Speleen: Wen Doo Wee Beegin? Progressing from Phonetic to Standard Spelling

Montessori Life, Spring 2004 by Woods, Carol

Young children employ invented spelling in their earliest writing attempts. For example, one five-year-old made a sign to take to a baseball game, "goe rdz ie mene it" ("Go, Reds, I mean it"). Initially, many adults are pleased and excited by these efforts, and find them entertaining. However, although phonetic spelling indicates emerging knowledge of the relationship between sounds and symbols, concerns arise that children will not master standard English spelling. Indeed, research indicates that the "average adult with a high school education spells at the eighth-grade level" (Moats, p. 49).

Such research suggests that although children are learning to spell, they are not mastering spelling. Children need support in moving from invented to correct spelling, but what can we do to help? First, we can begin to introduce correct spelling as soon as the child's reading becomes fluent. Second, we can teach spelling in a way that encourages internalizing the structure of our language instead of memorizing words for a weekly spelling test.

Spelling Readiness: An Individualized Approach

Typically, spelling lessons are begun at some arbitrary point, such as at the age of six or at the beginning of first grade. These milestones do not take into account the developmental readiness of the child. Readiness for spelling is individual, and it relates to reading skill: Children are ready to tackle correct spelling when their reading becomes fluent.

Understanding the role of fluency in spelling readiness requires an examination of reading and its relationship to writing and spelling. According to Dr. Sally Shaywitz, "spelling and reading are intimately linked" (Shaywitz, p. 114). Montessori noted the interrelationship of reading and writing, and observed that writing precedes and guides the young child to reading (Montessori, DOC). Suzanne Carreker has concurred with Montessori, stating that spelling is the foundation of reading. She also has emphasized that spelling instruction improves reading (Birsh). The use of the movable alphabet in an early childhood environment confirms this link between writing and reading.

The young child begins to learn sounds through lessons with the sandpaper letters, and gradually accrues enough sound-symbol relationships to compose short words, using the movable alphabet. With repeated movable alphabet experiences, these sound-symbol relationships become automatic: they are recalled without conscious effort. The practice of using invented spelling reinforces the relationships, encouraging automaticity (Chall, 1983).

Once the child has achieved this level of knowledge, she is ready to read. After sufficient word composition, many children explode into reading, either on their own or with the gentle nudge of the first reading lesson. The ability to retrieve the appropriate sound for the corresponding symbol has become automatic, and the child begins to decode.

This early reading is marked by slow, halting, letter-by-letter decoding, in which each letter is examined and sounded individually. Children at this stage are dependent on the letters on the page; they are tied to the print. They attempt to sound every letter, with little attention paid to the context (Chall.) To attain reading success, which includes good comprehension, they will have to gain fluency in their reading. Fluent reading contrasts with beginning reading: Beginners "first analyze a word; skilled readers identify a word instantaneously" (Shaywitz, p. 79).

Repeated practice in decoding reinforces the sound-symbol relationships, improving automatic recall and allowing instantaneous identification. "Fluency -reading a word accurately, quickly, smoothly...-is acquired by practice, by reading a word over and over again" (Shaywitz, p. 105). After a word has been decoded successfully several times, it is stored in the memory.

The mental storage system for written words is called the "orthographic memory." The "orthograph" of a language is the written system for that language: It is the correct spelling as established by standard usage. The ability to recognize spelling patterns automatically indicates growth of the orthographic memory. The orthographic memory is developed and stretched by repeated encounters with a pattern until it is so familiar that it is recognized automatically. The child no longer needs time to think in order to recall the sounds that accompany a particular set of symbols. She progresses from storing individual symbols to storing chunks of words, then to storing whole words (Shaywitz). When the child encounters a chunk or word that has been stored in her orthographic memory, she is able to decode it accurately, quickly, and smoothly.

When the orthographic memory holds a sufficient store of the patterns of English, reading fluency is attained. The child is able to decode effortlessly, without pausing to think, because patterns are recognized automatically. Passages are read with a rhythmic flow instead of the halting irregularity of the emerging reader. During this stage, success with the early reading skills leads to increased reading speed, thus enhancing comprehension. The consolidation of the knowledge of sound-symbol relationships and the understanding gained from practice in applying that knowledge leads to fluent reading.