CHAPTER VIII SPELLING ENGLISH spelling is "peculiar." It obeys no laws, follows few principles. It is a strange medley of the labors of philologists, pseudo-philologists, ignorant printers, and equally ignorant writers who have attempted to follow some real or imaginary auditory analogy. It is a mass of conventions resting upon no rhyme or reason. Learning to spell is one of the immutable requirements of the school. By success in teaching spelling the school is judged, to a very large degree. Yet the educational value of learning to spell is so slight as to be negligible. Spelling according to convention satisfies no psychological need, no spiritual craving, no aspiration. The economic value of spelling is arbitrary and artificial. It adds not a cent's worth to the world's wealth. Yet, teach it we must. Spelling well is much like wearing modish garments; it has much to do with fixing one's place in the world of educated people. At least a lack of it at once places one among the ignorant. These facts are so patent and so widely recognized that we have the Reformed Spelling Board maintained by the benefaction of a great "gift giver." The aim of this Board is to simplify spelling by removing some of its worst absurdities, but unfortunately their efforts thus far do not offer much hope of a scientific solution of the problem. The changes suggested by them are so scattered that in the eyes of a disinterested observer they seem to add to the complications by giving new forms to learn, without such an exact classification as to enable us to use them, except by a sheer act of unaided memory in the case of each change suggested. The best that can be said of their efforts thus far is that they show good intentions. So, for the present at least, and doubtless for a long time to come, the children in school must go on learning to spell the old forms, and the question for the teacher still is how to teach this conventional art most effectively in the shortest time. There is little to aid in this. There are almost no rules of spelling that are even moderately reliable. Attempts to teach spelling by rule simply add to the child's troubles. A few analogies may be followed, but with timid steps for fear of the many pitfalls. The sole reliance is memory, and the sole aid is found in obeying the general laws of memory, such as association of ideas, interest, vividness of impression, repetition, recency. Words that have no meaning to the children, and taught without relation, are sure to be forgotten, except by those rare persons who have a "gift" for spelling. And it is often the case that this peculiar gift is possessed by those having little intellectual power of any other sort. The late Superintendent B. C. Gregory, as the result of a series of very interesting observations,1 showed clearly that children most frequently misspell the common words which they have first learned by ear. This is natural enough, in view of the irregularities of our spelling, and the lack of agreement between the written form and 1" Better Schools,” page 169 ff. its phonic equivalent. When the word is learned first from the printed page, it is much more likely to be spelled correctly. The reason is obvious. Hence especial emphasis should be placed upon the spelling of colloquial words. Spelling is altogether a writing exercise. From this a natural inference would be that spelling should be learned by writing only. But this is not the fact. Although the English language is by no means phonic in its written structure, still there is a close association between oral and written spelling, so that the oral exercise supplements the written, often with very great advantage. There are, however, wide differences among people in this regard. The familiar terms ear-minded" and "eye-minded " indicate this. Some are particularly sensitive to auditory impressions, others to visual. This has, however, nothing to do with phonics. It simply means that some children will remember the component letters of a word more surely, and hence will be able to write the word more accurately, if they have first spelled it aloud. Some, before writing a doubtful word, will fortify themselves by repeating the letters " to themselves." With others the visual impression is sufficient and the oral spelling seems only to confuse them. This effect of speaking the letters, either aloud or silently, is probably due more to muscular memory than to sounds. This same muscular memory extends to the hands and arms and other muscles used in writing and results in a form of muscular habit which enables the educated adult to write words correctly, without thinking of the spelling and even without consciously seeing it. These facts must be borne in mind in teaching spelling. CHAPTER IX SPELLING METHODS OF INSTRUCTION How then may children be so taught as to make the correct spelling of ordinary well-known words automatic, without wasting time that is needed for more important matters? There is no royal road. The ordinary person learns to spell through a sheer act of memory. Hence the effective teaching of spelling must be secured through obedience to the laws of memory. The first and most important of these is the law of " The Association of Ideas." The spelling of words is more easily remembered if the words themselves are so used in relation to ideas that they leave a distinct impression. It is easier to remember the spelling of words used in interesting sentences and paragraphs than of words learned in "lists" without relation. Next to the association of ideas, the most important of the laws of memory for the teaching of spelling is vividness of impression. The sequence of letters in a word to be spelled should be burned into the mind. Various means and devices may be used to effect this. Hard words, words likely to be misspelled, should be spelled both orally and in writing: orally, to secure the right habit of feeling of the muscles used in speaking, - this is especially important for those children who speak the letters to themselves while spelling; in writing, If we because it is in writing that the final test comes. used speech orally only, we should have no spelling at all. But before spelling in any way, care should be exercised to secure close attention to the word as correctly spelled. Most people misspell words because they have not looked at them sharply enough to make sure of the letters used or of their order. If the word in itself is interesting and conveys some idea that holds the attention, it is easier to secure correct spelling, especially if it is a word not known colloquially. But even in such a case, it is frequently necessary to make an especial effort to focus undivided attention upon the spelling itself. Among the many possible devices that may be used to this end, I will mention but one, which has been used in different places with much success. It is a blackboard exercise, the entire class being at the board. It may, however, be modified, if the blackboards have not room enough for all, by having some pupils work at their desks. The class all The teacher writes a word on the board. look at it for a brief space of time. Then the teacher erases the word. The class turn and write it. The teacher inspects the work. If any are in error, the error is not pointed out, but all are told to erase. The teacher again writes the word and erases. All spell it. This is continued until all have spelled correctly. This secures close attention and confidence, as the children are not told whether they have erred or not; and it also results in permanence of impression. It is an excellent device for correcting carelessness of observation, which is at the bottom of most bad spelling. |