Fluent Essays

Read the research article and answer the question given on the uploaded research template. Reading of a Research Article Part I: Complete the following information and questions as you read the Research Article. Title of Article Date Is the article considered recent? ______Yes ______ No Topic of study Is this a clinical study? Is this a summary of information from other studies? Authors of Study Who wrote conclusions based on study (studies)? Subjects in Study Who are the participants in the study? Age? Grade level? Type of Readers in Study Below grade level? On grade level? Above grade level? Hypothesis What is the study trying to prove or document? Summary of Findings Is the hypothesis proven or supported by the research? If not, what are the findings? Application Can this research inform your teaching practice? If so how? If nor, why not? Part II: Answer the question based on the reading of the research article. What is the big idea or take away from the article? How would you use the information in the article to be more effective in the classroom? What from the article would you incorporate into the LEA approach? 6 AMERIcAN EdUcATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 By R. Malatesha Joshi, Rebecca Treiman, Suzanne Carreker, and Louisa C. Moats I n 1773, Noah Webster stated that “spelling is the foundation of reading and the greatest ornament of writing.”1 he was right. Good spelling is critical for literacy, and it makes writ- ing much easier—allowing the writer to focus on the ideas to be conveyed, not the letters needed to put those ideas on paper. But ever since Webster’s “spellers” (which focused on how to spell the sounds that make up words and thus taught spelling and read- ing simultaneously) went out of fashion in the early 1900s, spell- ing has not received as much attention as reading. This is unfor- tunate because spelling instruction underpins reading success by creating an awareness of the sounds that make up words and the letters that spell those sounds. As children learn to spell, their knowledge of words improves and reading becomes easier.2 And yet, even though there is a close relationship between reading and spelling (the correlation between the two is quite strong,3 ranging from 0.66 to 0.90, where 0 would indicate no correlation How Words Cast Their Spell Spelling Is an Integral Part of Learning the Language, Not a Matter of Memorization and 1 would indicate a perfect correlation), spelling in the ele- mentary grades is usually taught as an isolated skill, often as a visual task.* Collectively, the authors of this paper have eight decades of experience helping preservice and inservice teachers improve their instruction in spelling, reading, and writing. one common perception we have encountered is that visual memory, analo- gous to taking a mental picture of the word, is the basis of spelling skill. Teachers often tell us that they teach spelling by encourag- ing whole-word memorization (e.g., using flashcards and having students write words 5 or 10 times) or by asking students to close their eyes and imagine words. We’ve encountered this percep- tion that spelling relies on visual memory so many times that we became curious about when and how it originated—after all, it’s a far cry from Webster’s spellers. We traced it back to the 1920s: one of the earliest studies to stress the role of visual memory in spelling was published in 1926, and it found that deaf children spelled relatively well compared with normal children of similar reading experience.4 Based on this study, and the perception that the relationship between sounds and the letters that spell them is highly variable, many people concluded that learning to spell is essentially a matter of rote memorization. Thus, researchers recommended that spelling instruction emphasize the develop- ment of visual memory for whole words.5 More recent studies, however, do not support the notion that visual memory is the key to good spelling.6 Several researchers have found that rote visual memory for letter strings is limited to two or three letters in a word.7 In addition, studies of the errors * Throughout this article, the research and instructional strategies discussed are about spelling in english; they may not apply to other languages. R. Malatesha Joshi is professor of literacy education at Texas A&M Uni- versity, author of numerous books and articles on reading and spelling, and founding editor of Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Jour- nal. Rebecca Treiman is Burke and Elizabeth High Baker Professor of Child Developmental Psychology at Washington University and author of dozens of studies on reading, writing, and spelling. Suzanne Carreker is vice president of program development at the Neuhaus Education Center, author of several language and literacy programs, and a former teacher and school consultant. Louisa C. Moats is consultant on profes- sional development and research initiatives for Sopris West Educational Services; author