Spelling involves the successful conversion of the spoken word into the written word. However, many descriptions of the spelling process reduce it to simply mapping sounds onto letters. This is it is an inadequate description of the skill set required for effective spelling in English which is phonologically opaque.
This paper outlines how good spellers draw on several linguistic resources, alongside a metacognitive disposition to have a conscience about their spelling—a felt responsibility to get it right for their readers. The linguistic resources they draw upon are phonological knowledge, morphological knowledge, orthographic knowledge, etymological knowledge, visual knowledge, and semantic knowledge. The paper makes the case for all students to taught all the linguistic threads that weave through words and that is key to equity of outcomes in spelling.
This International Literacy Association: Literacy Research Panel Paper's Principal Author is Misty Adoniou, University of Canberra, Australia.
Touchstones: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10