Hamline University
DigitalCommons@Hamline
School of Education Student Capstones and
Dissertations
School of Education
Summer 8-10-2016
Using Evidence-based Spelling instruction to
Support Elementary Students: A Self-Study
Brigid Ayn Berger
Hamline University, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_all
Part of the Education Commons
Recommended Citation
Berger, Brigid Ayn, "Using Evidence-based Spelling instruction to Support Elementary Students: A Self-Study" (2016). School of
Education Student Capstones and Dissertations. Paper 4186.
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Education at DigitalCommons@Hamline. It has been accepted for inclusion in
School of Education Student Capstones and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Hamline. For more information,
please contact [email protected].
USINGEVIDENCE-BASEDSPELLINGINSTRUCTIONTOSUPPORT
ELEMENTRARYSTUDENTS:ASELF-STUDY
by
BrigidBerger
Acapstonesubmittedinpartialfulfillmentoftherequirements
forthedegreeofMastersofArtsinLiteracyEducation
HamlineUniversity
SaintPaul,Minnesota
August2016
PrimaryAdvisor:MarciaRockwood
SecondaryAdvisor:LauraEiden
PeerReviewer:AnnakaLarson
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Countlessthankstomyhusband,Aaron,forallhissupport,encouragement,and
patienceandmyamazingteamwhohelpedmethroughtheprocessofwritingthe
longestpaperofmylife.
'Cord'isdifferentfrom'word';
c-o-wis'cow'butl-o-wis'low';
'Shoe'isneverrhymedwith'foe'.
Thinkof'hose'and'whose'and'lose',
Andthinkof'goose'andyetof'loose',
Thinkof'comb'and'tomb'and'bomb';
'Doll'and'roll'and'home'and'some';
Andsince'pay'isrhymedwith'say',
Whynot'paid'with'said',Ipray?
Wehave'blood'and'food'and'good',
Wherefore'done'and'gone'and'lone'?
Isthereanyreasonknown?
And,inshort,itseemstome,
Soundsandlettersdisagree.
AuthorUnknown,foundinResourceMaterialsforTeachingSpelling,1968
Foundin:Anderson,P.S.,&P.J.Groff(1968).Resourcematerialsforteachersof
spelling.Minneapolis,MN:Burgess.
TABLEOFCONTENTS
page
CHAPTERONE:Introduction……………….……….……….……….……….……….……….…………..1
StatementofSignificance……………….……….……………….……….……………….………2
Rationale……………….……….……………….……….……………….……….……………….……..4
Conclusion……………….……….……………….……….……………….……….……………….…...5
CHAPTERTWO:LiteratureReview…………………….……….……….……….……….….……….….6
Introduction……………….……….……………….……….……………….……….……………….…6
OurOrthographicSystem……………….……….……………….……….……………….……….7
AcquiringSpellingKnowledge…….……….…….……….…….……….…….……….………11
Reading-writingconnection.…….……….…….……….…….……….…….………12
Sortingandstoringspellingknowledge.…….……….…….……….…….……….………14
ApproachestoSpellingInstruction…….……….…….………….……….…….………...….16
DevelopmentalStageTheory…….…………….……….…….……….…….……….………....18
WhatResearchTellsUsAboutSpellingInstruction…….……….…………………….22
Whatdogoodspellersdo?…….……….…….……….…….……….…….………….22
Research-BasedInstructionalPractices…….…………….……….…….……....24
WordLists…….……….…….……….…….…………….……….…….………...24
Assessment…….……….…….……….…….……….…….……………………..27
InstructionalPractices…….……….…….……….…….…………………....30
Summary…….……….…….……….…….……….…….……….…….……….…….………………...39
CHAPTERTHREE:Methods……………….……….……….……….……….……….……….…………..41
Introduction…….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………….….…41
Self-studyMethodology…….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………..42
Reflectionandcollaboration…….……….……….……….……….……….………..43
Actionplan…….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………………..46
SettingandParticipants…….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………..48
Summary…….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……………49
CHAPTERFOUR:Results…………….……….……….……….……….……….……….……...….……….51
Introduction…….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….51
Results…….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………52
Summary…….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….…...59
CHAPTERFIVE:Conclusion………….……….……….……….………….……….……….……….…….61
Introduction…….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….61
OverviewofChaptersOnethroughFour…….……….……….……….……….……….…61
ConnectionstotheLiteratureReview…….……….……….……….……….……….……..62
Limitations…….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….…………64
FutureResearch…….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….…65
Summary…….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….…...67
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………………………..…69
AppendixA:ConsentLetter………….……….……….……….……….……….……….…………..…….73
AppendixB:SpellingGradebook,GoogleDocument…….……….……….……….……….……74
AppendixC:WritingGoalsWorksheet………….……….……….……….……….………………….75
AppendixD:SampleofStudentSpellingLog………….……….……….……….……….………….76
AppendixE:SampleSpellingGroupPlanningSheet……………………………………………..77
1
CHAPTERONE
Introduction
Through,trough,though:thesethreewordsembodytheinconsistenciesof
spellingintheEnglishlanguage.WithrootsinGerman,French,LatinandGreek,our
languageisanamalgamationofpronunciationandphoneticrules.Learningtospell
istrickybusiness,andteachingstudentshowtospellisnoeasier.Thediversityof
programsandproductsdesignedtohelpteachspellingoftenserveonlytofurther
confusetheissue-howdowebestteachspelling?Spellinginstructionvarieswidely
fromschooltoschool,andevenfromteachertoteacher.Textbook-generatedlists,
leveledspellinggroups,andcontentareaspellingwordsareallmodelscommonly
used,butwhichcreatethemostconfident,competentspellers?
Spellingdevelopmentisacomplicatedtopictounpackbecauseitis
intertwinedwithotherareasofliteracy,suchasdecoding,phonemicawarenessand
phoneticskills,vocabularyandwriting.ItisasubjectIhavestruggledwith
professionallyforthetenyearsIhavebeenteaching.BecauseImyselfamnota
confidentspeller,itisimportanttomethatIusethemosteffectivemethods
availabletosupportmystudents.Thishasledmetomyresearchquestion:Howcan
teachersuseresearch-basedstrategiestosupportelementarystudentsastheydevelop
spellingskills?
2
StatementofSignificance
SpellingisasubjectthatIhavestrongpersonalfeelingsabout.Iamneithera
competentnoraconfidentspeller.Althoughanavidreader,Inevermasteredthe
secretcodethatseemedtocomesonaturallytomanyofmypeersonthoseawful
Fridayspellingtests.Tearswereinvolvedduringstudying.Theshameofmy
consistentfailureonthosetestsleftmefeelingstigmatized.
Myexperiencesarealltoocommon.Infact,mostpeopledescribetheirability
tospellassomethingthatcomesnaturally-eitheryouhaveitoryoudonot.The
‘have-nots,’likeme,havememoriessosimilarthattheyarealmoststereotypical.
Spellingbeeswhichweresupposedtobefun,insteadcausedmeintenseanxiety.
Despitestudying,Fridaytestscamebackcoveredinredcorrections.Whenwriting
anessay,IneededtodowngradestrongerwordstothoseIcouldspelleasily.Spellcheckfunctionsoncomputershavegonealongwaytomasktheproblem,butIstill
feelembarrassedaboutmyinabilitytospellbiggerwords.
NowthatIamateacher,Irealizethatteachinghowtospellisjustashard,if
notharder,thanlearningit.Thetextbookmyschoolusesprovidesweeklyspelling
lists,buthaslittleadditionalsupportforteachers.Becauseitisnotexplicitlystated,
Ihadtoreverseengineerthespellingrulesthateachlistteaches,onlytobe
frustratedwhenwordsononelistbreaktherulestaughtbyanotherlist.Itryto
explaintheseeminglycontradictorycomplexitiesofspellingrules.Wepractice
throughtheweekasIwatchstudentsstrugglewithoddwordslike‘cork’and‘sow,’
whichnevercomeupintheireverydaydiscourse.AftertheFridaytests,Inoticethat
somestudentsstillspellwordsfromourlistsincorrectlyintheirwriting,despite
3
perfecttestscores.AllofthisfrustratesmystudentsandleavesmewonderingifI
amhavinganyeffectatall.
IwasspurredtoreflectonthisevenmorewhenIjoinedacommitteecharged
withfindinganewtextbookseriesformyschool.Whileservingonthecommittee
andcollectingmycolleagues’opinionsaboutwhattheywantedinnewteaching
materials,Irealizedthatteachersweredissatisfiedwiththetraditionalapproachto
spelling,butwereunsureofbetteroptions.Withoutknowledgeofresearchto
supportoneprogramoveranother,progressinselectinganewsetofmaterials
groundtoahalt.Intheend,amajorityofteachersoptedtopurchaseanewbasal
seriesthatproudlytoutsastrongbaseinresearch.However,itstillusesthe
traditionalweeklyspellinglist.
Althoughteachersrealizethatthetraditionalmethodofspellinginstruction
isnotworkingforeverystudent,withoutabetterapproach,wefallbackintothe
traditionalmethods.Inmyschool,Iseeteachersuseavarietyofpracticestoteach
spelling:copythewordsthreetimes,writetheminsand,sortthemintogroups,use
theminsentences,findtheminawordsearch,andcompleteworkbookpages.I
wonderwhichofthesemethodsaresupportedbyresearch,andwhichare
ineffective.
Thesepersonalandprofessionalexperiencespiquedmyinterestinthe
researchonspellingdevelopmentandinstruction.Iamnottheonlyteacherwhois
unsatisfiedwithmycurrentmethodofteachingspelling.Therefore,Iwonder:How
canteachersuseresearch-basedstrategiestosupportelementarystudentsasthey
developspellingskills?
4
Rationale
Iamkeenlyawareofhowmyownexperiencesinelementaryschoolshaped
myopinionofmyselfasalearnerwhenIgradetheweeklyspellingtests.Every
week,forthepasttenyearsofmycareer,thesamepatternplaysout:several
studentspassthetestwithease(infact,theyspelledallthewordsrighton
Monday’spre-test),moststudentspasswithonlyanerrorortwo,andthesamefew
studentsmissmanyofthewords.Iwonderhow,afteraweekofdrillingandword
work,theycanbesounawareofthepatternthatisobvioustotheirpeers.Iwonder
whyI,anavidreaderwithalargevocabulary,wasalsounabletointernalizethose
spellingrulesandpatterns.
Einsteindefinedinsanityasdoingthesamethingoverandoveragainand
expectingdifferentresults.Byhisdefinition,themostcommonapproachtoteaching
spellingisnotonlyineffective,itiscrazy.Itdoesnotofferenoughsupportto
studentswhostruggle,andfailstochallengestudentswhoexcel.Becausespelling
skillsareinterwovenwithwritingandreading,thisimportantpartoftheliteracy
puzzledeservesspecialfocus.
Thesearchforbetterstrategiesforspellinginstructionisimportantinthe
contextofcurrenteducationdebate.Theproblemcannotbeaddressedwithout
includingtwoissuesprominentinthefield:differentiationandevidence-based
practices.Inthiseraofaccountability,teachersarebeingpushedtoensurethat
studentsarebeingtaughtattheirlevel.‘One-size-fits-all’hasnoplaceintoday’s
classroom,soitistimetotakeacriticallookatweeklyspellinglists.When
determiningwhatstrategiesaremosteffective,onlythosebackedbyresearch
5
shouldbeconsidered.Themovetowardsevidence-basedteachingpracticesandthe
pushfordifferentiationareimportantcomponentstoconsiderasIlooktoanswer:
Howcanteachersuseresearch-basedstrategiestosupportelementarystudentsas
theydevelopspellingskills?
Conclusion
Bothpersonalandprofessionalstruggleswithspellinginstructionhaveled
metomyresearchquestion.Mydifficultexperienceswithlearningtospellin
elementaryschoolhavegivenmeinsightintomyownstudentswhostruggle.Ican
seethatmycurrentpracticesarenotmeetingthedevelopmentalneedsofallmy
students,andIwanttoimprove.Iwilllooktocurrentresearchforguidanceand
collectmyowndatatoaddressthequestion:Howcanteachersuseresearch-based
strategiestosupportelementarystudentsastheydevelopspellingskills?
InChapterTwo,Iwillprovideareviewofcurrentandseminalspelling
research.Thisprovidesafoundationformyownresearchandanalysis,presentedin
ChaptersThreeandFour.InChapterFive,Iwilladdresslingeringquestionsand
identifyareasforfurtherstudy,realizingthatthisparticularquestionisonlythe
beginningofmyinvestigationandgrowth.
6
CHAPTERTWO
LiteratureReview
Introduction
Spellingdevelopmentisaneducationaltopicthatraisesstrongfeelingsand
memoriesinmanypeople.Ihavemyownpainfulmemoriesofspellingfailurein
elementaryschool.Itisoftenpresentedasaninnateability-eitheryoucanoryou
cannot-andschoolsaredoinglittletoconvincetheirstudentsotherwise.Despite
teachers’frustrationwithineffectivemethods,anddecadesofresearchandstudy,
manyschoolscontinuetoteachspellingasitwastaughtfiftyyearsago.
Thepublicatlargeoftenbemoansthedeteriorationofchildren’sspelling,
blamingtechnology,teachersandthegeneraldeclineofoursociety.Almosttwo
decadesago,TempletonandMorris(1999)musedthat“[s]pellingissovisible,so
obvious,thatitoftenassumestheroleofproxyforliteracyandinthatroleisbound
togeneratecontroversy.”However,itisamisunderstoodsubjectandmostteachers
receivescantguidanceinbestpractices.Perhapsnoothersubjectisasmistreatedas
spelling.Here,parentalopinionstronglycomesintoplay:inaquicklychanging
educationalatmosphere,weeklytestsareonethingtheyrememberandrelateto.
Thereisoftenstrongsupportfortraditionalmethods,andahighdemandforproper
spellinginstudentwork.Withsomuchpressureandsolittleguidance,teachers
7
struggletomakesoundinstructionalchoicesbasedinresearch.Becausethe
complexityofthisissuehasintriguedandfrustratedmethroughoutmycareer,I
seektoanswer,Howcanteachersuseresearch-basedstrategiestosupport
elementarystudentsastheydevelopspellingskills?
Tobetterunderstandmyquestion,Iresearchedmanyaspectsofspelling,the
resultsofwhicharesharedinthischapter.Iwillbeginbybrieflyprovidingsome
backgroundonhowourspellingsystemworksandhistoricwaysthatspellinghas
beentaught.Iwillthenexplainthetheoryofdevelopmentalstagesofspelling.
Finally,Iwilldescribesomeresearch-basedstrategiesfortheclassroomand
differentiatebetweeneffectiveandineffectivepractices.Thisoverviewofthe
literaturewillprovideabackdropfortheprojectIwilloutlineinChaptersThree
andFour.
TheOrthographicSystem
Theterm“orthographic”referstoalanguage’sconnectionbetweenwritten
lettersandsounds.Consistingof26lettersandatleast44distinctsounds,Shemesh
andWaller(2000)sardonicallypointoutthatEnglishorthographicsystemhas
eithertoofewlettersortoomanysounds.Thiscomplexityisrootedintheevolution
ofourlanguage.Hayes,TreimanandKessler(2006)explainthatastimepassesand
alanguageevolves,itoftengrowslessandlessconsistent.Althoughthelanguage
mayhavebeengovernedbystrictletter-soundcorrespondenceatsomepoint,
changesinpronunciationovertimewillcauseaschismbetweenthewrittenand
spokenforms.Becausewrittenformsoflanguagetendtobemorestaticthanspoken
8
forms,spellingpatternsmayreflectoldandoutdatedpronunciationsthatwill
confusethemodernreader.