of several literacy programs, books, and reports, includ- ing the AFT’s Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science; and a former teacher and school psychologist.ILL U sT R A T E d b Y M Ic h A E L W O LO sh IN O W AMERIcAN EdUcATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 7 children make indicate that something other than visual memory is at work. If children relied on visual memory for spelling, regu- lar words (e.g., stamp, sing, strike) and irregular words that are similar in length and frequency (e.g., sword, said, enough) should be misspelled equally often. But they are not. Children misspell irregular words more often than regular words.8 So, if words aren’t memorized visually, how do we spell? That will be thoroughly explained later in this article. For now, here’s the short answer: Webster was right not just on the importance of spelling, but on how to teach it too. Spelling is a linguistic task that requires knowledge of sounds and letter patterns. Unlike poor spellers, who fail to make such connections, good spellers develop insights into how words are spelled based on sound- letter correspondences,† meaningful parts of words (like the root bio and the suffix logy), and word origins and history.9 This knowledge, in turn, supports a specialized memory system— memory for letters in words. The technical term for this is “ortho- graphic memory,” and it’s developed in tandem with awareness of a word’s internal structure—its sounds, syllables, meaningful parts, oddities, history, and so forth. Therefore, explicit instruc- tion in language structure, and especially sound structure, is essential to learning to spell. Don’t Students Learn to Spell through flashcards and Writing Words? Given both the widespread belief that English spelling is irregu- lar and the previous studies that stressed visual memory for words, it’s no surprise that many teachers teach spelling by writ- ing words on flashcards and exposing students to them many times or by having students write words 5 to 10 times. Unfortu- nately, the effectiveness of such methods is not well established. In contrast, studies show that spelling instruction based on the sounds of language produces good results. For example, to test whether a visual approach or language-based method is better, researchers taught spelling to typical second graders using two different methods: a visual method and a method in which stu- dents focused on correspondences between sounds and letters.10 After administering lists of words as spelling tests, these investi- gators drew the attention of the visual group to their errors, wrote the correct spellings on flashcards, and showed children the cor- rect spellings. In contrast, the children in the language-based group were given instruction on the sounds involved in their misspellings. The group that received the language-based spell- ing instruction showed significantly greater progress than the visual group. Similarly, another researcher, after examining five successful spelling instructional approaches for children with learning disabilities, observed that the successful programs had one thing in common: they were all based on structured lan- guage instruction that explicitly taught principles like sound- letter correspondences.11 Researchers also have found that second and third graders at risk of literacy problems improved their spelling (as well as their word recognition, handwriting, and composition skills) after structured spelling instruction based on the concept that speech sounds are represented by letters in printed words (i.e., the alphabetic principle).12 And a series of studies showed that training in phonological awareness (i.e., awareness of the sounds that make up language) improved the spelling and reading of children in low-income, inner-city † in technical terms, the smallest sounds of speech are known as phonemes, and the letters and letter groups that represent them are known as graphemes. So what we are calling sound-letter correspondences, other authors may refer to as phoneme-grapheme correspondences. 8 AMERIcAN EdUcATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 schools. The training was especially effective among the lowest- performing children.13 In sum, these and other studies have found that effective spelling instruction explicitly teaches stu- dents sound-spelling patterns. Students are taught to think about language, allowing them to learn how to spell—not just memo- rize words. As a result, linguistically explicit spelling instruction improves spelling of studied words and novel words. Two exploratory spelling intervention studies contrasted linguistically explicit spelling instruction with implicit spelling instruction, and found that the explicit instruction gave students the knowledge of spell- ing patterns that they needed to more accurately spell novel words. In the first study, second- through fourth-grade students were taught to spell Latin-based words that ended in tion or sion.14 The students were divided into two groups. one group was taught to spell the words with an emphasis on the orthographic patterns tion and sion, but without discussion of the words’ sound patterns. Instead, activities focused students on the words’ visual patterns. For example, students sorted spelling words by the final endings tion or sion. The second group, which received linguistically explicit instruction, was taught to spell the words with a simultaneous emphasis on the orthographic patterns tion and sion and the sound patterns /shŭ n/ and /zhŭ n/.