Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T04:24:04.786Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Effect of Word Study and Cognitive Strategy Training on Students’ Spelling Abilities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2016

Bruce Allen Knight*
Affiliation:
Central Queensland University
Judith M. Smith
Affiliation:
Our Lady of the Way School Queensland
*
Address for Correspondance: Dr Bruce Allen Knight, Head, Faculty of Education and Creative Arts, Central Queensland University, PO Box 5606, Mackay QLD 4740. Phone: (07) 4940 7544 Fax: (07) 4940 7448 E-mail: b.knight@cqu.edu.au

Abstract

There is mounting evidence to support the belief that not all students learn to spell by immersion in reading and writing alone. The intervention to teach spelling described in this paper combines the direct instruction in the study of words together with the use of spelling in an integrated language system. Students in a regular classroom were categorised into three groups (good spellers; average spellers and poor spellers including those identified as average to good readers). Specific areas explored included students’ attitudes, knowledge and spelling ability in isolation and in context. Results suggested the intervention was effective for all students, especially in terms of their knowledge about the language system, strategies and their own spelling misconceptions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Australian Association of Special Education 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambruster, B., Echols, C., & Brown, A. (1983). The role of metacognition in reading to learn: A developmental perspective. Reading Education Report 40. Centre for the Study of Reading, University of Illinois, Champaign.Google Scholar
Anstey, M., & Bull, G. (1984). Punctuation, spelling and grammar in process writing. Praxis Network (3) Centre for Research and Development in Curriculum, School of Education, Institute of Advanced Education, Darling Downs.Google Scholar
Barnes, W. (1989). The cultivation of rules for spelling in English. Reading Psychology, 10(3), 293307 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bean, W., & Bouffler, C. (1987a). Spelling it out to Parents. Rozelle, Australia: Primary English Teaching Association.Google Scholar
Bean, W., & Bouffier, C. (1987b). SPELL by writing. Rozelle, Australia: Primary English Teaching Association.Google Scholar
Bloodgood, , (1991). A new approach to spelling instruction in language arts programs. The Elementary School Journal, 92(2), 203211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bodycott, P. (1993). Personalising spelling instruction: Lessons from a classroom. Instructor. May/June, 216220.Google Scholar
Bolton, F., & Snowball, D. (1985). Springboards: Ideas for spelling. Australia: Australia.Google Scholar
Bouffler, C. (1984). Spelling in perspective. Read Around Series (2). Rozelle, Australia: Australian Reading Association.Google Scholar
Clay, M. (1991). Becoming literate: The construction of inner control. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Cranstone, R., & Baird, J. (1988). An integrative perspective on metacognition. Australian Journal of Reading 11(4), 238245.Google Scholar
Cunningham, P., & Cunningham, J. (1992). Making words: Enhancing the invented spelling-decoding connection. The Reading Teacher 46(2), 106115.Google Scholar
Foorman, B., Francis, D., Novy, D., & Liberman, D. (1991). How letter-sound instruction mediates progress in first-grade reading and spelling. Journal of Educational Psychology 83(4), 456469.Google Scholar
Frith, U. (1980). Cognitive processes in spelling. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Fulk, B., & Stormont-Spurgin, M. (1995). Spelling interventions for students with disabilities: A Review. The Journal of Special Education 28(4), 488513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gentry, J., & Henderson, E. (1980). Three steps to teaching beginning readers to spell. In Henderson, E., & Beers, J., Developmental and cognitive aspects of learning to spell: A reflection of word knowledge, (pp. 112119). International Reading Association Inc., Delaware.Google Scholar
Gentry, J. (1982). An analysis of developmental spelling in GNYS AT WRK. The Reading Teacher 36(2), 192199.Google Scholar
Henderson, E. (1985). Teaching spelling. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Henderson, E., & Beers, J. (1980). Developmental and cognitive aspects of learning to spell: A Reflection of Word Knowledge. International Reading Association Inc., Delaware.Google Scholar
Heymsfeld, C. (1992). The remedial child in the whole language, co-operative classroom. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 8, 257273.Google Scholar
Kemp, M. (1987). Watching children read and write: Observational records for children with special needs. Australia: Nelson,Google Scholar
Knight, B., Paterson, D., & Mulcahy, R. (1998). SPELT: A cognitive and metacognitive approach to instruction. Melbourne, Australia: Hawker Browntow Education: Melbourne.Google Scholar
Knight, B., & Smith, J. (1998). The teaching of spelling: A position paper. Special Education Perspectives, 7(2), 1527 Google Scholar
Morris, D. (1989). A developmental perspective on spelling instruction / Editorial Comment. Reading Psychology, 10(3), IIIVI.Google Scholar
Nelson, L. (1989). Something borrowed, something new: Teaching implications of developmental spelling research. Reading Psychology, 10(3), 255273.Google Scholar
Peters, M. (1985). Spelling: Caught or taught? London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Routman, R. (1993). The uses and abuses of invented spelling. Instructor.May/June, 3639.Google Scholar
Spiegel, D. (1992). Blending whole language and systematic direct instruction. The Reading Teacher, 46(1), 3844 Google Scholar
Templeton, S. (1991). Teaching and learning the english spelling system: Reconceptualising method and purpose. The Elementary School Journal, 29(2), 185201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treiman, R. (1991). Children’s spelling errors on syllable-initial consonant clusters. Educational Psychology, 83(3), 346360.Google Scholar
Westwood, P. (1993). South Australian Spelling Test. Adelaide, Australia: Flinders University.Google Scholar
Westwood, P. (1994). Issues in Spelling Instruction. Special Education Perspectives, 3(1), 3144.Google Scholar
Wilde, S. (1990). A proposal for a new spelling curriculum. The Elementary School Journal, 90(3), 275289.Google Scholar
Winch, G. (1989). Learning to spell and spelling well. Paper presented at Joint ARA/AATE National Conference, Darwin.Google Scholar
Winch, G., & Blaxell, G. (1992). Spell well: Teacher resource book 1. Australia: Martin Educational.Google Scholar