Tofurtherconfusethematter,ShemeshandWallerexplain(2000),each
groupofpeoplewhoinvadedorsettledinBritainlefttheirmarklinguisticallyand
causedvariationinspellingpatterns:CeltsandRomans,missionarieseducatingin
GreekandLatin,JutesandSaxonswiththeirGermanicdialects,VikingsandFrenchspeakingNormans.Theypointoutthat,overtime,thepronunciationofmanywords
changed,butthegraphemes(thelettersrepresentingsounds)froze,leavingwords
whosespellingandpronunciationappeartobedisconnected.Anothercontributing
factortheyciteisthatfewpeoplewereabletoreadorwriteduringtheevolutionof
themodernEnglishlanguage,thusnoconsensuson“properspelling”emergeduntil
recently.
TheEnglishlanguage,withitscomplexitymoldedovercenturiesbymany
othertongues,hasgarneredareputationforbeingnonsensical,lackingrules,or
perhapshavingnounifyingstructure.Thisisnottrue.First,TempeltonandMorris
(1999)pointoutthattheEnglishlanguagedoeshaveastrongalphabetic
correspondence,observedinshortvowelwordssuchasscrapandmop.Theygoon
toexplainthattheunifyingstructureofthelanguageoperatesnotattheletterlevel,
butonandbetweensyllables.Recallthealphabeticallyalignedwordscrap.Tosignal
thechangefromashorttolongvowelsound,afinaleisused:scrape.TheCVCe
patterndoesnothaveaone-to-oneletterspelling,butwithinthesyllable,onecan
findareliablepattern.Inotherwords,whiletheremaybevarianceinsound-letter
9
correspondence(forexample,vowelsounds),therearereliablespellingpatternsfor
syllables.
Johnston(2000)givesafantastic(andbrief)introductiontothevarious
“markers”usedinEnglish,ofwhich“silente”isjustone.Sheexplainsthatthereare
morevowelsoundsthanletters,sodifferentmarkersareusedtoindicateexactly
whichsoundthevowelmakes.Thesemarkersgivetheimpressionthatspellingis
unpredictable-whyisafinal/c/soundspelledwitha–ckinback,buta–kinbake,
forexample.Withanunderstandingofthesemarkers(-ckforshortvowels,-kfor
longvowels,inmyexample),onecannoticeandusepredictablepatternsdirecting
spelling(shortvowels-back,duck,sick;longvowels-like,bake,joke).Johnson
concludes,“Thereisgoodevidence,however,thatcapablespellersrespondto
patternsratherthanrules,andthesepatternsmoreaccuratelycapturethe
complexityofEnglish,”(2000,p.377).
ClaimingthattheEnglishlanguageischaoticandinscrutableshowswhat
TempeltonandMorriscallan“alphabeticbias”-thatletterscanmakedifferent
soundsdoesnotmeanthattherearenorulesgoverningspellingandpronunciation.
What’smore,asresearchdoneinthe1960sdemonstrated,thosewhounderstand
howthepatternsofEnglishwordsworkaresignificantlymorelikelytochoosea
correctspellingbecausetheyhavemoreinformationdrivingtheirdecision
(Templeton&Morris,1999;Johnston,2000).
BecauseoftheEnglishlanguage’smanyhistoricalinfluences,thereisa
balancebetweenphoneticinformation(thelettersandsoundsofaword)and
semanticinformation(themeaningofaword);althoughthepronunciationand
10
spellingsofdifferentwordsarenotalwaysthesame,wordswiththesamemeaning
rootareconsistent(Templeton&Morris,1999).Languagesareinherentlycomplex,
asShemeshandWaller(2000)pointout,involvingsounds,lettersandideas.
Whetherreadingorwriting,wemovethroughthreelayersoflinguistic
information:alphabetic,patternandmeaning(Bear&Templeton,1998;Templeton
&Morris,1999).Theselayersgiveabroadoverviewofhowourorthographic
systemoperates,illustratedinFig.1.Thealphabeticlayerstraightforwardly
describesletter-to-soundcorrespondenceandleft-to-rightorientation.
Thepatternlayermovesintomorecomplexgroupingsofletters,suchaslong
vowels,wherespellingdoesnotalwaysmoveleft-to-right.Invoweldiphthongsfor
example(ai,ou,ea),thesecondvowelchangesthesoundoftheprecedingletter,
readfromrighttoleft.Moreadvancedpatternsarefoundatthesyllablelevel.
Althoughtherearemorethantwotypesofsyllables,the“open”and“closed”variety
areillustrativeexamples.Opensyllablesendwithavowel:the“re”inresistand
relaxareopensyllables.Closedsyllablesendwithaconsonant:hap-pen,sub-mit,insect.Studentslearnthevowelpatternforthesesyllables:opensyllableshavelong
vowelsandclosedsyllableshaveshortvowels.
Themeaninglayerfocusesmoreonbasewords,establishingthatspelling
remainsconstantwithmeaning,evenifpronunciationchanges.Wordswiththe
samerootareconnectedthroughtheirmeaning,reflectedintheirspelling:senior
andsenatorhavetheroot“sen,”meaning“old.”AccordingtoBearandTempleton
(1998),thesethreelayers-alphabetic,patternandmeaning-representthelayersof
understandingthatchildrenmovethroughastheyacquireliteracyskills.A
11
foundationalunderstandingoftheEnglishorthographicsystem’shistoryandhowit
operatesisessentialforanyonehelpingstudentslearntoreadandwrite.
Table1:LayersofLinguisticInformation
Alphabetic-matchinglettersandsounds,movinglefttoright
example:chiphasfourlettersandthreesounds(/ch/i/p/)
Pattern-understandingcomplexinteractionbetweenlettersandinsyllables
example:longvowelmarkersthatactinarighttoleftfashion-ai(rain,bail),silente(lake,rage)
syllablejuncturepatterns–opensyllablesendwithavowel,makingalongvowelsound(thefirst
syllablesinba-sic,ro-bot,bonus);closedsyllableshaveaconsonantattheendandmakeashortvowel
sound(bothsyllablesincom-bat,fab-ric,nap-kin)
Meaning-reflectingthemeaningofawordthroughitsspelling,despitechangesinpronunciation
example:define/definition,local/locality,sign/signal
AcquiringSpellingKnowledge
Teachersshouldalsoknowhoworthographicknowledgeisacquiredand
stored.Howdoesthebrainorganizeandabsorbnewinformationaboutwords?
Bearetal.(2008)statethattwokindsofknowledgeareusedwhenlearningwords:
generalandspecific.Generalknowledgeisunderstandingthesystemandpatterns
ofourlanguage.Specificknowledgeisunderstandingindividualwords,especially
theirmeaning.Differentiatingbetweenhomophonesisanexampleofspecific
orthographicknowledge.AccordingtoBearetal.(2008),theseknowledgebasesare
reciprocalandbotharerequiredtospellefficiently.
Inadditiontowordknowledge,therearespecificfoundationalskillsthat
everystudentneedstobeaproficientspeller:visualizationandauditory
sequencing.Proficientspellersscanawordandnoticeitslengthandtheletter
12
shapes(Hodrinsky,etal.,2003,Cunningham,2012).Thisskillisessentialfor
rememberingthespellingofirregularwords,andtellingwhenawordjustdoesnot
lookright(Westwood,2014).
Visualizationisnotthewholestory,but,foralongtime,researchers
narrowlyfocusedonthisskill.Westwood(2014)describeshowentirespelling
systemswerebuiltonthetheorythatproficientspellerswereabletowritewords
byrecallingthewordfromanimagetheyhadstoredintheirmemory.Morerecent
studieshaveshownthat,althoughvisualizationisessentialforirregularwords,it
providesscantcarryoverintogeneralizablepatterns(Westwood,2014).Whileitis
clearlyanimportantskill,visualizationisnottheonlykeytospellingsuccess.
Themissingskillisauditorysequencing(Hodrinsky,etal.,2003;Westwood,
2014).Itisasubskillofphonemicawareness(theabilitytohearandmanipulate
sounds);auditorysequencingistheabilitytokeepsoundsinthecorrectorder
(Westwood,2014).Althoughitmayseemcounterintuitiveinthecontextofspelling,
auditorysequencingactivitiesdonotuselettersatall.Instead,theychallengethe
studenttoidentifysyllables,listenforphonemeswithinwords,stretchouttheir
sounds(Hodrinsky,etal.,2003).Itisfoundationaltospellingsuccess,because
withouttheabilitytoidentifyallthesoundsofawordintheircorrectorder,spelling
itwillbeimpossible.Infact,Westwood(2014)foundthatstrugglingspellersoften
hadpoorlydevelopedauditorysequencing.
Reading-writingconnection.Orthographicknowledge-understandingthe
spellingsystem-islinkedtobothreadingandwriting.AsGanskeexplains,when
writing,lettersarematchedtosounds,andwhenreading,soundsarematchedto
13
letters(2000).Ideally,thisknowledgeisthenappliedtotheauthentictaskof
writing.Newlands(2011)reminds,“Thegoalofeffectivespellinginstructionisto
createfluentwriters,notperfectscoresonthespellingtest”(p.531).
Spellingknowledgehasalsobeenlinkedtoreadingability.Cunningham
(2012)citesresearchwhichshowsthatknowingaword’sspellingislinkedto
understandingitsmeaning.Visualizingthespellingwhilelearningthemeaningand
pronunciationhasbeenshowntoprovidemorelastinglearningthanjustfocusing
onthemeaning.Further,shestatesthatlearningspellingsofwordsalsohelpswith
wordrecognitionduringreading.Thisisalong-termeffect,asshownbystudies
whereadultreaderswhoarealsopoorspellersover-relyoncontextwhen
comparedtotheirpeerswhoarebetterspellers(Cunningham,2012).
Allfluentreadersdonotbecomefluentspellers,though.Westwood(2014)
notesthatwhilereadingarewritingare“mutuallysupportive,…theyarenotsimply
mirrorimagesofthesameprocess,”(2014,p.3).Theymaysharesomebrain
functions,butspellingrequiressomespecificmotorskillsthatreadingdoesnot.He
addsthatspellingemploysauditorymapping,aswellaspronunciationandspeech
ability.
Becauseofthemotorskillsinvolved,spellingisconnectedtowriting.
Memoryforaspecificwordisnotonlystoredinthevisualcortex,butalsointhe
partofthebrainwhichcontrolsfinemotorfunctions.Fluenthandwritingsupports
spelling,becauseitposesonelessbarriertogettinglettersontopaper(Westwood,
2014).
14
Sortingandstoringspellingknowledge.Ehri(2013)theorizesthat
orthographicmappingmaybethesystembindingtogetherthecomplextasksof
decoding,encodingandcomprehending.Thismeansthatspellingskillaffectsother
literacyskillsaswellviaone’s“orthographicmap,”ortheconnectionsbetween
sounds,letters,words,andmeanings.Havingarobustmapofspellingmayimpact
sightwordmemory,forexample,becausethereaderconnectsthespellingwiththe
pronunciation;accordingtoEhri,theseconnectionsinone’sorthographicmap
providesthe“glue”thatholdsliteracytogether.
Ehri’sclinicalstudiesdemonstratedthatstudentslearnvocabularywords
withmoreaccuracyandspeedwhenalsoexposedtothespellingofeachword.She
concludes,“animportantconsequenceoforthographicmappingisthatthespellings
ofwordsentermemoryandinfluencevocabularylearning,theprocessingof
phonologicalconstituentsinwords,andphonologicalmemory,”(2013,p.6).
AccordingtoEhri,spellingisaword’svisualrepresentationandisstoredina
person’svisualmemory,soknowingaword’sspellingimprovesrecallofitssounds,
ormemoryofhowtodecodethewordandshesuggeststhatspellingmaywork
“behindthescenestostrengthendecodingskills,”(1987,p.5).
Thisoverlapinthedevelopmentofliteracyishardlysurprisingwhenone
considerstheinterplaybetweentheskillsrequiredforreading,writingandspelling.
Theseskillsarisefromabaseoforthographicandphonemicknowledgethatcannot
easilybeseparatedintoisolatedskills.
Thewaythisknowledgeisacquiredandsortedisalsousefulinformationfor
aspellingteacher.AsCunningham(2012)explains,thebrainperformstwovery
15
importantfunctionsrelatedtospelling:recognizingpatternandmakingrepeated
actionsautomatic.Becausebrainsnaturallypickuponpatterns,peoplesortmany
wordsinthisway,whichhelpsinlearningnewwordsandspellingunknownwords.
The“automatic”partofthebrainmemorizeswordsthatdonothaveapattern;this
allowsthespellertowritethemautomaticallywithoutmucheffort,freeingupthe
thoughtprocessformorecomplextaskslikecomposition.Cunninghamdescribes
proficientspellersashavingtwobanksofwordstodrawfromwhenspelling:the
automaticsection,wherewordsthatarememorizedaresorted,andthepattern
section,wherewordsaresortedaccordingtotheircommonorthographicprincipal.
The“pattern”knowledgeismorecomplexthansimplylearningphonograms
orrootwords.Ourspellingsystemmayseemslapdashonthesurface,but“sound
lettercorrespondencesbecomemoreregularwhenotherpartsofthewordare
takenintoconsideration”(Hayes,Treiman&Kessler,2005,p.28).AsTreimanand
Kessler(2006)explain,Englishspellingcannotbereducedtoasetofstaticrules
thatarememorized.Rather,spellersuseknowledgeofthemanyvariedpatterns
theyencountertomakespellingchoicesthatreflecthowthephonemesinteract
witheachother.Interestingly,thisunderstandingisnotusuallyacquiredthrough
explicitinstructionandmostproficientspellershavelittleunderstandingofwhythe
patternsworkthewaytheydo.Itisnotsurprisingthatthisunderstandingtakes
untilmiddleschooltobefullydeveloped.Hayesetal.(2005)foundthatadultsare
veryattentivetocontextwhenselectingaspellingforvowelsounds,andmost
studentsareatleastawareofthisrelationshipbythirdgrade.Understandingofthe
contextofonsetconsonantsappearsasyoungasfirstgrade.
16
Knowinghowourorthographicsystemdeveloped,howthepatternswork
andhowlanguageisacquiredisaprerequisitetosoundinstruction.Withoutan
understandingofhowspellingpatternsinteract,teachersstruggletoadequately
explainthelogicofoursystemtolearners.
ApproachestoSpellingInstruction
HelpingstudentsnavigatetheEnglishorthographicsystemisnotaneasy
task.Asexplainedintheprevioussection,thesystemdoeshavelogical
underpinnings,butineffectiveinstructionwillleavestudentswiththeimpression
thattheEnglishlanguageisimpenetrable,filledwithmillionsofrulestomemorize,
andthenjustasmany“exceptionstotherule.”Thecoreofmyresearchquestion
addressesthischallenge:howcanteachersbesthelptheirstudentsdevelopan
understandingofEnglishspelling?Inthenextsection,Iwillbrieflydescribe
historicalapproachestospellinginstruction,thendelveintowhichspecificpractices
aresupportedbyresearch.