* For exam- ple, students sorted words by letter patterns and by sound pat- terns. The orthographic and sound patterns of the other syllables in the words, in particular the syllables that preceded tion or sion, were also emphasized. For example, /shŭ n/ is most frequently spelled tion. however, after a syllable that ends in /l/, the ending /shŭ n/ is spelled sion, as in compulsion or expulsion. Compared with the students in the other group, the students who received the linguistically explicit instruction were better able to dis- criminate the sounds /sh/ and /zh/, spell the word endings correctly, and generalize the spellings of the word endings to novel words. In the second study, first-grade students were divided into two groups.15 Both groups were taught to spell one-syllable words that ended in /k/. one group was taught to spell the words by using letter units such as ank, ack, and ake. The other group was taught to segment the sounds of the words and to think about the pattern that would determine the spelling of /k/ (e.g., after a consonant or two vowels, /k/ is spelled k; after a short vowel, /k/ is spelled ck; after a long vowel, /k/ is spelled k with a final e). The students in the second group spelled the words more accurately and read them faster. Is English Predictable Enough for Explicit Spelling Instruction? This is a question we hear often. If English spelling were com- pletely arbitrary, one could argue that visual memorization would be the only option. however, spelling is not arbitrary. Researchers have estimated that the spellings of nearly 50 per- cent of English words are predictable based on sound-letter cor- respondences that can be taught (e.g., the spellings of the /k/ sound in back, cook, and tract are predictable to those who have learned the rules). And another 34 percent of words are predict- able except for one sound (e.g., knit, boat, and two).† If other information such as word origin and word meaning are consid- ered, only 4 percent of English words are truly irregular and, as a result, may have to be learned visually (e.g., by using flashcards or by writing the words many times).16 Far from being irregular and illogical, to the well-known lin- guists Noam Chomsky and Morris halle, English is a “near opti- mal system for lexical representation.”17 how could they possibly make such a claim? They understand that written language is not merely speech written down. The major goal of the English writ- ing system is not merely to ensure accurate pronunciation of the written word—it is to convey meaning. If words that sound the same (i.e., homophones such as rain, rein, and reign) were spelled the same way, their meanings would be harder to dif- ferentiate. For example, if we regularize the spelling, then the sentence They rode along the rode and, when they reached the lake, they rode across it would be hard to understand, while They rode along the road and, when they reached the lake, they rowed Researchers have estimated that the spellings of nearly 50 percent of English words are predictable based on sound- letter correspondences that can be taught. And another 34 percent of words are predictable except for one sound. * To aid the reader, sounds of the letters are represented within / / rather than using the symbols from the international Phonetic alphabet. Thus, /∫/ as in ship is represented by /sh/, and /t∫/ as in chin is represented by /ch/. † note that the exception was for one sound, not one letter. For example, only one sound is wrong if automobile is spelled automobeal or if bite is spelled bight. (Continued on page 10) AMERIcAN EdUcATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 9 In the mid-19th century, spelling was the means by which children were taught to read. In the 21st century, however, spelling is the abandoned stepchild in the family of language arts, overlooked by federal grants such as Reading first, federal and state assessment policies, state program-adoption guidelines, publishers of comprehensive instructional programs, and the educational research community. The reasons for this are many, including the dominance of the “writers’ workshop” approach to composition, in which spelling instruction is contextual- ized, nonsystematic, and reactive (since it often just addresses students’ errors). In addition, many assumptions about the nature of spelling—including the widespread belief that spelling is a rote visual-memory skill—are misinformed. Knowledge of