Spelling is often over-looked in the classroom as a distraction from communicative goals and that is a sentiment with which (as a terrible speller) I sympathise but……
Firstly, students often pass or fail Cambridge (and other) exams on a single misplaced letter. The merits of this may be debatable, but I have a duty to prepare students for it.
Second and more importantly, students tend to encounter and take on most new vocabulary through exposure to written texts. So they often need to figure out how words sound from the spelling in order to recognise it when listening and use it correctly when speaking
Spelling is inextricably linked to phonology. So by learning about how things are spelt, students are also learning about how they sound benefiting both pronunciation and listening skills.
So no excuses, let’s make a start!
Basic pronunciation: The vowels
Stressed vowels have 2 main sounds:
1: a/e/o/i/u as in hat/hot/hit/hut
2: A/E/O/I/U as it sounds when we recite the alphabet as in Hate/Hive/Hotel/Tune
Unstressed vowels (that’s most of them) tend to have a schwa sound /ə/
As in: There isn’t much local support for an elephant farm.
I believe that awareness of unstressed vowels is essential. Not because students necessarily need to pronounce words in this way (you can be understood without using the /ə/ sound), but because learners who can’t recognise and anticipate weak vowel sounds will struggle to comprehend native speakers of English.
What has this got to do with spelling?
Some letters and suffixes change the sound of stress syllables from group 1 (a/e/i/o/u) to group 2 (A/E/I/O/U)
These include: -e -le -able -al -ing -ance -ence -y
It’s not just the “magic -e”!
If a vowel is to maintain its group 1 sound it needs to be separated from the vowel by at least 2 consonants:
Shopping Swimming Apple Exaggerate luggage occurrence
If a vowel has a group 2 sound, this doubling is unnecessary.*
Refusal Hazy Hotel rising hormonal
If a vowel is not stressed it is also unnecessary.*
Intoxicate interest definite penitence deliverence
*This applies to the root word (such as satisfied) if we add a prefix or suffix to it then there may be a double vowel for that reason, rather than due to word stress. For example Dis- + Satisfied = Dissatisfied Beautiful + -ly = Beautifully.
Ok, so how do we teach it?
Try misspelling words and asking students how they would sound:
When I knocked over my cofee, creating a pudle on the tabble, I picked up my Aple computer as quickly as I was abble (whether I was quick enough is debattable!)
I love wining swiming contests, but I need to work on my timming, instead of spending all my time winning and dinning.
His refussal to help was evven worse than lossing my mind.
In the begining I prayed for deliverrence but then I lost interrest.
By drawing students attention to the way spelling works, you are also helping them to pronounce words which they come across on the page.
Super Geeky Bonus Material: some other spelling rules.
i before e except after c and when it sounds like way
How would I went to weigh my neighbours sleigh sound if it was spelt like this:
I went to wiegh my nieghbours sliegh?
(let's just pretend foreign, height, either, neither and their don't exist, shall we?)
-cian or -tian
This is a frustrating one because the two spellings sound the same, but there is a rule which the following words follow:
Beneficial Spacial Special Facial
Essential Partial Substantial
Can you tell what is is yet?
After a vowel -cial After a consonant -tial
Except (sorry there always have to be exceptions in English) Initial, financial and commercial.
Comments