Learning About Spelling

I was talking with a student recently about the word family built on the base <mit>. We created this word sum: <per + mit ➞ permit>. I asked him to look at the word <permit> and tell me if he knew that word. He replied [pɝ] [mɪt] with a pause in between the two pronunciation. … More Teaching and Unteaching

Someone asked recently how to help students who struggle to remember even the simplest words. The word <the> was one of these words. The reason that so many words are categorized as “irregular” is because they have an unexpected pronunciation, not an unexpected spelling. But to understand their spelling and their orthographic phonology — the relationships between graphemes … More the, a, an, any, many

Recently, I came across a resource for teachers that demonstrated strategies for vocabulary instruction. They used the word <enormous> as an example. One of the steps in the instructional process was to have students analyze the word <enormous> by syllable, a common practice in systematic reading instruction. So the recommendation was to divide this word based on the way … More enormous

When I talk with students of any age about how English spelling works, I introduce them to the term <grapheme>. I also talk with them about letters, but letters are not the same as graphemes. English words are spelled with graphemes, not letters. A grapheme is a unit consisting of one, two or three letters. A grapheme signals or represents a phoneme.  Here are some examples … More Terminology: Graphemes and Letters

One of the concepts that you will hear over and over in the literacy world is the notion that “print represents speech,” and that the only research-based approach to teaching reading and spelling is to start with the systematic study of phonemes — the segments in spoken language that are distinctive for meaning (often referred … More Doesn’t Print Represent Speech?

You’ve probably seen a misspelling like *<enuf> for <enough> and have seen someone write that * <enuf> is a phonetic spelling. That is a misnomer, because English spelling is not phonetic. Writing systems are phonological — they represent meaning to people who already know and speak the language.  But phonetics can be a useful aspect of language to … More Terminology: Phones and Phonetics

Most systematic literacy instruction is built on the idea that phonemic awareness is the foundation for reading proficiency. If we’re going to even consider that idea, we need to understand the term “phonemic awareness” accurately. Phonemic awareness, as it is used in the education world, refers to the notion that students need to be aware … More Terminology: Phonemes and Phonology