Teaching & Learning Spelling Strategies
Spelling
With Imagery - SWIM is a creative and playful strategy for spelling
that encourages successful learning using positive imagery techniques. Don't
wait for a spelling delay to emerge from assessments and reviews. First, check
out the current spelling strategies, noting the student's learning preferences.
Some typical strategies are outlined below, including the Look, Say, Cover,
Write, Check approach, and some of its shortcomings. A better strategy is
one that works well, is easy to learn and fun to use. Introduce the new strategy
by following the 10 steps
below. For a summary click on SWIM
strategy - in 5 easy steps for teaching and learning.
SWIM Spelling Strategy Techniques
Teaching and learning strategies vary with age and development. Infants are often taught to use their kinaesthetic sense of the body's positioning and spatial coordination, as well as touch and visuo-motor skills (e.g. in sand play, body mime, finger tracing, over-writing etc). Early literacy skills of reading, writing, and spelling are also very dependent upon visuo-motor skills, like hand-eye coordination, and the development of auditory and visual memory skills required for encoding, storage and retrieval of information. Children are encouraged to develop recognition of letter shapes and sounds, to develop phonic skills, a sight vocabulary and an appreciation of spelling and spelling rules. Auditory strategies then appear to feature strongly (e.g. listening to letter sounds, sounds in words, sounding out letters and words in reading and spelling, etc.). As students develop further, the curriculum demands more accuracy and fluency with reading and spelling, and visual strategies become more predominant.
Auditory strategies are fine to begin with but soon run into difficulties. The capacity of auditory memory is far less than is available to visual memory. Auditory strategies cannot help to distinguish between words that sound the same but are spelt differently ( homophones); nor can they help to spell the vast number of words in English where the spelling does not follow the sounds in the word, or conform to traditional orthography. Fluent readers and spellers use visual strategies. When checking out a word for its spelling, the word is written out to see if it looks right, or there is an internal visual representation, or both. Repetition of the word doesn't necessarily help when checking its spelling (pair, pare, pear).
Errors in spelling can be due to many factors: e.g. knowledge of phonic skills ; visuo-motor and spatial coordination and memory; no evident strategy (wild guess); attention or concentration; over-reliance on a phonic strategy (spelling the word as it sounds); sight vocabulary; listening or auditory memory ; visual memory ; orientation; ordering & sequencing; knowledge of spelling rules and orthography; insufficient time or time constraints.
Problems with the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check approach
This has been the most popular strategy taught in the UK. Unfortunately many
children do not use the strategy as it was intended or taught. They look at the
word; they cover the word; then, if they attempt to remember the word, it's by
saying the word, either out loud, or quietly inside their heads; and finally
they write it out from auditory memory. When they check their spelling with
original word they can see it's wrong. But when they repeat the process, do they
amend their strategy ? No, they don't.
First, they are not using the strategy
correctly. Second, they reinforce the wrong strategy. Third, they write the word
out from auditory memory and then check it. Fourth, if it turns out to be wrong,
well they have already reinforced an incorrect spelling by writing it out.
There are two major problems encountered with the Look Say Cover Write Check approach. Firstly, children do not seem to be learning the strategy as a predominantly visual one. Secondly, the steps are in the wrong order. At step 4, the child writes out the word and at step 5, checks it with the target word. This means that child writes the word out from memory, without necessarily knowing or feeling confident about getting it right. So every time a word is misspelt this misspelling is also reinforced.
The first instruction could be: Tell me how you learn to spell a word.
Replies tend to fall into one or more of these categories: a blank expression ( further questioning required); a puzzled look followed by a question (seeking clarification); a description of what the student believes you want to hear about class procedures (e.g. where I put my spellings); a description of what the student believes you want to hear about the teacher (e.g. what the teacher told me to do); or a description of what the student remembers doing. Replies in the last category could be incorrect (eg. student followed a mistaken belief or forget the process); partially correct but incomplete; or completely accurate. Given at least seven possible responses to this question, the likelihood of getting an accurate description straightaway is remote. What they think or say they do might not be what actually happens in practice. So it's worthwhile to persevere and get the student to vocalize their perceived strategy.
The next step could be to ask for a demonstration, saying: Show me how you learn to spell a word.
If this is done without choosing a specific example or target word, the student might reply with: another attempt at a description rather than a demonstration (e.g. about the procedures in class, the method of instruction, or a description of what the student remembers doing); or with an inappropriate target word (too familiar or too ambitious). To avoid this, ask the student to choose a specific target word that they would like to spell, and pick one that's not too easy or too difficult.
The step now becomes: Show me how you learn to spell the word xxxxxx
Replies tend to be in the following categories: a baffled look ( still not sure what you want) ; a slightly puzzled look at first, followed by a realization ( e.g. the student recognizes a similar question from their past and starts to provide a standard response based on their previous expectations); a tired look ( because the territory is all too familiar and/or associated with unpleasant memories); a description of the routines they've been taught for learning how to learn to spell a word (e.g. the look,cover,write, check approach); or a demonstration of the routine. Each response requires : clarification; clarification based on current expectations; encouragement to build confidence and motivation; and elaboration and observation of the process. Assuming the first three responses are met, we are still left with the last two: where the student tells you the strategy they've been taught and shows you the steps. They are still explaining and showing you what they have been told, not what they are contributing to the process.
So the next step is to ask what is going on. The question could be: What's happening when you do that ? Or you could say: Tell me what you're thinking when you do that.
