Spelling is a common struggle for middle-school students, even for those who are relatively good readers otherwise. As such, middle-school teachers should embed spelling instruction into their teaching practice, and spend time focusing on spelling strategies such as teaching morphology. Teachers need to observe their students’ specific challenges, and teach students strategies to further develop their grasp of spelling.
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Principles and Practices for Spelling Instruction at Middle School
Spelling is an integral part of literacy. Learning to spell is more challenging than learning to read. Becoming a good speller is an incremental, developmental process that needs a strong phonemic and phonological foundation. When students struggle to spell, they write less, and are less proficient readers. Good spelling instruction should take place in elementary schools. Because spelling instruction has been an unfortunate casualty of the whole language movement, many students are entering middle school without strong spelling skills. A grasp of spelling drives automaticity which allows for good reading comprehension. As such, this document sets out standards for strong spelling instruction in order to improve our students’ spelling abilities, in all of their academic classes.
Good spelling instruction, according to Lyn Stone (2021), teaches students to “look under the bonnet” at spelling (p. xxi). Teachers should direct students to deconstruct words, consider the etymology of words, and explore and analyse patterns in spelling. Because students “remember best what they have thought about and understand,” the goal of spelling instruction is to “make sense of print and how it represents speech” (King, 2000, qtd. in Moats, 2020). Spelling is highly correlated with reading comprehension, and knowledge of spelling facilitates vocabulary growth and automaticity (Moats, 2020). Spelling also facilitates better writing: “When students struggle with spelling, Moats (2022) explains, “they often write fewer words, shorter sentences, and less complex ideas than they may be able to communicate orally” (p. 67-68). Because of these things, spelling instruction creates better, more fluent readers and writers, and is a crucial component of a successful Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS).
Evidence-based Practices
- The teacher’s understanding of language and willingness to teach students to analyze and approach words as problems that they can solve is incredibly important. Because good spelling instruction is not generally a part of teacher education programs, middle school teachers need in-service professional development on how to teach spelling. Teachers must learn that English spelling makes sense and can be taught systematically. They should be given adequate resources and materials to successfully teach spelling.
- Entering seventh-grade students should receive diagnostic spelling assessments (most likely Words Their Way) to determine their spelling abilities. This can then inform English class instruction and also screen students who are below the cut rate for additional interventions.
- Students in grade seven should be taught to use Lyn Stone’s Spelling Formula (see figure for reference). They should then be given ample practice in applying this formula, especially to multisyllabic words and words that they have trouble with, as identified by the students themselves in class discussion (Stone, 2021).
- Students throughout middle school should receive explicit spelling instruction in morphology, phoneme-grapheme correspondence, syllable patterns, prefixes, suffixes, roots, and etymology. It should be framed as linguistics class in order to honour their age and maturity (Moats, 2022). This instruction should take place principally in English classes.
- Teachers in all academic classes should also work to teach students the etymology and rules/patterns around spelling class-specific words, like element names in science and place names in social studies. Teachers should work to encourage students to examine and analyse the spelling of key vocabulary words in their classes.
- English teachers should group words by a syllable pattern, concept, or etymology. They should explicitly teach that concept, practice it with the students, as a whole class, in small groups, and independently, and then do a spelling test at the end of each mini-unit. Language structure, word origin, and morphological structure should be emphasized during this instruction. Spelling tests should generally indicate mastery of the spellings and are not meant to be punitive. Poor performance should be rare and should indicate a student’s need for further intervention (Moats, 2020 and 2022).
- In resource classes and interventions within the MTSS, there should be time designated at least weekly to support struggling spellers. At the beginning of each spelling lesson, they should warm up by listening for speech sounds and identifying what they can. Teachers should give students direct feedback and information about speech sounds. They should spend time each session doing phoneme-grapheme mapping. Teachers must show students how to spell each sound. They should get to morphology as soon as possible. Overall, with struggling spellers, it is imperative that we ensure that they have the basic layers to build on, and that we teach them explicitly (Moats, 2020).
- In resource classes and MTSS interventions, students should be given additional instruction and practice with the Spelling Formula. Teachers must ensure that they go through every single step, in sequence, for at least ten words in a row (Stone, 2021).
Spelling Formula Flow Chart, from Stone (2021)
References
Blevins, W. (2023). Teaching phonics & word study in the intermediate grades. Scholastic.
Flanigan, K, & Hayes, L. (2023). Literacy intervention in the middle grades: Word learning, comprehension, and strategy instruction, grades 4-8. Guildford Press.
Gentry, R. (2021). Why spelling instruction should be hot in 2022-2023. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/raising-readers-writers-and-spellers/202101/why-spelling-instruction-should-be-hot-in-2022
Graham, S. (2020). Research-based best practices to improve secondary writing instruction. Write Center. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgBHWp4\MNTY
Mitchell, S. (2023). How to teach every spelling pattern ever: The pal to the ultimate scope and sequence. Structured Literacy Series.
Moats, L. (2020). Teaching spelling using a structured literacy approach. Core Learning. https://www.corelearn.com/resource-posts/free-webinar-teaching-spelling-using-a-structured-literacy-approach/
Moats, L. (2022). Structured language interventions for spelling. In Spear-Swerling, L., ed. Structured literacy interventions: Teaching students with reading difficulties, grades K-6. The Guildford Press: pp. 67-94.
Stone, L. (2021). Spelling for life: Uncovering the simplicity and science of spelling. 2nd edition. Routledge.
Templeton, S. (2020). Stages, phases, repertoires, and waves: Learning to spell and read words. The Reading Teacher 74.3: pp. 315-323. https://doi-org.proxy.queensu.ca/10.1002/trtr.1951