Developmental Spelling

1. Developmental Spelling An Effective Spelling Approach

2. Description • Students acquire the complex spelling knowledge of the English writing system by progressing through stages • Students begin by using knowledge of letter names and sounds to spell words • During later stages, students include knowledge of the correct sequence of letters and meaning units to spell words.

3. Description (cont.) • Students typically do not fluctuate between stages • Once a developmental stage has been mastered, students generally do not revert to the characteristics of earlier stages

4. Developmental Stage Models • Fundamental concept is that there is synchrony between reading, writing, and spelling development • Students’ reading, writing, and spelling skills develop together and advance in a stage-like progression

5. Bear’s Developmental Stage Model • Emergent • Letter Name-Alphabetic • Within Word Pattern • Syllables and Affixes • Derivational Relations

6. Emergent • Typically between the ages of 0-5 years • Students are not yet reading and writing • Little or no matching of letters and sounds • Children begin to learn the letters of the alphabet and their writing starts to include most prominent sounds in words

7. Letter Name • Period of time when students are formally taught to read • Typically beginning in kindergarten and extending into the middle of second grade • Reading and writing are slow processes • Learn to spell words with most short-vowel patterns, consonant blends, and consonant digraphs correctly.

8. Within Word • Students typically reach this stage at the end of first grade • Extends throughout second grade and third grade and sometimes into fourth grade • Students are fluent in reading “easy” chapter books and are writing pieces that are several paragraphs in length

9. Within Word (cont.) • Learn to spell words with common long-vowel spelling patterns, less common vowel patterns, and words containing abstract vowel combinations • Introduced to the meaning layer of the English writing system through an extensive study of homophones

10. Syllable Juncture (Syllable and Affixes) • Upper elementary and middle school years (typically between the ages of 9 and 14) • Students closely examine multi-syllable words for spelling patterns and units of meaning • Study common prefixes and suffixes (affixes) as separate meaning units • Proficient readers and writers • Students write to describe, explain, persuade, summarize and question in the form of letters, essays, and response logs

11. Derivational Constancy (Relations) • Some students reach this stage as early as grade 4 or 5 • Most students are in middle school, high school, or college • Study words that share common derivatives (parts of speech) and related base words and root words

12. Derivational Constancy (cont.) • Lifelong stage in which mature readers and writers discover how sound, pattern, and meaning interact through continued experiences with reading, writing, and exploration of words

13. Assessments Qualitative Spelling Inventories • Primary Spelling Inventory, Elementary Spelling Inventory, and Upper Elementary Spelling Inventory (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton & Johnston, 2008) Developmental Spelling Analysis • Informal Spelling Inventory (Ganske, 2000) • Feature Analysis Assessment (Ganske, 2000)

14. Assessments (cont.) • Administered at least twice a year (beginning of the year, middle of the year, and/or the end of the school year) • Progress monitoring is “essential” in order to advance students along the developmental spelling continuum

15. Word Study Typically follows a Monday through Friday routine: • On Monday, the teacher passes out the sets of words to the students, introduces the word sorts to each group, and then the students complete their sorts (say, sort, write/read) • Throughout the week, the students are provided multiple opportunities for practicing their words through a wide variety of activities such as picture sorts, word sorts, word hunts, and word games • On Friday, the students complete a “blind sort” (spelling test) of the words practiced during the week.

16. Word Study Notebook • Students record their word sorts, word hunts, and other word study activities in a word study notebook • Provides a record of the students’ explorations of words throughout the course of the year • Word sorts and word study activities need to be tailored to the developmental stages of the students (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2008)

17. Strengths • Word study is a teacher-directed, child-centered instructional strategy • Teachers are able to explicitly teach students what they need to know about the English spelling system (Direct Instruction) • Students are engaged and motivated through hands-on word work activities • Word work activities promote inquiry, discovery, and critical thinking skills

18. Weakness • Some spelling experts disagree with stage theories that students acquire the knowledge of the complex English spelling system sequentially • They suggest that students are able to acquire the complex knowledge of the English spelling system simultaneously and at a very young age (Overlapping Waves Theory)

19. Data • Developmental Spelling Approach can have a positive influence on the spelling achievement of students performing at all academic levels (Deak, 2012)