spelling, contrary to many people’s expectations, is closely related to reading, writing, and vocabulary develop- ment, as they all rely on the same underlying language abilities.1 spelling is most obviously connected to writing. A consistent research finding is that poor spelling, in addition to causing the writer frustration and embarrassment, adversely affects composition and transmission of ideas.2 On the whole, students who spell poorly write fewer words3 and write compositions of lower quality. Writers who struggle to remem- ber spelling often limit themselves to words they can spell, losing expressive power. In addition, nonautomatic spelling drains attention needed for the concep- tual challenges of planning, generating ideas, formulating sentences, and monitoring one’s progress. The written work of poor spellers, moreover, is judged more harshly than that of students who present neat, correctly spelled work. Readers expect accurate spelling as a courtesy of communication, and inaccu- rate spelling may result in poor grades or poor job evaluations. Although not as obvious, the develop- ment of spelling is also intimately connected with the development of reading.4 Knowledge of speech sounds and their spellings, and fluent use of this knowledge, are necessary for both word reading and spelling. Young children become better readers and spellers when explicit instruction in speech sound awareness and sound-letter correspon- dence is emphasized in kindergarten and first grade.5 Good spellers are almost always good readers. spelling, however, is more difficult than reading. We generally cannot accurately spell words we cannot read. On the other hand, since most of us spend much more time reading than writing, we typi- cally read many more words than we spell. Poor spellers need dozens of opportunities to write difficult words before they can remember them. Indeed, poor spellers (who form the majority of students in many high-pov- erty schools) in the intermedi- ate and middle grades make many spelling errors that reflect poor understanding of word structure, even when they can read in the average range.6 If we do learn to spell a word, the mental representa- tion of all the letters in that word are fully specified in memory, and recall is likely to be fluent and accurate. Recognition of words “by sight” is facilitated by knowing the details of sound-letter correspondence in the spelling system.7 Good spellers are also familiar with the patterns and constraints of English spelling8 and use that knowl- edge to help them remember specific letters in specific words. On the other hand, general “visual” cues, such as the configuration or outside contour of a word in print, are not very helpful for either recognizing or recalling printed words. (see the main article for more on language-based versus visual spelling instruction.) spelling also has a strong relationship with reading comprehension.9 The correlation between spelling and reading comprehension is high because both depend on a common denominator: proficiency with language. The poorer a child’s language abilities, the poorer that child’s spelling will tend to be.10 The more deeply and thoroughly a student knows a word, the more likely he or she is to recognize it, spell it, define it, and use it appropriately in speech and writing. systematic spelling lessons (such as with the programs highlighted on page 14) provide an opportunity to learn to think analytically about words and language. The attention to detail required by comparison and differentia- tion of words like flush, flesh, fresh, and thresh11 nurtures a more generalized consciousness about words that in turn encourages careful consideration of all aspects of language. At its best, spelling instruction richly supports vocabulary and language development. Good spellers not only demonstrate a good sense of the sounds in words, they also have a good sense of the meaningful parts of words (e.g., un-, desir[e], -able), the roles words play in sentences (e.g., packed is a past-tense verb, but pact is a noun), and the relation- ships among words’ meanings that exist in spite of differences in their sounds (e.g., image and imagination). Precocious spellers in the scripps National spelling bee display exceptional knowledge of vocabulary, etymology (the history of words), and parts of speech. A wide, deep knowledge base underlies what on the surface may seem like a “simple” skill. Not all children can win spelling bees, but all can benefit from knowing how spelling reflects word origin, meaning, and pronunciation. –R.M.j., R.T., s.c., and L.c.M. The Real Magic of Spelling: Improving Reading and Writing (Endnotes on page 43) The correlation between spelling and reading comprehension is high because both depend on a common denominator: proficiency with language. The more deeply and thoroughly a student knows a word, the more likely he or she is to recognize it, spell it, define it, and use it appropriately in speech and writing. 