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Issue 00596 |
Dec 5 - 12, 2009 |
issn 0856 - 9135 |
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Society |
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Special Education Difference between reading and spelling By Swaleha Chandoo Our bemused English language does not have a proper connection between the written letter and the actual pronounciation. Therefore spelling is opted as a hard task even for non-dyslexics themselves. This makes spelling the word much more difficult than reading the word. To see a symbol and (alphabets) assign the sound that you think it represents and put it together to form a word is basically deciphering a written word. However, In a reading situation there are many hints to aid the reader in recognizing words. While spelling, one wrong letter turns the word into a misspelled word but when a word is read wrongly, it may not affect the context of the sentence or the paragraph being read. The difference between reading and spelling is the same as the difference between decoding and encoding. The same way that spelling is an encoding task, reading is a decoding task, where a writer has to encode the sounds needed to create the word by using the appropriate letters and therefore, the opportunity to draw upon minor clues is greatly reduced. Spelling being a very accurate activity is much more difficult than reading. This is reflected in the capability of children to spell words poorly while they may be able to read comfortably and recognize the same words which they aren’t able to spell. Although there are many exceptions to the spelling rules in English, there is a plausible method that can be used to teach spellings. VISUAL SEQUENTIAL MEMORY The ability to spell also appears to be related to visual sequential memory. Most children who are poor in spelling, have a difficulty in remembering the letters and the order in which they appear. It has been confirmed that many technique used to teach spelling, have really been ways to strengthen visual sequential memory and have been successful. One of the techniques was developed by Fernald and therefore called the Fernald method. It reinforces the visual image of the word by using the following tangible and the kinesthetic methods: 1) The child is encouraged to select a word that he wants to learn. 2) The teacher writes the word on a 4 by 10 inch card as the child watches. The teacher says the word while writing. 3) The child traces the word saying it several times on a separate piece of paper.
4) The
word is then written from memory without looking. If the word is
incorrect, steps two and three are repeated. If Some spelling errors are due to auditory channel deficits, for instance: 1) Substitutes “t” for “d”, “f” for “v” or “sh” for “ch” 2) Does not hear subtle difference between sounds - talk or dock.
3) Discerns
the beginning and ending of words but not the middle of the word, which
may be missing, or spelt wrong- 4) Omission of the second letter in blends – “fed” for fled 5) Leaves vowels out of two syllable words- polish as “plsh” 6) Uses a synonym- home as house (auditory visual association) 7) Omits word endings such as – ed, -s, and –ing (auditory discrimination)
8) Guesses
randomly at the word with little or no relationship between what is
heard and what is written – fox for dog These spellings are normally non-phonetic (if auditory perception difficulty), since the dyslexic students lack phonetic skills. sallychandoo@hotmail.com
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