Thesystematicteachingofspellinghasbeenstudiedfornearly100years.
Differentapproachesandprogramshavecomeandgoneasnewresearchemerges
or(moreoften)publicopinionchanges.Wheninterviewingteachersaboutspelling,
Schlagaldeterminedthattherearetoomanyinstructionalchoicesforteachersand
notenoughdirectiononbestpractice(2002).Understandinghowapproachesdiffer
isastartingpointforteachersevaluatingtheircurrentpractice.Intheirliterature
reviews,Schlagal(2002)andWallace(2006)bothcategorizeddifferentapproaches
intothreeparadigms.
17
ThefirstgroupdescribedbybothWallaceandSchlagal,theoldestandthe
mostcommon,isthetraditionalorbasalapproach.Teachersuseweeklylists,
usuallyfromacommercialpublisher,toteachorthographicpatterns.Lessonsare
takenfromspellingtextbooksthatofferasequenceofwordsarrangedinincreasing
difficultyforeachgradelevel.Thedefiningcharacteristicsofthisparadigmare
assessmentbyweeklytestsandorganizationbygradelevel,whichcontrastswith
thefollowingtwoapproaches.
Amorerecentparadigmthatgrewoutofthewholelanguagemovementis
theincidental,orstudent-orientedapproach.Schlagalnotesthatthisapproachhas
nosetcurriculumorsequence.Proponentsbelievespellingislearnedbestthrough
wordsthatstudentsuseandfindrelevant,sospellingistaughtthroughbroad
writingandreadingexperiencesinsteadofpre-setwordlists.Wallacedescribesitas
astudent-orientedapproachwhereindividualizedstudygrowsonlyfromstudents’
readingandwriting;theapproachisbasedonresearchthatmostwordsarelearned
incidentally.Unlikethebasalapproach,assessmentisauthentic,comingfrom
students’dailywriting(Wallace,2002).
Finally,SchlagalandWallacedescribethedevelopmentalortransitional
paradigm.Inthisapproach,teachersmonitorstudentprogressthrough
developmentalstagesofspelling;instructionisindividualizedorgroupedby
studentswhoare“usingbutconfusing”thesameorthographicfeatures(Shlagal,
2006).Inotherwords,Wallaceexplainsthatinstructionisbasedonassessmentand
studentneed,notapre-determinedscopeandsequence.Thedevelopmental
approachconnectswordstudywithastudent’sreadingandwriting,usingdirect
18
andexplicitteaching(Schlagal,2006,Wallace,2002).Thisapproachhasgrownfrom
abroadbaseofresearch,andwillbedescribedinmoredetailinthenextsection.
TherecentadoptionofCommonCoreStateStandards(CCSS)hasopeneda
doortore-examinespellinginstruction.CCSSsubtlyshiftsthewayteachersshould
thinkaboutlearningstandards.Unlikesomepreviousapproachestostandards,
accordingtoGeshmanandTempleton(2011)CCSSspecificallyandintentionally
emphasizesreadingandwritingforavarietyofauthenticpurposes.Theauthors
emphasizethatunderstandinghowwordsworkiskeytounderstandingthe
challengingtextsstudentsareexpectedtoreadandcompose.Educatorsmust
addressthechallengepresentedbyCCSSanddetermineiftheirinstructional
practicesareadequatelypreparingstudents.AsmorestatesadoptCCSSand
districtswrestlewiththeimplementation,thereisthepossibilityforfundamental
changesinhowspellingistaughtandcommunicatedtoparents.
Researchershavelearnedmuchabouthowtoeffectivelyteachspellinginthe
last100years.Notalltechniquesarecreatedequal.Havingintroducedthethree
mostcommonapproachestospellinginstruction,thenextsectionwilldescribe
whichpracticesaresupportedbyresearch,andwhicharelesseffective,beginning
withthebiggestshiftinthinkingtoemergefromresearch:thetheoryof
developmentalspellingstages.
DevelopmentalStageTheory
Thetheoryofdevelopmentalspellingstagesgrewoutoflinguisticstudy.In
hisliteraturereview,Schlagal(2002)notesthatcurrentresearchhasfocusednotso
muchonwhatwordstoteach,buthowtoteachthem.Researchersdiscovereda
19
patternofdevelopmentalstagesthatchildrenmovethroughastheylearntospell,
progressinginalogicalsequence.Ganske(2000)creditsCharlesRead’sseminal
workforbirthingthefield.In1971,Read,alinguist,studiedpreschoolers’inventive
spellingandconcludedthattheirerrorstoldhimhowmuchtheyknewaboutwords
andphonics.EdmundHendersonbuiltuponRead’sworkandcreatedthetheoryofa
progressionofdevelopmentalstagesfrompreschoolthroughadulthood;thestages
growmorecomplexandabstractastheindividual’sunderstandingofand
experiencewiththelanguagedeepens(Ganske2000,Bearetal.,2008).Studentsnot
onlyanalyzeincreasinglycomplexwordpatternsastheirspellingskillsevolve,but
thestrategiestheydevelopalsoincreaseincomplexity(Templeton&Morris,1999).
ResearchershaverefinedHenderson’soriginalworkovertheyearsintoa
continuumofspellingstages.Thissectionwilldescribethestagesandaddresssome
instructionalimplicationsofdevelopmentalstagetheory.
Thephasesofspellingdevelopment,asoutlinedbyBearandTempleton
(1998),alignwithothermodelsofliteracydevelopment,inEnglishaswellasother
languages.InTable2,theirclassicstagesareoutlinedalongwithexamplesofworka
studentmayproduceateachstage.
Thereissomedebateaboutnamesanddescriptionofstagesdevelopedby
differentauthors;Gentry(2000)offersaninsightfulcomparisonoftwo
developmentalmodels.Fortheclassroomteacher,theminutiaofwhich
developmentalmodeltouseislessimportantthantheunderlyingconcepts-that
spellingisdevelopmental,thatstudentswillmovethroughthestagesatdifferent
butpredictablerates,andthatproperassessmentshouldguideinstruction.
20
Table2:DevelopmentalSpellingStages
BenchmarkSkills
prephonemic
(ages1-7,preschool-firstgrade)
•
Examplesof
InventedSpellings
pre-letterorquasi
letterdrawings
imitateswriting,scribblesanddrawswithwriting
instruments
•
developingconceptofword
semiphonetic
(ages4-7,kindergarten-secondgrade)
•
CorCTforcat
SorSMforswim
J,JK,JRKfordrink
usesinitialandfinalconsonants
lettername
(ages5-9,first-thirdgrade)
•
LEKforlick
SAKorSTAKforstack
SAD,SED,orSANfor
reliesonletternamesforspelling,knowsonlyonesoundper send
JUPorJOMPforjump
letter(conlyknownasthehard/c/soundin“cat”)
•
usesavowelineachmajorsyllable
•
correctlyspellsCVCwordsandshortvowelphonograms
•
beginstoincludeblendsanddigraphs
•
omitslongvowelmarkersorunstressedvowels,affricates
andpreconsonantalnasals(eg.,jump)
within-wordpattern
(ages6-12,first-fourthgrade)
•
beginstospelllongvowelpatterns(CVCe,CVVC,CVV)and
complexsinglesyllablewords(CVck,CVght,dipthongs)
•
mayover-applynewlydiscoveredpatternsorapplythem
incorrectly(“usingbutconfusing”)
•
moredevelopedsightwordvocabulary
•
moreexposuretoandknowledgeofEnglishlanguagesystem
NEET,NETEforneat
NALEfornailor
HOAPforhope
DRIEfordry
GROWNDforground
JAKEforJack
LAFEforlaughor
TOPEfortroop
CRAULorCRALLfor
crawl
21
•
chunkswordsforquickerprocessing
•
shortvowelsubstitutionsdisappearandmorelongvowel
markersareused
•
beginstoknowwhenwords‘don’tlookright’
syllablesandaffixes
(ages8-18,third-eighthgrade)
•
usesandconfusesprefixes,suffixesandlessfrequentvowel
HOPINGforhopping
MESUREformeasure
ENJOIforenjoy
CAPCHURforcapture
patterns
•
exposedtomorecomplexwordsthroughreading
•
masteredvowelpatternsinsingle-syllablewords
•
learningtoapplyknowledgeofpatternstomulti-syllable
words(withinsyllablesandacrosssyllables)
•
unstressedsyllablesareespeciallydifficult
derivationalrelations
(ages10-adult,fifth-12thgrade)
•
correctlyspellsmostwords
•
makesconnectionsbetweenwordswiththesamebaseor
AMMOUNTfor
amount
IRREGATEforirrigate
root
•
focusesmoreonspellingmeaningthanspellingsound
•
wordchoiceinwritinggrows,reflectingthematurationof
vocabulary
(adaptedfromBear&Templeton,1998,pp.225-226;Geshman&Templeton,2011,
p.7;Gentry,2000,pp.8-20)
Describingspellingdevelopmentassuccessivestagesdoesnotimplythat
studentsmarchuniformlythrougheachmilestone.Instead,Ehridescribedthemas
“overlappingwaves,ratherthandiscretestages”(2013,p.10),meaningthateach
stagebuildsuponthepreviouswithsomeinherentmovement,likeawave.As
22
childrendevelopanynewskill,theygraduallyincreasetheirabilitytocompletea
taskcorrectly.Thereisneveroneparticularmomentwhentheyjumpfrom
incompetencetomastery,buttentativesteps,oftenwithonefootoneachsideofthe
artificialdivideof“stages.”Understandingthisprogressionhelpsteachersinterpret
dataandprovidethemosteffectiveinstruction.
WhatResearchTellsUsAboutSpellingInstruction
Howdoesthisunderstandingofourorthographicsystemandchildren’s
spellingdevelopmenttranslateintoclassroompractice?Manyprograms,
approachesandphilosophiesofferstrategiesforteachingspelling,butnotallare
createdequal.Thereisabodyofresearchthatcanofferteachersguidance,
demonstratingwhat“good”spellersdo,whatstrategiesareineffectiveandwhich
produceresults.
Whatdogoodspellersdo?Beforecraftingalesson,considerthecomplex
strategiesthatgoodspellersactuallyuse,sincethisisultimatelywhatwillhelp
strugglingstudents.Themaindifferenceis,notsurprisingly,thatproficientspellers
havemanymorestrategiestohelpthemproblem-solve,andtheyusethemflexibly
(Wilde,1999).Perhapsmoreimportantly,whentheyarewritingandarestuckona
word,goodspellerscanproblem-solveandcontinueworking.Theymayusea
misspellingasaplaceholderandcheckitlater,resorttoadictionaryorasksomeone
else.Goodspellershaveahierarchyofstrategiesfordifferentscenarios(Wallace,
2000;Westwood,2014).
Ontheotherhand,strugglingspellershavefewerstrategiesandover-relyon
phonicsrules,soundingoutletter-by-letter(Wallace,2000).Theyoftentryto
23
memorizespellings,whichisinefficientandhardtoremember(Murray&Steinen,
2001;Westwood,2014).Lookingatsomespecificbehaviorsthatproficientspellers
employgiveseducatorsanideaoftheskillstoencouragestrugglingstudentsto
develop.Theyincludethefollowing(Wallace,2006):
•
Useanalogy(useafamiliarword)
•
Usewordmeaning
•
Usestructureofwords,suchasaffixesandroots
•
Lookforchunksandphonograms
•
Visualizewords
Teacherswhounderstandthesementalmovesthataproficientspeller
makescanbetterhelpstudentswhostruggle.Flexiblestrategyuseshouldbe
explicitlytaught.Withoutexplicitstrategyinstruction,MurrayandSteinenfound
thatsomestudentstrytosimplymemorizeindividualwords,whichisnotarealistic
waytomasterspellingpatterns(2011).Withoutqualityinstruction,“poorspellers”
willnotimprove.Everyone,evenproficientspellers,canbenefitfrominstruction,
sincemoststudentsarenottypicallyawareoforthographicpatternswithout
explicitinstruction(Templeton&Morris,1999).Teacher-leadandstudent-directed
wordstudyarenecessaryoutsideofauthenticreadingandwriting;incidentalstudy
isnotenough(Alderman&Green,2011).Teachersneedtobeselectiveinchoosing
materials,activitiesandlessonformatsiftheywanttohelpallstudentsunderstand
spelling.
24
Research-basedinstructionalpractices.Asimplesearchforspellinglessons
andactivitiesproducesscoresofideas,butnoteverylist,homeworkassignment,
learningstationortestingapproachiseffective.Infact,manycommoncomponents
ofspellinginstructionarenotsupportedbyresearch,andsomearedetrimental.
Whileitmayseemdauntingtoevaluateeachaspectofspelling,fromthecreationof
liststoassessmenttechniquesandinstructionalstrategies,theresearchoffersclear
recommendationsineachareathatcanguideteacherstomosteffectivepractices.
Wordlists.WhenIbeganteaching,Iwasgivenlittleguidanceinwhatorhow
toteach.Instead,Iwashandedastackofteachingmanualsandlefttofigurethings
outonmyown.Usingthelistsprovidedinthesebooksseemedlikeasafebet,butis
itreallythebestwaytoorganizespellingstudy?Theanswerisbothyesandno.
Studiesdatingbacktothe1920sshowthatsystematicstudyofspelling
wordsbasedonlists,ratherthanthe“incidental”approachfavoredbythewhole
languagemovementisfarmoreeffective.Thisisbecausethewordsstudiedinalist
areseparatedfromlinguisticdistractionssuchasmeaning,syntax,punctuationand
handwriting,allowingthestudenttofocusonthepattern.Withoutdirectstudyand
practiceofthewords,theeffectsofincidentallearninghaveproventobetemporary
(Schlagal2002).
Thatisnottosaythateveryspellinglistiseffective.Listsorganizedaround
contentareavocabularyareinefficient(Newlands,2011;Schlagal,2002;Bear&
Templeton,1998).Here,wordsareorganizedbymeaning,ratherthan
graphophonicrelationship.Theselow-frequencywordsdonotofferstudentsa
chancetolearnusefulspellingpatternsorinternalizeorthographicprinciples
25
(Schlagal,2002).Withoutaunifyingpatterntofocuson,studentsneedtolearnthe
wordsonebyone;thisistime-consumingandnotlikelytoberemembered(Bear&
Templeton,1998).
Instead,aneffectivelistwillbeorganizedaroundsystematicstudyof
spelling.Inhis2002meta-analysis,Schlagalpointstothreehallmarksofeffective
lists.First,listsshouldshareacommonorthographicprinciple.Templetonand
Morrisagreethatteachingwordsgroupedthiswayallowsstudentstocompareand
contrast,andnoticehowthespellingpatternswork(1999).Forexample,alistof
singlesyllable,longawords(day,gate,late,game,say)couldshowthat–ayusually
isaspellingforthesoundattheendofaword,and–ateorsilentecanbeinthe
middleofword.Inadditiontocraftingalistaroundasinglespellingpattern,
Schlagalalsorecommendsthatthepatternsbegeneralizableandfollowascopeand
sequencethatmirrorsspellingdevelopment.
Qualitybasalspellinglistsmeetthesethreecriteria,buttheyarestill
problematic.Apre-madelistusesa“onesizefitsall”approachandfailstoconsider
thedifferingstagesofdevelopmentrepresentedinasingleclass(Newlands,2011).
