6, SPELLING AND DICTATION Spelling has to be learned. While itis true that with many children spelling is eaught, ie. picked up without much teaching, in most cases spelling has to be taught, In any case, only a small proportion of spellings can be picked up incidentally while reading. This is because the skills of reading and spelling though the same, are used differently. Reading is a form of de-coding - symbols have to be decoded into sound and meaning, whereas spelling is a form of encoding - sounds have to be encoded into written symbols. To compound the problem, the same group of letters in English may have different sounds as the following examples illustrate. "The farmer drove his plough through the gate over the rough ground even though he had a cough". ("ough is pronounced differently each time.) We have to use the context to make sense of this, and also help to sound the words, This is very difficult for anyone whose mother tongue is not English. ‘What to teach Every person has three vocabularies - @ speech vocabulary, a reading vocabulary and a writing vocabulary. ‘The speech vocabulary of pupils will depend largely on their home environment and mainly on the persons to whom they speak. The reading vocabulary is generally much larger than the speech vocabulary or the ‘writing vocabulary. This is so because unfamiliar words are generally understood because of the context in which they are used. The writing vocabulary is the most important as the written word must communicate ideas with precision and accuracy, as the person writing cannot always be present to explain what he “had in mind", ‘As spelling is confined to writing only, it is from the written vocabulary that the words a pupil requires, should be drawn, The reading vocabulary is usually much larger than the writing vocabulary. To ask a pupil to spell words from his reading vocabulary is non-academic and unfair. “Therefore, the practice of making pupils learn paragraphs from a reader for spelling and dictation is to be deprecated. It does not in any way help them to learn to spell. The aim of spelling is to ensure that pupils are able to spell correctly words which they want or need to use, ‘Teachers are often ata loss to choose words from the reader (text-book) for spelling. While it is presumed that the textbooks chosen will be specially graded for the love! of the children, not all “hard” words need to be learnt, ‘A taugh guideline for selection of words would be the usefulness and productivity of the word selected. How ‘useful is it to the pupil to learn to spell a particular word? How the spelling of @ particular word enables the child to spell other similar words determines the productivity of the word. How to Teach Some people remember words by the sound, some by the work, while others remember them by writing Spelling is learnt through the eye, or the ear and is fixed by spoken and written repetition, All these processes must be used to inculcate good spelling habits. General ways to help pupils 1. Diseet the children's attention to the appearance, sound and structure of the words and to irregularities among the words and so help them to acquire a feel for the underlying rules of spelling. 2. Give children a lot of practice so that good spelling becomes habitual and automatic, 3, Help pupils develop strategies for discovering correct spelling when they are in doubt. Help them in the correct use of the dictionary for this purpose. 4, Effective teaching of spelling must be geared to individual needs. Each child will have different needs ‘and teaching spelling to @ class as a whole or from word lists may not always be a satisfactory answer to individual problems. The pupil needs to practice those words which he himself spells incorrectly. 2Compilation of Dictionaries ‘One way of creating an interest in spelling is to encourage pupils to compile their own dictionaries. The dictionary of each pupil will consist of words which be has used in writing work, or which he has mis-spelt. It should also include words which have aroused his interest and which he has come across in reading and which he would like to use, ‘Teachers can help their pupils to increase the vocabulary in their dictionaries by going through written work carefully and compiling lists of words which are most commonly used in the class. To this may be added lists ‘of words which are commonly mis-spelt. The active (writing) vocabulary given in Appendix I is to be used as a "check" list. It should be regarded as the writing vocabulary to be acquired by the end of Standard V. If pupils use the words in this list without misspelling them it wil be sufficient, Do not use it as alist for teaching spelling and do not work through the list slavishly. Recommended boola for spelling 1. Word Perfect Spelling - Ronald Ridout Oxford University Press, 2. Lets Spetl Well - G.Mac Mohan Orient Longman.Compilation of Dictionaries ‘One way of cresting an interest in spelling is to encourage pupils to compile their own dictionaries. The dictionary of each pupil will consist of words which be has used in writing work, or which he has mis-spelt, It should also include words which have aroused his interest and which he has come across in reading and which he would like to use, ‘Teachers can hetp their pupils to increase the vocabulary in their dictionaries by going through writen work carefully and compiling lists of words which are most commonly used in the class. To this may be added lists ‘of words which are commonly mis-spelt. The active (writing) vocabulary given in Appendix II is to be used as a “check* list. It should be regarded as the writing vocabulary to be acquired by the end of Standard V. If pupils use the words in this list without misspelling them it will be sufficient. Do mot use it as alist for teaching spelling and do not work through the list slavishty. Recommended boola for spelling 1, Word Perfect Spelling - Ronald Ridout Oxford University Press, 2, Let's Spet! Well - G.Mac Mohan Orient Longman.