some research has shown that seeing a word’s spelling supports learning of meaning as well, but results on this topic are less consistent. Deliberate spelling practice, although considered antiquated by some educators, has been found to be a better method of learning words’ spellings than simply reading the spellings in texts. Spelling activities benefit reading as well. Although spelling words is a more challenging task than reading them, spelling ability and word reading ability overlap substantially.