10 AMERIcAN EdUcATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 across it makes sense. In addition, the English writing system reveals the history of the English language. For example, ch pro- nounced as /ch/, as in chair or chief, appears in Anglo-Saxon or old English words; the same letter combination ch pronounced as /sh/, as in chef and chauffeur, appears in French words of Latin origin; and ch pronounced as /k/, as in ache and orchid, appears in words borrowed from Greek. Approximately 20 percent to 25 percent of English words are of Anglo-Saxon origin and about 60 percent are of Latin origin (of which 50 percent are directly from Latin and another 10 percent are from Latin through French, as in chef and chauffeur). The remaining 15 to 20 percent of English words are primarily of Greek origin.* What Types of Information Make Spelling Predictable? There are three types of information that, once learned, make spelling much more predictable: (1) word origin and history, (2) syllable patterns and meaningful parts of words, and (3) letter patterns. Each of these is discussed briefly below; suggestions on when and how to teach them are in the sections that follow. Word Origin and History Knowing the origins of words can be helpful in pronouncing and spelling them.18 For example, in words of Greek origin, which tend to be long and scientific, /f/ is reliably spelled ph, as in pho- tosynthesis and philodendron, and /k/ is often spelled ch, as in chlorophyll and chemistry. Fancy French words use that same ch combination for the /sh/ sound, as in champagne and chande- lier, but Anglo-Saxon uses sh, as in ship and wish, while sophis- ticated Latin words use ti, si, or ci, as in nation, percussion, and special. Let’s take a little closer look at words of Anglo-Saxon origin. They are typically short, related to daily life (as opposed to sci- ence, like a lot of Greek words, or lofty ideas, like a lot of Latin words), and often have silent letters that were once pronounced (e.g., knee, gnat, ghost, climb, wrist). The pronunciations of the words changed over time, but the spellings did not—they con- tinue to convey the earlier pronunciations. As students learn to spell these words, they may enjoy using a special Anglo-Saxon pronunciation to help them remember the silent letters. This pronunciation cues students to the correct spellings of the words. Students also can make connections among words that have similar meanings but that vary in whether or not they have silent letters. For example, in remembering how to spell words with a silent w, such as wrist, wring, and wrench, it is helpful for stu- dents to note that these words share the meaning “twist.” The spellings of some words are unusual because of their associations with certain historical figures. For instance, caesar- ean is associated with Julius Caesar, who is said to have been delivered through surgery, and silhouette can be traced to Eti- enne de Silhouette, a French finance minister in the middle of the 1700s who was known for his shady deals. Leotard, a garment worn by acrobats and dancers, was named for Jules Léotard, a 19th-century French aerialist. Similarly, pasteurize comes from Louis Pasteur, the famous French chemist and microbiologist, and galvanize from Luigi Galvani, an Italian physician and physi- cist. Maverick comes from Sam Maverick, who refused to brand his cattle; hence a maverick is someone who is different, out of the ordinary. other words come not from historical figures but from other words (especially, as we have seen, Latin and Greek words). For example, radical means root, hence radish means edible root. And anthology literally means flower gathering; thus, an anthology editor is supposed to have gathered the choicest flowers in the field.† Syllable Patterns and Meaningful Parts of Words There are two common types of syllables, called closed and open, that are very helpful in spelling.19 A closed syllable has one vowel followed by at least one consonant and the vowel is short (e.g., cat, ball, and pencil). An open syllable ends in one vowel and the vowel is long (e.g., he, go, and the first syllable in hotel). Learning about open and closed syllables is especially helpful for deciding whether or not to double a consonant in the middle of a word. If students have been taught about closed and open syllables, then they know why rabbit is spelled with two b’s in the middle while label is spelled with only one. The word rabbit divides between the two consonants, rab/bit. The first syllable, rab, is closed, and the vowel is pronounced as a short a. The word label divides before the consonant, la/bel. The first syllable, la, is open, and the vowel is pronounced with a long a sound. Known as the “rab- bit rule,” it’s a simple formula to remember: in a two-syllable word, there’s a double consonant in the middle after a short vowel.20 Instead of memorizing whether to use one or two con- sonants in the middle of words like cotton, tennis, sudden, muffin, and happen, students can use the rabbit rule. of course, there