If put like this, without further explanation, students might simply relay their thoughts or miss the point. They won't realize what you are asking of them, because they probably haven't been asked before about what is going on inside their heads when they learn how to spell a word. The question needs to be re-phrased, making it clear that you are asking about internal processes.
The question now becomes: Tell me what's going on inside your head (when you learn how to spell that word) ?
Even then you get some puzzled expressions. Some students wouldn't have paid attention to their internal processes before, or attempted to describe them or make them explicit for others. You could then add one or two prompts, commenting on what you noticed when the student demonstrated their spelling strategy (e.g. I heard you say the word out loud; I didn't hear you say the word out loud; I could see you speaking the word very quietly ; I saw you cover the word; I noticed you closed your eyes). More direct questions can be put if you are still unsure about the internal processes involved (e.g. Did you sound out/say/repeat/ the letters/syllable(s)/word to yourself ?; Did you hear the word internally, saying it inside your head ? When you covered the word, or closed your eyes, did you still see it? Did you see/imagine/picture the word internally/in your head/mind's eye/imagination). In this way we can learn about the student's current spelling strategy.
Spelling With IMagery
a multi-sensory strategy for spelling
visual / auditory / kinaesthetic
cognitive / constructive / associative
1) Check out the student's current strategy (see full details above). Get the student to show you what they do when they learn to spell a word. Use statements like: Show me how you learn how to spell the word xxxxxx; & Tell me what's going on inside your head (when you learn how to spell that word). Find out about the student's strategy and the resources they use when they learn how to spell a word (e.g. do they use auditory rehearsal, syllabification, phonic skills, visualization, the Look Cover Write Check approach and if so, how ?) When you know the current strategy you can decide on the next step.
2) If the student is using auditory strategies without visual strategies, they will need to know about some of the shortcomings, and other strategies that could be used instead. You might be able to help them realize this by choosing two similar sounding words (homophones, e.g. flour & flower ) and then ask the student to show you how they would learn each one using their method. Also, explain that there are lots of other words in English that are not spelt as they are sounded (e.g. know, eight).
3) If the student uses visual strategies, ask further questions so that you understand their method: e.g.How do you see that word ? & Does it look the same as the target word, or different ? Choose two homophones and again ask the student to demonstrate their method. Then ask : Would it be easier or harder to remember the spellings if words looked even more different from each other ? This can help to raise expectations about a different strategy.
4) Explain that you know a successful spelling strategy that is easy to learn and fun to use; and ask the student if they would like to try it out.
5) Get the student to pick out a target word they want to learn, one that is not too easy or too difficult, and write it out for them to look at.
6) Cover the target word and introduce suggestions for creating
imagery. Encourage the student to create their own internal representation of
the target word. Guide the student in this process, getting them to explore
their internal imagery. Some students prefer to close their eyes to do this.
Suggestions given here naturally lead on to the next step.
Some
examples:
Make up an image of that word. Picture the word
in your mind's eye. Can you see the word inside your head ? Are there any sounds
? Do you hear the sound of the letters? Do you hear the word inside you head ?
Is your image or picture the same or different ? Notice the shape of the letters
in that word as you look at it from left to right. If it's a fairly long word
maybe you could see it in parts, like in syllables. Read out the letters for me
from left to right. Read the letters for me from the end first, from right to
left.
If you think the student is not representing the correct
spelling, return to step 5) for another look.
7) Give suggestions for developing and playing with imagery. Students'
responses are always unique and varied. Notice their reactions and use their
ideas for making changes that they find are interesting. The more the student is
involved and amused by this the better. Imagery that is humorous, larger than
life, bizarre, interesting, multi-layered, is more memorable. It will also
create stronger multisensory associations with the target word.
Suggestions
are given for the student to change some attribute of their representation of
the target word. Start with visual attributes. The purpose here is to engage the
student with an arresting image. It does not need to be complicated.
Some
examples:
Is your image written like this one or printed?
Is it in the same colour? What about its size, colour, distance, near or far,
shape, surface, texture, contrast, light or dark, luminosity, solidity,
transparency, surface, flat, raised, horizontal, vertical, 2D, 3D, Other
dimensions ? Other sensory impressions ? still or moving, can you walk round it
? through it ? sounds ? noisy or quiet, tastes, feelings, can you touch it?
light or heavy, hard or soft, etc.
Again, check that the student is
representing the correct spelling, otherwise return to step 5) for
another look.
8) Uncover the target word and ask the student to check their internal representation with the target word: e.g " Are the spellings the same ?"
9) If they are not the same, repeat steps 6 to 8 - play with imagery again and re-check, until there is a successful match.
10) Cover the target word and ask the student to write the word from their image of it.
SWIM
Strategy for Spelling in 5 Steps
SWIM Strategy uses
To
encourage
the correct spelling
when a target word is written
imagery
association
visualization
multisensory learning
constructive responses
1) Check out the student's current spelling strategy: is it
auditory/visual and how does it work with homophones and irregular words?
2) Introduce new strategy and choose a target word for the student to
look at and practise with;
3) Cover the target word and give
suggestions to develop and play with internal imagery;
4) Get the
student to check their internal representation with target word until it is
correct;
5) Cover the target word and get the student to write the
spelling from memory.
Learning SWIM
1) Look at the target word then cover it;
2) Create an
internal image of the word and play with it;
3) Check your image
with the target word, and go to 5 if it's a match;
4) If not, repeat
steps 2-3 until it is correct;
5) Cover the target word and write
it from memory.