Inhissummaryofspellingresearch,Schlagalconcludedthatspellinginstruction
shouldbetailoredtomeetstudents’developmentallevel,usingmultiplelistsforone
class(2002).Whenstudentsstudywordsattheirinstructionallevel,ratherthan
theirfrustrationlevel,theirretentionincreases(Newlands,2011).Thisrevealsthe
mainfailingoftraditionalweeklybasalspelling:onelistoftheentireclassmeans
thatsomestudentswillbereadytospellthosewordswhileothersarenot.Those
26
whoarenotreadydonotbenefitfrominstruction,sincetheyarenotpreparedto
internalizethepatternbeingtaught,nothavingmasteredtheprerequisiteskills.
Whenstudentsscorebelow30%onalist,theydonotinternalizethepattern
anddonotmasterit.Theymaynothaveenoughunderstandingoftheunderlying
orthographicprinciplestobenefitfromtheinstruction(Schlagal2002).Yettheclass
marchesonwithoutthem,leavingthestudentswhostrugglefartherandfarther
behind.Schlagaldescribestheopportunityofferedbydifferentiatedlists:“Moving
childrenoutoftheirfrustrationlevelandintowordsmoreappropriateindifficulty
appearstochangethepatternoflow-grouplearning.Wheninmore
developmentallyappropriatelists,lowachievingspellersrespondtoinstruction
giventhem,retainingthemajorityofwhathasbeentaughtandatthesametime
generalizingpatternsandprincipleslearnedtosimilarwordsnotstudied”(2002,
p.52).
Ontheotherendofthespectrum,RymerandWilliams(2000)pointoutthat
theselistsdonotaddresstheneedsofstudentswhoalreadyknowallthewords.In
theirstudyoftwofirstgradeclassrooms,afullhalfofthestudentsalreadyknew
howtospellmorewordsthantheywouldbetaughtintheyear.Confrontedbydata
suchasthis,theabsurdityof“onesizefitsall”listssinksin.
Sincedifferentiatedlistshavebeenshowntobeeffective,thenonemight
assumethatstudent-selected,individualizedlistsareaswell.Thisisnotentirely
supported.AldermanandGreen,whoseworkfocusesonmotivationinspelling,find
thatallowingautonomyincreatingspellinglistsincreasesmotivation(2011).
Allowingstudentstochoosewordsthatarerelevanttotheirinterestsorthatthey
27
frequentlymisspellhelpsengagethem.However,BearandTempleton(1998)warn
againststrayingfromatightfocusonasingleorthographicprinciple:donotfocus
onindividualwordsratherthanpatterns.
Decadesofresearchhasprovidedsomeclearguidelinesforselecting
effectivespellinglists:
•
Choosehigh-frequencywordswithinthestudent’sabilitytoread,insteadof
wordsfromcontentareastudy(Schlagal,2002;Bear&Templeton,1998;
AldermanandGreen,2011;Newlands,2011;TempletonandMorris,1999)
•
Groupwordsbyageneralizableorthographicprinciple(Schlagal,2002;Bear
&Templeton,1998)
•
Followascopeandsequencethatmirror’sstudents’spellingdevelopment
(Schlagal,2002;Bear&Templeton,1998)
•
Differentiateliststomeetstudentsattheirinstructionallevel(Rymer&
Williams,2000;Schlagal,2002;Newlands,2011)
Assessment.Onceanappropriatelistisselected,howshouldteachers
approachassessment?Traditionalspellinginstructionusesaweeklylessonformat,
withapreandposttest.Thisiseffectivewhenthelistsaredifferentiated(Wallace,
2006).Italsoworkswellwiththedevelopmentalapproach,asBearandTempleton
recommendusingthepretesttoinforminstructionandplaceastudentinan
appropriatelyleveledlist(1998).Ascorebetween40%and90%indicatesa
student’sinstructionallevel(Bear&Templeton,1998).Pretestsareevenmore
impactfulwhenthestudentsself-correct(Schlagal,2002).
28
Anotheroptionisaqualitativespellinginventory(aseriesofgraded/leveled
lists,developmentallyorganized)toassessbothgradelevelanddevelopmentallevel
(Templeton&Morris,1999).Here,thenumberofwordsspelledcorrectlymatters
lessthanthepatternusagethatthestudentemploys;thisassessmenthelpsteachers
knowwhattheirstudentscandoconsistentlyandcorrectlyaswellasthe
orthographicpatternstheyhaveyettomaster(Geshmann&Templeton,2011).
Simplespellinginventoriescangiveinsightintomorethanspellingknowledge:it
revealswhatachildknowsaboutphonemicawarenessandphonicspatterns,based
onwhatshecanorcannotdoinspellingunknownwords(Gentry,2000;Hauerwas
&Walker,2004).
Formaltestsarenottheonlyeffectivewaytoassessspelling.Infact,relying
soleyonisolatedtestscangiveafalseimpressionofastudent’sspellingskill;
authenticsamplesareneededtotrulyunderstandhowmuchchildrenknowabout
spelling,andhowtheyuseit(Rymer&Williams,2000).AldermanandGreen(2011)
suggestanyformativeassessmentthathelpsstudentstrackprogressnotonly
producesresults,butmotivatesaswell.Aneffectivespellingprogramwillutilize
portfolios,emphasizingprogressovertime.Teachersshouldhaveconferenceswith
studentstosetgoals,whetherinregardstoatest,authenticwritingoraspecific
pattern.Thesegoalsestablishthatprogressismeasuredbyindividualgrowth,not
competitionbetweenpeers.Self-evaluationbythestudentisalsoanimportant
assessmentcomponentthataffectsmotivationandbuy-in.Ultimately,evaluation
andrecognitionshouldbeprivateandstresseffortoverability.
29
Whenassessingspellingthroughtestsorwritingsamples,itisineffectiveto
viewordescribemisspelledwordsas“wrong.”Asnotedinthepreviousdiscussion
ondevelopmentalstages,spellingerrorsshouldbeviewednotasnegativemistakes,
buthelpfulcluesthatofferinsightintohowmuchachildknowsaboutorthographic
patterns(Templeton&Morris,1999;Hauerwas&Walker,2004).Byanalyzing
errorsinawaysimilartomiscueanalysisinreading,teacherscanplantargeted
instruction;itcanalsohelpteachersdifferentiatebetweenanormalgapin
developmentandalearningdisability(Hauerwas&Walker,2004).
Insteadof“correctingspellingmistakes,”teachersshouldseizethe
opportunitytohighlightallthatastudentgotrightinherattempt.Pointingoutthe
partsofthewordthatarespelledcorrectlybeforeaddressingthemistakereinforces
thecorrectusageofpatternsandempowershertocontinuetrying.Takingan“allor
nothing”approachtospellingisineffective(Templeton&Morris,1999).
Whenastudent’sworksamplesortestsshowalargegapbetweentheir
spellingperformanceandthatoftheirpeers,alearningdisabilitycouldbethecause.
Somestudentslacktheabilitytohearsoundsinwords(phonemicawareness)or
identifypartofthewordthatconveymeaning(morphologicalawareness).Instead,
theyaremoreattunedtotheorthographicstructure(spellingpattern)ratherthan
thesoundormeaningofaword.Teachersshouldassessthesestudents’phonemic
andmorphologicalawarenesstoseeifsomeremediationisnecessary.While
assessmentsareoral,writingsamplesshouldalsobeanalyzedforfurtherevidence
ofdeficit(Hauerwas&Walker,2004).Whenplanningassessment,someprinciples
canguideteachers:
30
•
Weeklylistsareeffective,whendifferentiatedandself-corrected(Wallace,
2006;Schlagal,2002)
•
Qualitativeinventoriescanprovideapictureofwhatspellingstagesstudents
areinbasedonthepartsofwordstheyspellincorrectly(Geshmann&
Templeton,2011;Templeton&Morris,1999)
•
Informalassessments(writingsamples,conferences,portfolios,goal-setting)
offeranothermeasureofprogressandincreasemotivation(Alderman&
Green,2011)
•
Misspelledwordsshouldnotbemarked“wrong,”butthepartsthatare
correctshouldbediscussedasmuchasthepartsspelledincorrectly
(Templeton&Morris,1999)
Instructionalpractices.Ourunderstandingofspellinghasgrownand
developedovertime,butunfortunatelymanyinstructionalactivitieshavenot.Itis
vitalthatteachersselectonlythosethatareresearch-basedandproveneffective.
Manyoptionsarebusyworkatbest,detrimentalatworst.
Ateachercanbeginbyplanningaschedulethatallowsforadequatetimefor
spellingstudy.Wallace(2006)suggestsspending60-75minutesperweek,and
Schlagal(2002)addsthatthistimeshouldbedistributedinsmall,frequentbursts
overthecourseofaweek,ratherthanconsolidatedintolongersessions.
Afterallottingtimeforstudy,appropriateactivitiesmustbeselected.The
qualityofaresourcecanbeassessedbylookingforthesekeycomponents:directing
studentsfocusonanorthographicprinciple,incorporatingbothexplicitinstruction
31
aswellasauthenticreadingandwriting,andactivelyinvolvingstudentsintheir
learning.
Spellingstudyshoulddrawattentiontotheorthographicprinciple.Some
examplesofsuchactivitiesare:
•
Wordgamesthatinvolvespecificspellingpatterns(Templeton&Morris,
1999)
•
Studyofphonograms,orwordfamilies(Templeton&Morris,1999)
•
Writingsorts(Bear&Templeton,1998)
•
Spellingnotebooks(Bear&Templeton,1998).
Anotheractivitythatissupportedbymanystudiesiswordsorts.Here,the
studentisprovidedwithasetofwordstosortbyorthographicfeature(Templeton
&Morris,1999).Theteacherwillscaffoldatthebeginningoftheactivitybyreading
thewordsandthinkingaloudabouthowthewordsarealike(Hauerwas&Walker,
2004;Templeton&Morris,1999).Sortingrequiresthestudenttofocusonthe
differencesandsimilaritiesinspellingofagroupofwords;inclassifyingwords,a
childcandrawgeneralizationsaboutthespellingpatterns,whichcanthenbe
appliedtospellingnewwords(Hauerwas&Walker,2004).AsHauerwasand
Walkerexplain,“suchactivitiesmaybridgethegapbetweenthenumberofwords
thatcanbeexplicitly‘taught’andthenumberofwordsthatare‘caught’throughtext
exposure”(2004,p.172).
Teachersshouldleadstudentstodiscoverpatternsandgeneralizations,not
memorize‘rules.’Theblackandwhiteconnotationsofrulescanconfusestudents
whenwordsdonotfitthat‘rule’,anditdetractsfromnaturalinquiry,decreasing
32
motivationandinterest(Bear&Templeton,1998).Whileusingtheterm“spelling
pattern”insteadof“rule”mayseemlikeasmallsemanticdifference,theimplication
isquitesignificant.AsaresultofthecomplexityoftheEnglishlanguage,outlined
earlier,manystudents(andtheirteachers)viewspellingasanonsensical
boondoggle.Presentingasetofwordswitha“rule”onlydeepensthisperception
whentheinevitable‘rule-breaker’isintroduced.Thefactisthatstatisticalanalysis
hasshownthattheEnglishlanguageisquiteconsistent.Schlagal(2002)pointsout
thatthisregularityextendspastthebasiccommonwords,oftenpresentedas
phonograms.
Teachingspellingpatternsshouldincludeexposuretodifferentletter
combinationsthatcanmakethesamesound.TreimanandKessler(2006)pointout
thatmanyspellingprogramsfocusonteachingmostcommonpatternswithdeviant
spellingspresentedasrule-breakersthatneedtobememorized,butthisisoftennot
thecase.Instead,theyconcludethatexposingstudentstovariantspellingsandthe
methodofanalyzingthecontextofthesoundbetterenablesstudentstomakea
choicebetweenspellings.Forexample,whenspellinglong/a/,whenis–ayused,as
opposedto–ai?“Thegoalofsuchinstructionwouldnotbetoexplicitlyteachevery
contextuallydrivenpatternofEnglish.Instead,thegoalwouldbetoalertchildrento
thefactthatcontextisoftenusefulinselectingspellingsforsoundsandthat
spellingsthatdeviatefromthenormneednotalwaysbeindividuallymemorized”
(Treiman&Kessler,2006,p.650).
Instructionalactivitiesshouldcombineexplicitstrategyinstructionwith
authenticexposurethroughliteratureandwriting(Schlagal,2002;Butyniec&
33
Woloshyn,1997).InastudythatcomparedexplicitinstructionORwholelanguage
onlyversusacombinedapproach,ButyniecandWoloshyn(1997)foundthat
studentsinthecombinedinstruction(receivingexplicitinstructiononhowand
whentousespellingstrategies,connectedwithauthenticliteratureandwriting
experiences)showedmoregrowththantheirpeers.Explicitinstructionoftenuses
spellingwordsinisolation;forstudentstocarryoverthelearning,theyneedtouseit
inwriting(Williams&Lundstrom,2007).Teacherscanmodelstrategyusein
writinglessonstopromotetransferoflearning(Williams&Lundstrom,2007).
HauerwasandWalker(2004)encouragethesystematicuseoftargetwordsand
patternsincontext,throughsharedorindividualreadingandwriting,orcloze
activities;thishelpsstudentsgeneralizethepatternandapplyittonovelwords.Itis
essentialthatauthenticreadingorwritingbeincludedineveryspellinglesson
(Schlagal,2002,Hauerwas&Walker,2004).AsBearandTempleton(1998)
summarize,balancedinstructioninvolves“pullingwordsfromlivecontext,working
withthemoutsideofthosecontexts,andthemputtingthembackintothose
meaningfulcontexts”(p.223).
RymerandWilliams(2000)demonstratedtheimportanceofaspelling
approachthatbalancesexplicitinstructionandauthenticactivities.Inclassrooms
wherestudentsreceivedonlyexplicitinstructiononaweeklylistofwords,there
wasalmostnotransferoflearningtostudents’writing.However,inclassrooms
whereteacherscombinedexplicitinstructionwithauthenticopportunitiestouse
andpracticespelling,thestudentsshowedmoregrowthintheirwritingsamples.
Thebestexampleofonesuchactivityisinteractivewriting.Teacherswhousethis
34
activitygetaplatformformini-lessonsthatgobeyondthescopeoftheweeklylist,
workingwithwordsstudentswilluse.Itallowstheteacherandstudentstomodel
theirthinkingandproblem-solvingstrategieswithinthecontextofwriting,not
isolatedonatest.Studentsinthe“explicitinstructiononly”classroomslearnedan
averageof65wordsintheyear;studentsinthe“balancedclassroom”averaged184.
Whentheresearcherscomparedstudents’writingsamplesfrombothlearning
environments,theyquestionedwhether20minutesofisolatedinstructionwaswell
spent.
Connectingspellingwithreading,writingandspeakingdoesnotonlyexpose
studentstothewordsinauthenticscenarios;itisalsoessentialforstudentswith
learningdisabilities.HauerwasandWalker(2004)notethatthesestudentsoften
havelessdevelopedphonemicawareness(abilitytohearsoundunitsinwords)and
oralmorphologicalawareness(recognizing,understandingandusingwordparts
thatconveymeaning)thantheirpeers.Multisensoryactivitiesthatinvolvespeaking,
hearing,seeingandwritingtogetherhavebeenfoundtobemosteffectiveinhelping
studentstransfertargetpatternstonewwords(Hauerwas&Walker,2004;
Westwood,2014).