are exceptions, such as cabin, robin, lemon, and camel, but these words are not as frequent as words that follow the rabbit rule. Knowledge of the meaningful parts of words—prefixes, suf- fixes, and roots—is of great help in the development of spelling (and vocabulary). Technically, what we’re talking about here are known as morphemes—they are the smallest meaningful units in words. When the units have meaning by themselves, such as the words cat and play, they are referred to as free morphemes. The major goal of the English writing system is not merely to ensure accurate pronunciation of the written word—it is to convey meaning. If words that sound the same (e.g., rain, rein, and reign) were spelled the same way, their mean- ings would be harder to differentiate. * for more on the history of English, see “how spelling supports Reading” by Louisa c. Moats in the Winter 2005-06 issue of American Educator, online at www.aft.org/ pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/winter05-06/Moats.pdf. † an excellent reference for words from various languages, words from Greek and Latin roots, and words from names is r. L. Venezky, The American Way of Spelling: The Structure and Origins of American English Orthography (new York: Guilford Press, 1999). (Continued from page 8) www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/winter05-06/Moats.pdf www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/winter05-06/Moats.pdf AMERIcAN EdUcATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 11 however, cats has two morphemes—a free morpheme cat and a bound morpheme s. Bound morphemes do not have meaning by themselves; they take on meaning when attached to a free morpheme (another example is the ed in played). Teaching morphemes often requires more information on word origin. For example, when teaching the spellings of words with the suffixes er and or, which mean one who, as in worker or actor, teachers can tell their students that words from old Eng- lish are basic survival words. Words such as worker, carpenter, farmer, grocer, baker, brewer, and butcher are old English and use er, whereas words of Latin origin are more sophisticated and use or, as in actor, professor, educator, aviator, director, and counselor. The same principle applies to the suffixes able and ible, both meaning able to. We use able for old English base words and ible for Latin roots. Thus, we have passable, laughable, breakable, agreeable, and punishable, as compared to edible, audible, credible, visible, and indelible.‡ Letter Patterns in Words Knowledge of letter patterns in words provides students with clues for spelling. English has certain constraints on how letters can be used. For example, q is almost always followed by u and then another vowel, as in queen and quail. Exceptions are mostly proper nouns borrowed from other languages, like Qatar and Iraq. Another example of a letter pattern is the rule that words do not end with v; hence we have give, love, and live, with kiev being an exception because it is borrowed from Russian. Also, certain letters never or rarely double in any position, such as h, k, j, v, x, and y. A final example of a letter pattern is that words do not begin with identical consonants, llama being one of the few exceptions because of its Spanish origin. Even young children often follow this pattern, although they are unable to verbalize it. For example, researchers asked kindergartners and first grad- ers to tell which item looked more like a real word: nuss or nnus.21 A majority of children were able to identify correctly that nuss looks more like a real word. As noted in this and other studies, first graders do not often begin words with ck or with letter com- binations like bc.22 Students need not learn all of the possible letter patterns, but they should learn the letter patterns that frequently represent speech sounds. For instance, /k/ in initial or medial position can be spelled with c or k. Before a, o, u, or any consonant, /k/ is spelled c (e.g., cat, cot, cut, clasp, crust). Before e, i, or y, /k/ is spelled k (e.g., keep, kite, sky). (one mnemonic device that is help- ful involves the four criteria that are used for evaluating diamonds. The four c’s stand for carat, color, cut, and clarity or, when applied to spelling, /k/ is spelled with c before a, o, u, or any consonant.) of course, there are exceptions to this pattern, such as kangaroo, skunk, and skate. By discovering exceptions, students can dem- onstrate and reinforce their understanding of patterns. Students may discover the exceptions on their own, or teachers may point them out and teach these words through mnemonic sentences (e.g., The kangaroo and the skunk like to skate) rather than asking students to visually memorize these words. Clearly, there is a great deal for students to learn, but it is manageable when spread over several years. The next two sec- tions provide an overview of what to teach in the elementary and middle grades, and suggestions for how to deliver …