Evenstudentswithoutdisabilitiesneedthesemultisensoryapproaches.
Westwood’s(2014)descriptionofthebrain-basedskillsusedinspelling-sound
sequencing,finemotor,speech,lettermemory-shouldbeaddressedinspelling
instruction.Thishasdirectimplicationsforinstruction:accordingtoWestwood,
teachersneedtoengagethesepartsofthebraintogetefficientcarryover.
35
Anotherhallmarkofeffectiveactivitiesisstudentinvolvement.Alderman
andGreen’s(2011)workemphasizestheimportanceofparticipationinmotivation.
Anytimethatstudentscanhelpselectwords,trackorreflectontheirprogressor
chooseanactivity,theyaremoreengagedandmotivated.Wallace(2006)
recommendsutilizingaspellingnotebookwherestudentslogandtracktheirerrors.
Wordsortsthatrequireanalysisandcomparisonaremoreeffectivethanpassive
worksheets(Bear&Templeton,1998).
Teacherscanusetheseguidingprinciplesinselectingevidence-based
instructionalpractices:
•
Planforabout60-75minutesofinstruction,spreadoutovertheweek
(Wallace,2006;Schlagal,2002)
•
Lessonsshouldfocusonasingleorthographicprinciple,suchasaspelling
patternorphonogram(Bear&Templeton,1998;Templeton&Morris,1999;
Hauerwas&Walker,2004)
•
Activitiesshouldleadstudentstogeneralizepatterns,notmemorize“rules”
(Bear&Templeton,1998;Schlagal,2002;Treiman&Kessler,2006)
•
LessonsshouldbalanceBOTHexplicitinstructionandauthenticreadingand
writing(Butyniec&Woloshyn,1997;Schlagal,2002;Williams&Lundstrom,
2007)
•
Activitiesshouldbemultisensory,engagingstudentsinreading,writing,
speakingandhearing(Hauerwas&Walker,2004;Westwood,2014)
36
•
Studentinvolvementinlearning,throughtheuseofwordjournals,selfcorrecting,conferencingorerrorlogsiscritical(Bear&Templeton,1998;
Alderman&Green,2011)
Consideringthesethreeaspectsofeffectiveinstructionalpractices,howdo
traditionalbasalsperform?Unfortunately,Schalgal(2002)foundthatmanyofthese
“ready-made”programssuggestactivitiesthathavenoresearchsupport,suchas
unscramblingwords,translatingthemintocode,alphabetizingthem,orlooking
themupinthedictionary.Hecontendsthatmostdonotpromoteactivitiesthat
supporttheinternalizationoforthographicpatterns.Furthermore,copying
activitiescanevenhaveadetrimentaleffectonattentionspan.Othertraditional
approaches,suchasworkbooksanddrillexercisesareineffectivebecausetheydo
notactivelyengagestudentswiththesystemoflinguistics.Tousethisknowledge
effectively,theymustseethelogicinthesystemandhaveaprocessforselectingthe
bestchoicefrommultiplepatternsinourlanguage(Wilde1999).Inaddition,
passiveactivitiesoftensuggestedinmanybasalsdonotsupportthisdeep
understanding.
Comparethesetraditionalactivitieswithinventivespelling.Inthisapproach,
teachersdonotcorrecteveryspellingerrorachildmakes;instead,theyallowthe
studenttostrugglewiththespellingandrepresentthewordinthebestwaythey
can.Thegoalofinventedspellingistofosterconfidencebyallowingchildrento
showwhattheycandoandvalidatingit,asopposedtofocusingonperfect
conventionalspelling(Sipe,2001).Additionally,Sipesuggeststhatbyallowing
childrentoapplywhattheyhavelearnedaboutphonicsinanauthenticway,
37
inventedspellingdeepenstheirunderstandingofhowourlanguageworksand
offersanopportunityforpracticewithapurpose.Althoughitsvaluehasbeen
supportedbymanystudiescitedbyTempletonandMorris,itremainscontroversial.
Thiscontroversyisduetothemisconceptionthatinventivespellingmerely
overlookstheerrors,andthechildisnotlearningthe“correct”form(Gentry,2000).
“Butanactivechilddoesnotimplyaninactiveteacher,”Sipereminds(2001,p.272).
Therearemanywaysthatateachercanscaffoldachild’sspellingwithoutjust
supplyingthecorrectanswer.Forexample,Elkoninboxescanbeusedtohelp
segmentandidentifysoundsinaword.Supplyinga“practicepage”instudent’s
writingnotebookprovidesspacetotestoutdifferentspellingoptionswithoutthe
messoferasing.‘HaveaGo’cardsencouragestudentstotryoutaspellingbefore
askingforhelpandalsogranttheteacheranopportunitytopointoutwhatparts
werespelledcorrectly.Interactivewritinglessonsmodelspellingstrategiesfora
wholegroup(Sipe,2001).Inventivespellingunifiesphonicsinstructionwith
writing-itistheapplicationoftheskillstaughtinisolation.Whenchildrenstart
askingquestionsabout“right”spelling,theyarereadyforscaffoldingand
instruction(Templeton&Morris,1999).
Comparedtotraditionalbasalprograms,inventivespellingalignsmore
closelywithresearch-basedbestpractices.Itincorporatesauthenticwriting,should
includeexplicitinstruction,andactivelyengagesstudentsintheirlearning.
Aside-by-sidecomparisonofresearchoneffectiveversusineffective
activitiesbringstheirdifferencesintosharprelief:
38
Table3:ComparingEffectiveandIneffectivePractices
Effective
(research-based)
focusstudentsonanorthographicprinciple
•
Wordsorts(Bearetal.,2008)
•
MyEsortscomputerprogram(Zucker,2008)
•
Wordmapping(Murray&Steinen,2011)
Ineffective
(nosupportinresearch)
•
phonicsrules(Schlagal,2002)
•
•
Wordsorts(Bearetal.,2008)
•
Explicitinstructionandmodelingofstudyskills
•
example:recopyingmisspelled
words,rainbowwriting,writing
withdifferentinstruments
2014)
Makingandwritingwords(Raisinski,2008)
activelyinvolvestudentsintheirlearning
Copyingorrewritingawordmore
thanthreetimes(Schlagal,2002);
andstrategies(Wallace,2006;Westwood,
•
Writingwordsinawordsearchor
story
incorporatebothexplicitinstructionaswellas
authenticreadingandwriting
Teachingstudentstodependon
•
Lookingupwordsinadictionary
•
Writingwordsincodeorfancy
letters
•
Wordsorts(Bearetal.,2008)
•
Wordmapping(Murray&Steinen,2011)
•
Cover-copy-compare(Powelletal,2008)
•
Spellinginparts(SIP),(Poweletall,2008)
•
Makingwords(Raisinski,2008)
•
Self-correctedtests
•
Wordlogsorjournals
•
Fill-in-the-blankworksheets
•
Personalwordwalls
•
Noreviewofmisspelledwordsor
•
Lettingstudentsfigureouttheir
ownstudymethods
•
Onespellinglistfortheentire
class
previouslytaughtspelling
patterns
Whenplanningspellinginstruction,teachersmustselectappropriateword
listsforstudy,collectassessmentdatatoguideinstructionandchooseactivitiesthat
willactivelyinvolvestudents.Researchclearlyshowsthateffectiveinstruction
focusessharplyonspecificorthographicpatterns,usesspellinginauthenticways,
explicitlyteachesstrategiesandengagesstudents.Thiswilloftenlookverydifferent
39
fromtraditionalspellingactivities.Withoutmuchtraininginlinguisticsoreffective
spellinginstruction,manyteachersresorttoteachingthewaytheyweretaught.
Newmethodsmayseemdauntingtobothteacherandparents,whomayquestion
deviatingfrombasalsandworkbooks.Itisessentialthatbothteachersandparents
areengagedinaconversationaboutwhatresearchtellsusaboutspelling,andwhy
itissoimportant.
Summary
Inthepast100years,ourunderstandingofhowEnglishspellingworksand
howitisacquiredhasdeepened.Statisticalanalysisofspellinghasfounda
surprisinglevelofconsistencyinthepatternsused.Advancesinbrainresearch
providedinsightintohowspelling,readingandwritingareconnected.Despitea
seeminglyconfoundingsystem,weknowthatourlanguagehaspatternsand
studentscanlearnthem.Developmentalstagetheoryhelpsteachersmonitor
growthanddeterminehowtobestinstructstudents.
Evenwiththeprogressresearchershavemade,spellinginstructionhas
changedverylittle.Afterthefailureoftheincidentalapproachinthewhole
languagemovement,teachersrevertedtotraditionalspellinglistsandbasalsto
guidetheirinstruction.Listshaveevolvedtoreflectadevelopmentalscopeand
sequence,butmanyinstructionalstrategiescurrentlyinusearenotgroundedin
research.
Astheyplan,teachersneedtoconsiderwhatliststouse,howtoassessand
whatactivitieswillbestengagetheirstudents.Bestpracticesincludeexplicit
40
strategyinstruction,authenticapplicationofskills,focusonclearorthographic
patterns,useofdevelopmentalstagetheory,andstudentengagement.
Traditionalapproachesmaybepartofarobustspellingcurriculum,but
newermethodsneedtobeincorporatedtobringinstructionintoalignmentwith
currentresearch.ThemovetoCommonCoreStateStandardsisanexcellent
opportunitytoreviewclassroompractices.Teachersandparentsneedtobe
engagedinthisprocess,withanunderstandingofhowresearchcanbetranslated
intopractice.
Iwasinspiredtolearnmoreaboutspellinginstructionbecauseofmyown
strugglewithspellingandmydissatisfactionwithmycurrentteachingchoices.I
haveoutlinedwhatwehavelearnedaboutspelling,andhowthattranslatesinto
bestpractices.Myquestion,Howcanteachersuseresearch-basedstrategiesto
supportelementarystudentsastheydevelopspellingskills?hasguidedmyreading.In
thenextchapter,Iwilldescribemyplantoconductaself-studyofmyspelling
assessmentpractices.
41
CHAPTERTHREE
Methods
Introduction
Spellingisacomplextaskthatrequiresadeepunderstandingofthepatterns
andconventionsoftheEnglishlanguage.Teachingspellingisanequallycomplex
endeavor;withlittleformaleducationinlinguistics,manyteachersstruggleto
identifyandusebestpracticeswhenteachingspelling.Myreviewofresearchshows
thatnotallapproachesareequallyeffective.Mypersonalstrugglewithspellingand
professionaldissatisfactionwithspellinginstructionledmetopursuethequestion:
Howcanteachersuseresearch-basedstrategiestosupportelementarystudentsas
theydevelopspellingskills?
Inthepreviouschapter,Ioutlinedstrategiesshowntobeeffective,aswellas
somethatwerenotsupportedbyresearch.Bestpracticeisforspellinginstruction
tobeexplicitandorganizedinadevelopmentalsequencethatmirrorsthestages
throughwhichstudentsprogress.Effectiveinstructionisdifferentiatedtoaddress
thevaryinglevelsofabilitywithinaclass,anditshouldbedeliveredinsmalldaily
lessons.Viewingspellingthroughadevelopmentallensissupportedbyresearch
andhassignificantimplicationsforhowteacherscraftwordlists,organizeandplan
lessonsandassesstheirstudents’progress.
42
Researchingspellingwasatransformativeexperiencethatledtodeep
reflectiononmycurrentpractices.Thisledmetochoosetheself-studymodelfor
myresearch.Inthischapter,Idescribetheself-studymethodology,myplanforthe
self-study,thetoolsIusedtocollectdataandthesettinginwhichIconductedthe
study.
Self-studyMethodology
AsIreflectedonmyquestion,Howcanteachersuseresearch-basedstrategies
tosupportelementarystudentsastheydevelopspellingskills?Iidentifiedmyselfas
theteacherwhoiscentraltothisinquiry:Iamaneducatorwhostrivestomake
research-basedinstructionaldecisions.WhilewritingChapterTwo,Ifeltevery
articleshoneaspotlightonmypractice,beliefsandattitudes.Idecidedthatthebest
methodologytohelpmeanswermyresearchquestionwasaself-study,inwhichI
examinemycurrentpractices,seekfeedbackfromcolleagues,changemyteaching
andanalyzetheresultsofthechange.
SamarasandFreese(2009)describeaself-studyasareflectiveprocessthat
addressesnotonlyclassroompractices,butalsoone’sphilosophyandideals.They
claimteachersengagedinself-studyaddressthe“livingcontradiction”thatisthe
differencebetweenhowwewanttoteachandhowweactuallyteach(p.11).Ihave
witnessedthis“livingcontradiction”incolleaguesandliveditmyself.Ithasirritated
melikeastoneinmyshoe:howcanwecontinuetogoaboutbusinessasusual,
whenweaseducatorsareawarethatwhatwearedoingisineffective?Thatbroader
questionisamatterforanothercapstoneproject,butIshareitasawayof
explainingwhytheself-studymethodologyappealstome.
43
Ibeganworkonthisprojectfouryearsago,andinthattime,Ihave
consumedliteratureaboutresearch-basedspellingpractices.Inthosefourschool
years,Ihavetinkeredwithmyspellinginstruction,buthavealwaysbeennaggedby
theknowledgethatIcontinuesomepracticesIknoware“wrong.”Theprocessof
researchingmyquestionhasbeendeeplyintrospective,andtheself-studymodel
wasthemostlogicalframeworktoanswermyquestion.
SamarasandFreesediscussthreecharacteristicsofaself-study:openness,
collaborationandre-framing.Onemustbeopentochangeandwillingtoquestion
instructionalchoices.Self-studyisalsobestdoneincollaborationwithacolleague,
whocanofferadifferentperspectiveandhelpreframethediscourse.Thefinal
component,reframing,iswhatultimatelyleadstorealgrowthandchange.
Iplannedaself-studythatworkedthesecomponents-openness,
collaborationandreframing-intoaninvestigationofmyassessmentpracticesin
spelling.Iunderstoodfrommyreviewofliteraturethatthetopicofspellingiswide,
and“bestpractices”encompassabroadrangeofinstructionalchoices:spellinglists,
homeworkactivities,lessonstructureanddesign,assessmentandtesting.Idecided
tofocusonchangingmyassessmentpracticesasitseemedlikeanaturalbeginning,
openingthedoortoaddressingotherareasofspellinginstruction.
Reflectionandcollaboration.Ibeganmystudybydescribingtheassessment
practicesIhadinplacebeforethestudy.Asummaryofthe“current”practice
allowedmetoreflectonwhatwasworkingandwhatshouldbechanged.Iinvited
mycolleague,athirdgradeteacher,tojoininthisdiscussion.Shewasalsoworking
onherMastersofLiteracyEducation,andwasveryinterestedinspelling
44
instruction.Sheprovidedanoutsider’sviewintomyclassroom,andcollaborated
withmeinidentifyingpracticesIcouldchange.
Inthismeeting,Idescribedmyassessmentpracticespriortotheself-study:
•
Weeklyspellingtests-EveryMonday,theentireclasstookapre-test,whichthe
studentsself-corrected.Ireviewedthembeforetheyweresenthomethat
evening.Ifmanystudentsmissedthesameword,Imadenoteofthatformy
lessonslaterintheweek.OnFriday,theentireclasstookthepost-test.Iincluded
twowordsonthepost-testwhichwerenotontheir“studylist”toreview
previouslylearnedspellingpatterns.
•
Recordingerrors-IkeptaGoogleDocumentinsteadofaspellinggradebook.
Ratherthanrecordingrawspellingscores,Irecordederrorsfromthespelling
tests,includingthemisspellingandtheconventionalspelling.Iwouldnoticeifa
studentwasshowingapatternoferrors.Attheendofthetrimester,Iwould
retestthestudentsonwordstheyhadmissedovertheperiod,tocheckandseeif
theyhadmasteredthemorstillneededadditionalstudyofthatpattern.
•
Developmentalspellinginventory-Fourtimesayear,Iadministereda
developmentalspellinginventory.Iusedplanningsheetstohelpmeplacethe
studentsonthedevelopmentalcontinuum.Ithelpedmemonitorgrowthover
longperiodsoftime.Thisassessmentdidnotfactorintolessonplanning.
•
Reportcards-Whendeterminingmarksforreportcards,Iwouldreviewthe
errorsstudentsmadeontheweeklytests(GoogleDocgradebook,AppendixB).I
wouldalsorevieweachstudent’swritingjournal,lookingforevidenceofspelling
usage“inthewild.”Thiswasaninformalreview,whichIusedtocross-checkthe
45
accuracyoftheirspellingscores.Iwantedtochecktofindstudentswhopassed
theweeklytestsbutwerefailingtoapplythepatternsintheirwriting.
AfteroutliningtheassessmentpracticesIhadinplace,mycolleagueandI
discussedwhatwasworking,andwhatwasnot;whatwasbestpractice,andwhat
wasnot.Togetherweconcludedthatmymethodsforassessingweresoundly
designedandsupportedbyresearch.SomekeybestpracticesIusedincludedselfcorrectionofthepre-testanduseofadevelopmentalinventory.Mygradebookalso
offeredgreatinsightintoexactlywherestudentswerestrugglingwithspecific
spellingpatterns.Shequestionedmyuseofassessmentresults,andIrecognized
thatIcouldimproveonthewaythatmyassessmentsinformmyteaching.
Specifically,Ineedtomaketeachingmoreindividualized,adjustingmyresponses
basedonstudentdata.Mypracticeofusingonetestfortheentireclasshasbeen
showntobealesseffectivethanindividualizinglists.Aswetalkedabouthowto
changethis,webothrealizedthatthiswouldbeamajorshifttohowIteachspelling.
WealsorecognizedthatDecemberwasnotanidealtimetobeginnewroutinesand
lessonformats.Therefore,Ineededtofindanotheraspectofmyassessmentthat
couldbeimproved,andknewthatmajorchangestomyspellinginstructionwould
needtowait.
WewerebothinaProfessionalLearningCommunity(PLC)focusingon
assessment.Togetherwithourcolleagues,wehadbeenexploringformative
assessmentsinourdiscussion.IsuggestedthatIcouldincreasemyuseofinformal,
formativeassessments.Improvingmyuseofformativeassessmentwouldnaturally
supportthechangeneededinmyspellinginstruction,sinceitwouldgivemequick
46
informationthatcouldshapemylessongoals,studentgroupingsandindividual
learningtargets.
Actionplan
Basedonfeedbackfrommycolleague,Idecidedthatincorporatingformative
assessmentintomycurrentroutineswasthebestfocusformyself-study.Baileyand
Heritage(2008)outlinesevenprinciplesofformativeassessmentthatdifferentiate
itfromotherkindsofclassroomdata:
•
Purpose:providestheteacherwithdatatomonitorstudents’progresson
specificlearningtargets
•
Flexibility:canbeusedthroughoutthelearningcycle
•
Interpretiveframework:learningisviewedalongacontinuum,not
“pass/fail”
•
Feedback:providesfeedbacktotheteacheronefficacyofinstruction,andcan
alsobeaformoffeedbacktostudentsabouttheirlearning
•
Studentinvolvement:utilizespeerandself-assessmenttosparkreflectionin
students
•
Timely:resultsareusedimmediatelytoadjustinstruction
•
Locusofcontrol:theteacherisinchargeofwhen,howandwhatwillbe
assessed
Basedonthesedefiningcharacteristics,Ichosethreetechniqueshelpedmetrack
studentprogressonspecificspellingpatterns.Ifocusedonincreasingstudent
involvementandteacherfeedback,sincethosewereprominentlymissingfrommy
47
originalpractice,andtypicallyarenotwellsupportedbycurricularmaterials.The
techniquesIchosewerewritingconferences,spellinglogsandexitslips.
Writingconferences.Icreatedaformtohelpmetrackindividualwriting
goalsandcommunicatethemtostudents(AppendixC).Theformhelpsfocusthe
writingconferencesIalreadyhaveinplace,butadds“spelling”asanareaforgoalsetting.AswaspreviouslydiscussedinChapterTwo,researchshowsthatalthough
explicitinstructionisnecessary,connectingthatknowledgetoauthenticwritingis
alsoessentialtorobustspellinginstruction(Schlagal,2002;Butyniec&Woloshyn,
1997,Bear&Templeton,1998;Rymer&Williams,2000).
Spellinglogs.Eachstudentaddedaspellinglogtotheirwordworkfolders
(AppendixD).Itlookslikeamini-wordwall,organizedalphabetically.When
studentsmadeaspellingerror,itwasaddedtothelog,withthe“trickypart”(where
theymadetheerror)highlighted.Ichoseaspellinglogbecauseresearchsuggests
thattrackingprogresswillnotonlyimprovespelling,butwillalsomotivate
students,asitemphasizesprogress(Alderman&Green,2011).Althoughorganizing
thewordsalphabeticallylimitsconnectionsbetweenspellingpatterns,thepurpose
ofthistoolwastohelpstudentstrackgrowthandreview,nottointroduceor
practicenewpatterns.
Exitslips.Afterexplicitspellinglessons,studentsusedpost-itsto
demonstratemasterybyusingthespellingpatterntowriteanotherword,andthen
ratetheirunderstanding.Thisclassicformativeassessmentgavemequickfeedback
onstudentprogress,flaggedstudentswhoneededmorehelp,andengagedthe
studentsinassessingtheirowngraspofthematerial.
48
Theseassessmenttechniquescouldbeusedinanyclassroomsetting,atany
gradelevel.Theyaregroundedinresearchandbridgethegapbetweenisolated
spellinginstructionandapplicationinanauthenticsetting.However,theseisolated
assessmentsdonottellthefullstoryofmyself-study.Next,Iwilldescribethe
settingandparticipantsinmystudy,toprovidecontextasIanswer,howcan
teachersuseresearch-basedstrategiestosupportelementarystudentsastheydevelop
spellingskills?
SettingandParticipants
Thisstudytookplaceinaparochialschoollocatedinanaffluenturban
neighborhoodofMinneapolis.Thereare411studentsenrolledinkindergartento
eighthgrade.Physically,theschoolissplitbetweentwocampuses;thelower
campushouseskindergarteners,firstandsecondgradersandtheuppercampusis
hometostudentsingradesthreethrougheight.Therearetypicallythreeclassesper
gradelevel,withanaverageclasssizeof20.5students.Themajorityofstudentsare
whiteandallspeakEnglishastheirprimarylanguage.
Ihavebeenanelementaryteacheratmyschoolfor10years.Thisyear,Ihave
17studentsinmyfirstgradeclass,aluxuriouslylownumberwhenitcomesto
differentiation.Offeringmoreindividualized,developmentallyappropriatespelling
instructiontotheninegirlsandeightboysinmyclasshasbeenoneofmygoalsthis
year.
Fouryearsago,ourcurriculumcommitteeadoptedtheJourneystextbook
series,publishedbyHoughtonMifflinHarcourt,forgradeskindergartenthrough
five.Itincludesdailyspellingpracticeandweeklywordlists.Itisexpectedthat
49
teacherswillusetheseresources,althoughthereisnomandatethatoneparticular
curricularresourcebeused;someteachershavechosentouseacommon
developmentalspellingcurriculum,WordsTheirWay(Beatetal.,2008),insteadof
theJourneysspellinglessons.Myteamusesthelistsandassessmentsprovidedby
Journeys,followingthescopeandsequencesetoutbythepublishers.Aspreviously
described,IuseadevelopmentalspellinginventoryfromWordsTheirWayasa
supplementtotheweeklytests.ItisinthiscontextthatIassessedmycurrent
practice,recognizingthatIhadthebenefitsofasmallclasssizethisyear,and
relativefreedomtoshapemyspellinginstructionasIseemostfit.
Summary
WhenIbegancourseworkonmyMastersofLiteracyEducation,spelling
developmentintriguedme.Earlierinthiscapstone,Idescribedmypersonal
difficultywithspellingasastudent,andmyprofessionalstruggletoteachmy
studentsmoreeffectively.Myexperiencesledmetomyresearchquestion,Howcan
teachersuseresearch-basedstrategiestosupportelementarystudentsastheydevelop
spellingskills?
Throughoutmyresearch,theteacherhasremainedcentraltomy
investigation,andIprocessednewinformationthroughthelensofmyown
experiencesasastudentandasateacher.Thereflectivenatureofmyproject
suggestedthataself-studywasthemostappropriatemethodologyformyproject.In
thischapter,Ihavedescribedthecomponentsofaself-study,mytwo-weekaction
plan,andthesettingandparticipantsinthisstudy.
50
Next,ChapterFourwillpresenttheresultsofmystudy.Iwillreflectonthe
processofincreasingtheformativeassessmentdataIcollectfromauthentic
sources,andprovidesamplesofstudentwork.Thepreviouschapterstoldthestory
ofwhatisknownaboutbestpracticesinspellinginstruction;thenextchaptertells
thestoryofwhathappenswhenoneteacherattemptstoaddressthe“living
contradiction”ofwhatsheknowstobebestpracticeandwhatsheactuallydoes.
51
CHAPTERFOUR
Results
Introduction
Difficultywithspellinghasbeenapartofmyidentityasastudentforaslong
asIcanremember,andhasremainedsoasateacher.Myearlystrugglewithspelling
formedmyattitudes;whenIbecameateacher,Icontinuedtostrugglewithspelling.
Forthisself-study,Iwantedtoreflectontheprocessofteachinginawaythat
preventsmystudentsfromhavingasimilarstruggle.Fouryearsofreading,
annotation,discussionandplanningledtotheimplementationoftheself-studyI
outlinedinthepreviouschapter.Ihadassumedthatmydifficultyteachingspelling
wasattributabletomydifficultywiththesubjectitself;myresearchforthisproject
revealedexactlyhowcomplicatedtheprocessoflearningtospellis,andhowillpreparedteachersaretoteachit.
InChapterThree,Idescribedaself-studyandoutlinedmyplantoalignmy
assessmentswithresearch-basedbestpracticesforspellingdevelopment.Ichose
formativeassessmentinordertokeepatightfocusduringmytwoweekstudy.I
alsocollaboratedwithacolleagueanddiscussedmyprojectwithinaProfessional
LearningCommunity(coincidentallyalsofocusedonassessmentpractices).During
52
thetwo-weekimplementationperiod,Iusedthreespecificformativeassessments
andreflectedonhowtheirimplementationimpactedmeaswellasmystudents.
Inthischapter,Ipresenttheresultsofthisstudy,centeredaroundmy
researchquestion,Howcanteachersuseresearch-basedstrategiestosupport
elementarystudentsastheydevelopspellingskills?
Results
Atthebeginningofthisproject,Iunderstoodthatatwoweekperiodwould
notbesufficienttoshowmeasurablechangeinstudents’spelling.However,inthis
self-study,IamnottestingtheeffectivenessoftheassessmentstrategiesIchose;
theyareevidence-basedbestpractices.Therefore,tobeexplicit,thepurposeofthis
self-studyisreflectionontheprocessofadjustinginstructiontoalignwithbest
practices.IwilldescribeeachchangeImadeandsharemyobservationsand
reflectionsontheiruseinmyclassroom.
Writingconferences.Ihavealwaysmadeinformalconferencespartofmy
writinginstruction.Idecidedthatincorporatingspellingintothisroutinewouldbe
themostnaturalwaytoaddressstudents’naturalspellingusage,withinwriting.I
createdaformtorecordwritinggoalsforeachstudent(AppendixC).Inadditionto
“editing”and“idea”goals,Iaddedasectionfor“spelling.”WhenImetwithstudents,
Iintroducedthegoalsheet,whichwasanewcomponentofourconference.After
lookingatwritingsamples,Ipresentedmyideasforoneortwowritinggoals,
dependingonthestudent,andaskedfortheirfeedback.Ikepttheformandgave
eachstudentastickynotewiththeirgoaltokeepintheirpersonalwritingbinder.
53
Rightaway,Inoticedachangeinstudentinterestandmotivationbecauseof
theuseofaform.Theywereveryseriouswhenwediscussedtheirgoals,andI
noticedthatsomestudentsputtheirstickynotegoalsontheirdesknametags:a
veryprominentplace.Theywereeagertohavetheirturntomeetwithme;two
studentsinparticularaskedforcontinuousupdatesonwhentheywould
conference.ThisuptickinstudentmotivationreflectsAldermanandGreen’s
research(2011),whichfoundthatdrawingstudentsintotheassessmentprocess
withconferencesandgoal-settingincreasesengagement.
Fromaninstructionalperspective,Ifoundtheadditionofgoal-settingforms
totheconferenceroutinetobedifficulttobegin.Theamountoftimeneededto
preparewasconsiderable.AsIscouredwritingsamples,lookingforgrowthareas,I
questionedwhetherthisisasustainablepractice.Before,myconferenceshadbeen
lessfocused,butmoremanageabletoconduct.Ontheotherhand,Iimmediatelysaw
thebenefitoftrackinggoals.Atwoweekperiodwouldnotdojusticetotheprocess
ofdevelopingwritingorspelling,butIimaginedwhatthegoal-settingformswould
showbytheendoftheyear:asgoalsaremetandnewtargetsselected,student
growthwouldbevisibletoteacher,studentandparent.
Attheendofmystudy,IwasimpressedwiththeinformationIwasableto
pullfromwritingsamples.Therewassurprisingconsistencybetweenthewriting
samplesandthedevelopmentalspellinginventoryIhadcompletedthreeweeks
prior.Iwillsharetheworkoftwostudents,“Sage”and“Adda,”toillustratemy
interpretationoftheirspellingandhowthattranslatedintoconferencing.
54
Figure1:"IhatewhenIgotstitches.Iwascrying”
Sage’sperformanceontheWords
TheirWay(Bearetal.,2008)elementary
Figure2:fromastoryaboutavisittothedoctor’s
officeandaneyeexam,“…fishandmyfavoriteis
goldfishandthenIsawacomputerwithcandlesandI
wasblewintoatubethingitwasscaryIdidn’tlikeit.”
inventoryindicatedthatshehasmasteredbeginningandfinalconsonants,short
vowelsanddigraphs,butwasreadytoworkonblends.WhenIlookedather
journal,Inoticedthatshewashavingdifficultychoosingbetweenc,kandcktospell
thehardcsound.ThisremindedmeofthepointmadebyEhri(2013):movement
fromonestagetoanotherisnotacleanprocess;studentsworkongoalsattwo
stagessimultaneously.AsyoucanseefromFigure1,sheusesakinsteadofacin
“crying.”InFigure2,sheagainsubstituteskin
“computer.”
SageandItalkedaboutherworkanddecided
thatshecouldworkonspellingthissoundinshort
vowelwords.Iremindedherofthecat-kitetrickwe
learnedinclass(Figure3),toprovideavisualcue,
whichIhadherdrawonapost-itforhernotebook.
Figure3-Cat-Kitevisualforshort
vowels:"Ktakestheiande,Ctakes
theotherthree."
55
Laterthatday,shehadmoved
ittoherdesktop,aplaceof
prominence.
“Adda’s”inventory
showedthatshehadmade
greatprogresssincethe
beginningoftheyear.Shehad
Figure4-"Irideabikeformyfirsttime."
masteredconsonantsandshortvowels,andwasnowmovingontodigraphs.Adda
struggledwithwritingandlackedconfidence.Spellingtookeffortandsheavoided
thetaskwhenpossible.Fromhersample(Figure4),Icouldseethatshewasusing
vowelstorepresentbothshortandlongsounds,butnotinthemorecomplicatedrcontrolledvowelin“first.”Basedonherassessments,Iknewsheneededtoworkon
digraphs,butIcouldnotfindinstancesofuseormisuseinherwriting.Adda’s
storieswerebriefandsheoftengotstuckonwords.Whilehergoalwastoworkon
digraphs,Isensedthatsheneededhelpgetting“unstuck.”
Thefirststrategywetalkedaboutwas“have-a-go.”Whenevershewas
unsurehowtoproceed,insteadoflettingthatderailher,Addawouldwriteher
attemptonaslipofpaperandslideittome.WhenIhadachance,Iwouldunderline
thecorrectpartsandprovidetherestoftheword.Thisrelievedsomestressof
makingeverythingperfectwhilestillforcinghertotryusingwhatsheknowsabout
spellingtomakeanattempt.Asshebecomesmoreconfident,Icanadjustthis
routinebyhavinghertryasecondtimeafterIunderlinethecorrectportions.
56
WorkingwithAddaandSage’sauthenticwritinggavemeabettersenseof
theirneeds.Theirscoresontheinventoryplacedtheminthesamedevelopmental
stage,buttheirlearninggoalswereverydifferent.Myteachingwasmoreresponsive
becauseItooktimetoseehowtheywereusingspellinginanauthenticcontext.
Spellinglogs.BecauseIconductedmystudyatthebeginningofanew
trimester,Iwasabletohaveeachstudentcreatealogofanywordtheyhadmissed
onspellingtestsduringthefirstpartoftheyear.Ialsochosewordsstudents
misspelledfrequentlywithintheirwriting.Iexplainedthattheycouldchoosewhen
todemonstratemastery,andoncetheycouldspellthewordindependentlythey
wouldgetastarnexttoitintheirlog.
Again,studentswereexcitedbyanew,novelroutineandsomewantedtotry
spellingtheirwordsrightaway.Iwasnotabletore-teststudentsduringthetwo
weekperiod,highlightingamajorchallengeinherentinadjustinginstruction:
addingnewcomponentsisdifficultwhenmoreminutesarenotaddedtotheschool
day,andadoptinganewroutineoftenrequiresmodifyingorabandoninganother
routine.Addingaspellingcomponenttomywritingconferencesdemonstratedhow
muchmoresuccessfulinstructionalchangesarewhentheyarefoldedintoapreexistingroutine.Inthefuture,Icouldaddanindividualspellingcheckintomy
weeklywhole-classspellingtests,orIcouldincorporateitintothewriting
conferences.
Anotherproblemthatbecameapparentduringmystudywasthealphabetic
formatIhadchosenforthelog.Iknewthatresearchdemonstratesthatwordstudy
ismosteffectivewhenorganizedbyspellingpatternratherthanarbitrarilyby
57
alphabeticalorder(Schlagal,2002;Bear&Templeton,1998).Ihadchosento
organizethelogsalphabetically,thinkingitwouldbeamoreusefulreferencefor
students,butafterusingthelogsfortwoweeks,Idonotthinkthatthiswasan
effectiveformatforwordstudyorstudentuse.Oneperceptivestudentnoticedthat
shehadmissedmanywordswith-ckattheend,andaskedifsheshouldwritethem
under“c”or“k,”pointingouttheflawinmyformat.
Exitslips.Iaskedstudentstorespondtoaspellinglessonwithexitslips
twiceduringmystudy.Once,Iaskedmyclasstowriteawordwiththephonogram
westudied(-ump)atthetopofaworksheet,nexttotheirname.Thesecondtime,
studentsusedstickynotestospellawordwiththeblendwefocusedonduringa
wordsort,addinganumbertocommunicateself-evaluationofmastery(1-needs
help,2-prettyconfident,mightneedsomeguidance,3-gotit!).Asyoucanseein
Figure5,studentswereabletodemonstrateunderstandingbywritingawordusing
thetargetedblend,andIcantellwithavisualsweepwhoisfeelingconfidentand
whowouldlikemore
help.
Thistechnique
elicitedtheleast
excitementinmy
students,butitwas
theeasiestformeto
analyze,offering
immediatefeedback
Figure5:exitslipforspellingblends
58
ontheimpactofmylesson.Becauseitwaslessformal,Inoticedthatcopyingwasa
factor,especiallyontheworksheet.Becauseitwasteacher-focused(providing
feedbacktome,notstudents),Ifoundthatitgavemelessinformationthanthe
conferences.Ididgetasenseofhowwellmylessonwent,butonanindividuallevel,
itonlyconfirmedwhattheweeklytestsshowed.Theconferences,incomparison,
gavemeaviewofwhateachstudentwasdoinginanauthenticsetting.
Reflectionandcollaboration.Amajorcomponentofself-studyis
collaboration(Samaras&Freese,2009).BeforeIimplementedmynewassessment
routines,Imetwithacolleaguetogetanotherperspectiveonmypracticesand
actionplan.Fortunately,IwasalsopartofaProfessionalLearningCommunity
(PLC),discussingassessmentpractices,asInotedinChapterThree.Ourgrouphada
meetingrightinthemiddleofmytwo-weekstudyperiod,whichgavemean
opportunitytobringupmyprojectformorediscussionwithcolleagues.Wetalked
aboutthe“livingcontradiction”(Samaras&Freese,2009)allteachersfacewhen
theyknowthatbettermethodsexistbutarenotimplemented.Talkingwithagroup
ofteachersrepresentingeachgradelevelprovidedopportunitytostretch
perspectivesoutsideourindividualclassroomsandconsiderassessmentchallenges
fromkindergartenthroughmiddleschool.IheardechoesofwhatIpersonally
experiencedwhileimplementingnewprocesses:changinghabitsisdifficultand
requiresfocusedsupport.Ialsoheardastrongdesireformorecollaboration.Iam
eagerforournextmeeting,whenIcansharetheresultsofthisstudywithmyPLC
team.
59
AchallengethatIdiscovered,andanoversightinmyplanning,wasformal
self-reflection.Effectiveteachersconstantlyreflectontheirlessons,makingmental
notesofwhatwentwellandwhatneedstobechanged.Ipracticethisselfassessmentinaninformalwaythroughouttheday,andapproachedthisproject
withasimilarreflectiveprocess.Indoingso,Ilosttheopportunitytocapturemy
thoughtsforfuturereference,bothinthispaper,andinmyownplanning.Looking
back,Ishouldhaveplannedaformalreflectiveprocess.Thisissupportedinthe
literatureonself-study;reflectionwithacolleagueispowerful,butself-reflectionis
thecoreofthisresearch.Icouldhavekeptajournal,orleftpost-itswithmy
thoughtsstucktomylessonplans.IcouldhaveselectedseveralquestionsIwould
respondtoattheendofthelessonorday,toseehowmyresponseschangedover
time.Foranyself-studythatspansalongperiod,formallytrackingthereflective
processisessential.
Summary
Formyself-study,Ireflectedonthatprocessofmodifyingmyspelling
instructiontobringitintoalignmentwithresearch-basedbestpractices.This
investigationwasdesignedtoprovideinsightintomyresearchquestion,Howcan
teachersuseresearch-basedstrategiestosupportelementarystudentsastheydevelop
spellingskills?AsIresearchedbestpracticesinspellinginstruction,Iwonderedwhy
sofewteachersusedevidence-basedpractices.IfoundthatthetechniquesIused
weremoreengagingtostudents,butalsomoreworkfortheteacher.Involving
studentsintrackingtheirlearningthroughlogs,goal-settingandspecificfeedback
gavethemfocusintheirwork.ThetimeIspentanalyzingandreviewingstudent
60
workwasconsiderable,andnotcommentedonintheresearchIfound.Finally,I
confirmedmypredictionthatadjustingpreviously-establishedroutinesthatare
alreadyinplacewasmoresustainablethanimplementingbrand-newtechniques
androutines.
OfthethreenewtechniquesIimplemented,Ifoundgoal-settingduring
conferencestobemosttheusefultobothmeandmystudents.Takingtimeto
analyzespellinginauthenticwritinggavemeamuchmoredetailedpictureofmy
studentsasindividuals,andsettingaspecificgoalforeachchildfocusedtheir
learning.Usingtheirwritingjournalsgavemeabettersenseofhowwellmy
studentshadmastereddifferentspellingpatterns,ratherthanhowmanywords
theyhadmemorizedforatest.Theirwritingalsogavemeabroadersenseoftheir
abilities,asopposedtoaspellinglistorwordsort,whichhasatightfocus.
Iamconvincedthatformativeassessmentfromauthenticsourcesshouldbe
includedinmydatacollection,alongwithadevelopmentalinventoryandweekly
spellinglists.IhavefoundonesystemthatcomplementsaroutineIamalready
using,anditgivesmeafullerpictureofmystudentsasspellers.Collaborationwill
bevitalasIcontinuetoreflectuponmypractice.
Nowthatmyself-studyiscomplete,Iamabletolookbackontheentire
processandevaluateitseffects,assesslimitationsandcontemplatefuturestepsI
cantaketocontinuelookingforanswerstomyquestion,Howcanteachersuse
research-basedstrategiestosupportelementarystudentsastheydevelopspelling
skills?
61
CHAPTERFIVE
Conclusion
Introduction
InChapterFour,Ipresentedtheresultsofmyself-studyaftertwoweeksof
adjustingmyassessmentpracticesinspellinginstruction.Myreflectiononthe
processofchanginginstructionalhabitsprovidedinsightintomyquestion,Howcan
teachersuseresearch-basedstrategiestosupportelementarystudentsastheydevelop
spellingskills?,butIamfarfromhavingalltheanswers.Inthischapter,Iwill
summarizemyproject,synthesizeimportantfindings,discussthelimitations
inherentinmystudyandproposefutureresearch.
OverviewofChaptersOnethroughFour
Ibeganresearchingspellinginstructionbecauseofmypersonalstrugglewith
learningtospell,andmysubsequentuncertaintyinteachingit.Iwasdrivento
improvemyownpracticebyfindingabetterwaytoteachspellingsomyown
studentswoulddeveloptheconfidenceIlacked.
WhenIbeganreadingtheliteratureonspellingdevelopmentandinstruction,
Idiscoveredthecomplexityofourspellingsystem,butalsothepredictabilityof
patternsthatexisttherein.IbecamefascinatedbytheevolutionoftheEnglish
languageaswellastheexplanationsforspellingquirksthatmyteachershadwritten
62
offassimplymoreexamplesoftheinscrutabilityofourlanguage.Themost
importantresearchIreadfocusedonspecificpracticesthatareeffective,aswellas
thosethatarenot.Isortedthesefindingsintothreemainareas:selectingspelling
words,assessingspellingdevelopmentandplanningeffectivelessons.
AsIreviewedresearchonspelling,Ialwaysthoughtabouttheteacherinmy
researchquestion.IknewthatIwasthatteacher,andIwantedtoimprovemyown
teachingtobringitmoreinlinewithbestpractices.InChapterThree,Idescribed
myrationaleforchoosingaself-studymodelformyresearch.Inarrowedmyfocus
toformativeassessmentinspellingandplannedatwoweekperiodtoimplement
andreflectontheuseofthesenewtechniques.IdiscussedmyfindingsinChapter
Four,describingtheincreaseinstudentengagement,theextraplanningrequired
andtheimportanceofcollaboration.
WhenIformedmyresearchquestionfouryearsago,IknewthatIwouldnot
haveafullandcompleteanswerattheendofthisproject,ifsuchathingiseven
possible.Myfinaltaskistosynthesizemyfindings,identifythelimitationsofmy
self-study,andplanthefuturestepsformyresearch.
ConnectionstotheLiteratureReview
Ibeganmyself-studybyreviewingresearchoneffectivepracticeinspelling
instruction.Fromthere,Idistilledapersonalchecklistofimportantresearch.While
itwouldbedifficulttolimittheentirefieldintoafewbulletpoints,somedistinctive
elementsofeffectiveinstructionstoodout:
63
•
Spellingshouldbeviewedthroughadevelopmentallens,andinstructionismore
effectivewhenitalignswithastudent’sabilitylevel.(Geshmann&Templeton,
2011;Templeton&Morris1999;Gentry,2000)
•
Teachersmustincludesomedirectinstructioninspelling.(Schlagal,2002;
Butyniec&Woloshyn,1997)
•
Effectivespellingactivitiesincludesomeanalysisorsortingbythestudent,
requiringthemtolookforthepatternsinwords.(Templeton&Morris,1999;
Hauerwas&Walker,2004)
•
Activitiesthatinvolvecopying,rewritingorusingwordsinsentencesarenot
effective.(Schlagal,2002)
Frommyclassroomstudyofformativeassessmentpracticesinspelling,I
learnedabouttheimportanceofauthenticassessments,studentmotivationandthe
needforcollaborationbetweenteachers.AldermanandGreen’s(2011)assessment
recommendationsweavethroughmyworkandprovidedtheinspirationformy
project.Theymakeastrongcaseforportfoliosfullofwritingsamples,wordlogs
thattrackprogressovertime,andindividualgoal-setting.TempletonandMorris
(1999)emphasizetheneedforamulti-facetedassessmentapproach;weeklytest
scoresdonotprovideacompletepictureofastudent’sability.Indeed,whenI
lookedintomystudents’writing,Iclearlysawthebenefitofformativeassessment
andtheuseofauthenticsources.
Ialsoobservedanincreaseinthemotivationandinterestmystudents
showedduringmyself-study,asAldermanandGreenpredictedintheirresearch.
Theyexplainprocessessuchasgoal-setting,makingapersonalwordwallor
64
trackingerrorsproducemoreengagedstudentswhoshowmoregrowthovertime.
Theyalsosuggestusingself-evaluations,whichisafurtherstepIcouldtakeasI
becomemorecomfortablewiththenewroutines.Idowonderifthereissome
impactfromthenoveltyofanewroutine,andthemotivatingeffectwillwaneover
time.AccordingtoAldermanandGreen,thiswillnotbethecase,andIamanxiousto
testtheirassertion.
WhenIrevisitedtheirarticle,Iamnowstruckbythetypeofclassroom
AldermanandGreendescribe.Ihavemadesomesmallchangesinmyinstruction,
butmyinstructionstilldiffersfromtheirrecommendations(andothersdescribedin
myliteraturereview)insignificantways.AsIthinkaboutwaystofurtheradjustmy
instruction,Iquestionwhetherthereisaplaceforbasal-styleweeklytests,sincemy
findingsinresearcharesuggestotherwise.
Limitations
Themostsignificantlimitationofthisstudyisthetwo-weektimeframe.
Givenmoretime,Icouldhaveseenmoreprogressorhadanopportunitytomodify
myassessmentsasIusedthem.Atrimester-longstudywouldprovidemoretime
andflexibilitytofullyobservetheadoptionoftheseformativeassessments,observe
moregrowthinstudent’sperformanceandhabitsandmeasuretheimpactofmy
newpractices.
Anotherlimitationisthenarrowfocusonassessment.Spellinginstructionis
abroadtopic,andgivenmytwo-weektimeframe,Ichoseassessment,specifically
formativeassessment,becausethistightfocussuitedthebriefschedule.OnceI
beganmystudy,itbecameapparenthowintertwinedtheaspectsofinstructionare,
65
andhowchangingmyassessmentpracticesrippledintomylessonplanningand
routinemanagement.
FutureResearch
Mydrivingquestion,Howcanteachersuseresearch-basedstrategiesto
supportelementarystudentsastheydevelopspellingskills?wasbroadandnot
possibletofullyanswerinthescopeofacapstoneproject.Asmyself-study
demonstrates,Ihavemorequestionsabouthowteacherscanbringtheirspelling
instructionintoalignmentwithevidence-basedpractices.
Spellinginstructionisabroadtopic,includingassessment,classroom
activities,writing,andlessonstructure.Duringthecourseofmyresearch,Ilearned
thatmanycommonpracticeshavebeenshowntobeineffectiveandsometimeseven
detrimentaltostudentprogress.Afterdiscussingthe“livingcontradiction”between
whatweknowtobebestpracticeandwhatweactuallydo,Iwonderwhatthebest
methodistoencourageteacherstochallengecurrentpracticesandexaminethemin
lightofwhatresearchshowstobeeffective.
Ihopetobeginaconversationinmyschoolaboutspellinginstruction.
Whetheritbeintheformofastudygroup,apresentationduringworkshopweek,or
evenasimplehandout,IwanttosharewhatIhavelearnedaboutspelling
instructionwithmycolleagues.Workingwithadultsthroughprofessional
developmentisoneofmygrowinginterests;sharingwhatIhavelearnedabout
spellingandtheself-studyprocessisanaturalnextstep,bothformyprofessional
lifeandforthisproject.
66
AsImentioned,Iquestiontheuseofbasallistsandwouldliketochallenge
myselfandmycolleaguestoconsideralternativeinstructionalmethods.Iknow
frommyself-studyexperiencethatchangingroutinesisdifficult,andthetemptation
toreturnto“old”waysisstrong.BasedonmyPLCexperience,Ibelievethatopening
adialoguearoundbestpracticesisvaluableandnecessaryofrealchangeistobe
realized.
Finally,someofthemoststrikingresearchthatIreadspokeofthelackof
preparationteachersreceiveinorthography.Learningmoreaboutourlanguage
systemmadeclearhowmuchmorethereistolearn.Whencolleaguesaskedabout
myresearch,Iheardmanyexpressinterestinmoretrainingtogetabetter
understandingofspelling,notonlyhowtoteachit,buttheinnerworkingsofthe
Englishlanguagr.Iamnowabetteradvocateinmycommunity,requestingthatmy
administrationprovidemoredevelopmentopportunities,encouragingcolleaguesto
seekoutopportunitiesoftheirown,andcommittingtocontinueadjustingmyown
spellinginstruction.
Evenlargerquestionsloomonthehorizon,lookingtothefutureofspelling
instruction.Howwilltechnologyimpacttheusageofspellingindailylife,andwhat
supportscanitoffertostrugglingspellers?Willspellinggothewayofhandwriting,
writtenoffasanobsoleteskill?CommonCoreStateStandardsaretoonewtofully
appreciatetheimpactoninstruction,yetonewondershowschoolswillinterpret
thesinglestandardthatvaguelyaddressesspelling.Consideralsotheparents’role
inspelling,animportantthreadonlyhintedatinthesectiononinventivespellingin
ChapterTwo.Clearly,therearemanytopicslefttoexplore.
67
Summary
Iamanavidreader,butasmuchasbeinga“bookworm”ispartofmy
identity,sotooisthelabelof“badspeller.”Technologyandspell-checkhavehelped
hidemydifficulty;Iamaccustomedtoredlinespepperingmypapers.WhenIbegan
teachingfirstgrade,Ineededabetterwaytoexplaintomystudentshowtounlock
thesecretcodeofspellingthathadforsolongeludedme.Idecidedtopursue
spellinginstructionformycapstone,inhopesoffindingananswer.
Inthecourseofresearch,everyarticleofferedan“aha!”moment,oraflashof
recognitioninthestudentsdescribedinthestudies.IfoundthattheEnglish
languageisnotasinscrutableasIhadthought,andthatsometeachingmethodsare
moreeffectivethanothers.Idiscoveredthatresearchershaveknownfordecades
thattherearebetterwaystoteachspelling,yetmostteachersstillrelyonthe
memorizationandcopyingtechniquestheythemselveshadexperiencedasstudents.
Forme,thequestionshifted:nolongerwhatmethodsaremosteffective,butnow
howtousethesemethods.HowcouldIusetheseinclass?HowcouldIadjustmy
routinestoallowspacefornewactivities?Howcanteachersuseresearch-based
strategiestosupportelementarystudentsastheydevelopspellingskills?
Inowhaveabetterunderstandingofhowtoevaluatespellingactivities.I
havetriedimplementingsomenewtechniquesinmyclassroomandcollaborated
withcolleagues.Theprocesshasleftmewithasensethatthisisthebeginning,not
theend.Spellingisabroadtopicthatencompassesassessment,readingandwriting,
parentcommunication,directinstructionandhomeworkconsiderations.Mywork
withformativeassessmentcanleadtoothersubjectareasaswell.Insteadoffeeling
68
finished,IfeelthatIhavetakenthefirststepinajourney.Completingthisproject
hashelpedsetthecourseandidentifymilemarkers,butmyjourneyisfarfrom
complete.
69
REFERENCES
Alderman,G.,&Green,S.(2011).Fosteringlifelongspellersthroughmeaningful
experiences.ReadingTeacher,64(8),599-605.doi:10.1598/RT.64.8.5
Bailey,A.,&Heritage,M.(2008).Formativeassessmentforliteracy,gradeK-6.
ThousandOaks,CA:CorwinPress.
Bear,D.R.,Invernizzi,M.,Templeton,S.,Johnston,F.(2008).Wordstheirway:Word
studyforphonics,vocabulary,andspellinginstruction.UpperSaddleRiver,
N.J.:PearsonPrenticeHall.
Bear,D.R.,&Templeton,S.(1998).Explorationsindevelopmentalspelling:
Foundationsforlearningandteachingphonics,spelling,andvocabulary.
ReadingTeacher,52(3),222-242.
Butyniec-Thomas,J.,&Woloshyn,V.E.(1997).Theeffectsofexplicit-strategyand
whole-languageinstructiononstudents'spellingability.Journalof
ExperimentalEducation,65(4),293.
Ehri,L.(1987).Learningtoreadandspellwords.JournalofReadingBehavior19(1),
5-31.
Ehri,L.(2013).Orthographicmappingintheacquisitionofsightwordreading.
spellingmemory,andvocabularylearning.ScientificStudiesofReading,
18(1),5-21.doi:10.10888438.2013.819356
70
Ganske,K.(2000).Wordjourneys:Assessment-guidedphonics,spelling,and
vocabularyinstruction.NewYork:GuilfordPress.
Gentry,R.(2000).Aretrospectiveoninventedspellingandalookforward.The
ReadingTeacher,54(3),318-331.
Geshmann,K.,&Templeton,S.(2011).Stagesandstandardsinliteracy:Teaching
developmentallyintheageofaccountability.JournalofEducation,192(1),516.
Hauerwas,L.B.,&Walker,J.(2004).Whatcanchildren’sspellingofrunningand
jumpedtellusabouttheirneedforspellinginstruction?TheReadingTeacher,
58(2),168-176
Hayes,H.,Treiman,R.,&Kessler,B.(2005).Childrenusevowelstohelpthemspell
consonants.JournalofExperimentalChildPsychology,94(1),27-42.doi:
10.1016/j.jecp.2005.11.001
Hodrinksy,E.,McBride,D.,Moreno,R.,Sherman-Fowler,P.,Varrone,T.(2003).
Spellingsuccessintheearlygrades.NewYork:Scholastic.
Johnston,F.(2000).Spellingexceptions:Problemsorpossibilities?TheReading
Teacher,54(4),372-378.
Murray,B.A.,&Steinen,N.(2011).Word/map/ping:Howunderstanding
spellingsimprovesspellingpower.InterventioninSchoolandClinic,46(5),
299-304.doi:10.1177/1053451210395388
Newlands,M.(2011).Intentionalspelling:Sevenstepstoeliminateguessing.
ReadingTeacher,64(7),531-534.doi:10.1598/RT.64.7.7
71
Powell,D.A.,&Aram,R.(2008).Spellinginparts:Astrategyforspellingand
decodingpolysyllabicwords.ReadingTeacher,61(7),567-570.doi:
10.1598/RT.61.7.6
Rasinski,T.,&Oswald,R.(2005).Makingandwritingwords:Constructivistword
learninginasecond-gradeclassroom.Reading&WritingQuarterly,21(2),
151-163.
Rymer,R.,&Williams,C.(2000)."Wasn'tthataspellingword?":Spellinginstruction
andyoungchildren'swriting.LanguageArts,77(3),241-49.
Samaras,A.,&Freese,A.(2009).Lookingbackandlookingforward:Anhistorical
overviewoftheself-studyschool.InC.Lassonde,S.Galman&C.Kosnik
(Eds.),Self-studyresearchmethodologiesforteachereducators(pp.3-20).
Boston,MA:SensePublishers.
Schlagal,R.C.(2002).Classroomspellinginstruction:History,research,and
practice.ReadingResearch&Instruction,42(1),44-57.
Shemesh,R.,&Waller,S.(2000).TeachingEnglishspelling:Apracticalguide.
Cambridge,UK:CambridgeUniversityPress.
Sipe,L.R.(2001).Invention,convention,andintervention:Inventedspellingandthe
teacher’srole.TheReadingTeacher,55(3),264-272.
Templeton,S.,&Morris,D.(1999).Theoryandresearchintopractice:Questions
teachersaskaboutspelling.ReadingResearchQuarterly,34(1),102-112.
Treiman,R.,&Kessler,B.(2006).Spellingasstatisticallearning:usingconsonantal
contexttospellvowels.JournalofEducationalPsychology98(3),642-652.
72
Wilde,S.(1999).Howchildrenlearntospell:Evidencefromdecadesofresearch.in
I.C.Fountas,G.S.Pinnel,&J.B.Askew(Eds.),Voicesonwordmatters:
Learningaboutphonicsandspellingintheliteracyclassroom(pp.173-187).
Portsmouth,NH:Heinemann.
Wallace,R.R.(2006).Characteristicsofeffectivespellinginstruction.Reading
Horizons,46(4),267-278.
Westwood,P.(2014).Spelling:Dotheeyeshaveit?AustralianJournalofLearning
Difficulties,20(1),3-13.
Williams,C.,&Lundstrom,R.P.(2007).Strategyinstructionduringwordstudyand
interactivewritingactivities.ReadingTeacher,61(3),204-212.doi:
10.1598/RT.61.3.1
Zucker,T.,&Invernizzi,M.(2008).MyeSortsanddigitalextensionsofwordstudy.
TheReadingTeacher61(8),654-658
73
AppendixA:ConsentLetter
Dear Parent or Guardian:
I am completing a master’s degree in literacy education at Hamline University in
Saint Paul. As part of my work, I hope to conduct research in my classroom from
December 7th to 18th, 2015. I am writing this letter to ask your permission to
include your child in my research.
My project involves the way I assess spelling development and monitor student
progress. All students will participate in normal spelling instruction, activities and
assessments or tests. I will collect student work samples, test scores and spelling
notebook samples to include in my research. I may also interview students about
their spelling strategies.
All students will participate in spelling lessons, which are standard first grade
activities. For students with permission to participate in the research, I may use
their work, verbal conference comments or test scores in my final report,
documenting my use of assessment tools.
If your child participates in my research, his or her identity will be protected. No
real names or identifying characteristics will be used. All results will be
confidential and anonymous. This eliminates risks for your child and other
participants. Participation in this project is voluntary, and will not affect the
student’s instruction or grade. In addition, you or your child may decide not to
participate at any time without any negative consequences.
I have already received permission to do this research from my principal, Mrs.
Sue Kerr, as well as the Hamline University Graduate School of Education. The
final product will be a printed, bound thesis that will be shelved in Hamline’s Bush
Library. The abstract and final project will also be stored in the Bush Library
Digital Commons, a searchable electronic catalog which is publicly available to
other researchers. The research may also be used in education publications or
reports in the future. In all cases, your child’s identity will be kept confidential.
Please return the permission form on the second page by ____. If you have any
questions, please call me: 612-920-9075 or email me at
[email protected].
Thank you for your support.
74
AppendixB:SpellingGradebook,GoogleDocument
ThisisanexampleofthegradebookIkeepasaGoogleDocument.Irecord
mygradebookonline,soIcanaccessitfrommanydevices,makinggradekeeping
easier.Ialsorecordthemistake.Thisgivesmemuchmoreinformationthanonly
recordingthewordseachstudentmissed.Becausemyschoolyearisdividedinto
trimesters,mygradebookreflectsthat.HereishowIorganizetheinformation:
Trimester 1
(Student’s
number)
(Student’s name)
Trimester
2
Trimester
3
(word missed)-(misspelling from the
test)
Here is a sample of the gradebook with data filled in:
Trimester 1
Trimester 2
1. Jane
sick-scick
chest-thest
shed-thed
rich-ritch
which-wich
2. Joe
pet-pit
bug- bu
pet-pit
chest-thest
shed-thed
time-tim
bike-bicke
flake-face
snake-snace
bake-bace
match-motch
lunch-lonch
much-moch
3. Jack
sick-sik
shut-sut
when-wen
sail, sal
Spray, sprai
Noticethat“Jane”madenoerrorsinthethirdtrimesteryet.
(CreatedbyBrigidBerger)
Trimester 3
75
AppendixC:WritingGoalsWorksheet
Writing Goals
date
SPELLING
EDITING
IDEAS
SPELLING
EDITING
IDEAS
SPELLING
EDITING
IDEAS
Goal:
Notes:
date
Goal:
Notes:
date
Goal:
Notes:
(CreatedbyBrigidBerger)
76
AppendixD:SampleofStudentSpellingLog
Usedwithpermission
Ryan,A.(2015).WritingFolderFreebieK-2.Retrievedfrom
http://learningattheprimarypond.com/blog/writing-folder-tools-for-k-2/
77
Appendix E: Sample Spelling Group Planning Sheet
Spelling Groups
JB
JC
Shortvowels
(WTW-11/2015)
blends
(WTW-11/2015)
EM
AM
SA
digraphs
(WTW-11/2015)
TS
Longvowels
(WTW-11/2015)
TD
LW
SO
ES
ST
EJ
RS
JO
EO
PN
JC
OtherVowels
(WTW-11/2015)
Notes:
(created by Brigid Berger)