SPELLING ET AL…!

FROM PET HATE

TO PASSION!

Dr. Zahida Chebchoub

 RESEARCH FOCUS

Analyze students’
spelling/mechanics errors.
Help students overcome
these errors.
 METHODOLOGY (1)

INFORMANTS
TWO GROUPS OF STUDENTS WERE SELECTED:
 A control group (repeaters/21 students)
 An experiment group (repeaters/22 students).
Both groups took a spelling/mechanics
diagnostic test at the start and the end of the
semester but only the experiment group
students were exposed to an intensive amount
of remedial exercises and teacher-assisted
study.
 METHODOLOGY (2)

USE OF QUESTIONNAIRES
 Questionnaires were distributed to
students for extra feedback and
information on how these students felt
about spelling, their main areas of
difficulty and so on.
 METHODOLOGY (3)

Based on the results of the diagnostic test and

students’ responses to the questionnaire,
remedial exercises were devised and used
throughout the semester with the experiment
group.
 DIAGNOSTIC TEST ITEMS
1. For spelling, I tested:
 consonantal phonemes: /p, b, f, v, tʃ, ʃ, dʒ, ɡ/
 vocalic phonemes: monophtongs /e, I, i:, a, ʊ,
ɒ, u:/ and diphtongs: /ei, ai/.
 phonograms (phoneme/grapheme
correspondences): ee, ea, y ↔/i:/ /e/ /I/, and
silent graphemes: e, l, t.
2. For punctuation and mechanics, I tested:
 spaces between words, paragraph indentation,
double spacing, capital letters conventions and
full stops.
DISCUSSION OF THE START-OF-SEMESTER
DIAGNOSTIC TESTS RESULTS
(1)
1. SPELLING
The results showed that students had some
problems rendering the appropriate graphemes
for some troublesome vocalic phonemes. This
was caused by:
1. the lack of direct correspondences in
some of the phoneme/grapheme
associations in L2
2. the allophonic variations of vocalic
phonemes in L1 on the other hand.
DISCUSSION OF THE START-OF-SEMESTER
DIAGNOSTIC TESTS RESULTS (3)

2. Punctuation and paragraph formatting: The

main problems for students were using:
1. appropriate spaces between the words
2. capital letters
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF SPELLING AND
RELATED ISSUES (FROM
QUESTIONNAIRES)
From students’ responses to the questionnaire
items, one can notice that students are aware of
the difficulties they encounter in spelling
particularly when they compare the spelling
rules in their first language to those found in
English. They do not always know the
metalinguistic definitions to analyze the
problematic areas in spelling but if given some
guidance in how to interpret and analyze the
source of their difficulties in spelling, they
acquire the ability to do so.
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF SPELLING AND
RELATED ISSUES (FROM
QUESTIONNAIRES)
Students’ responses to the questionnaire item;
“The benefits of learning spelling”:
Students know that by mastering and knowing
the rules and mechanism of spelling in English,
they will be able to improve :
1. their speaking production
2. their writing production.
The benefits of learning spelling

t he b enefit s o f learning s p elling

25
20
15 co nt ro l g ro up
exp eriment g ro up
10
5
0
imp ro ve my writ ing imp ro ve my s p eaking
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF SPELLING AND
RELATED ISSUES (FROM QUESTIONNAIRES

Students’ responses to the questionnaire item “Study

methods in spelling”:
The favorite method is “to write the new words several
times”. Some students stated that they used the “oral
repetition of the letters of new words” but after eliciting
more information from them concerning this method, I
found out that it was not, according to them, the best
method as they sometimes got confused between letters
such as ‘j’ and ‘g’ as well as ‘p’ and ‘b’ if they relied
mainly on oral memorization of the sound.
 Study methods in spelling

study methods in spelling

16
14
number of students

12
10
control group
8
experiment group
6
4
2
0
look/cover/w rite w rite the new oral repetition of
the new w ords w ords several the new w ords
times letters
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF SPELLING AND
RELATED ISSUES (FROM
QUESTIONNAIRES)

Students’ responses to the questionnaire item “Amount

of time spent studying spelling outside the classroom”:
The majority of my students review their words
once a week, a time that coincides with the
once-a-week spelling test that is assigned to
them. But most of them stated that they studied
once a day.
Amount of time spent studying spelling
outside the classroom

amount of time spent studying spelling outside the classroom

20
18
16
14
# students

12
control group
10
experiment group
8
6
4
2
0
1/2 hour a day 1 hour a w eek
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF SPELLING AND
RELATED ISSUES (FROM
QUESTIONNAIRES)

Students’ responses to the questionnaire item “Why

spelling in English is difficult”:
Students seem to be aware of the main problems and
difficulties surrounding English spelling; they recognize
and understand to a certain extent the mechanism of
English spelling. In fact, many students, when asked to
compare between spelling in L1 and in L2, state that L1
has a phonetic based writing system whereas the writing
system in L2 is only partially phonetically based.
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF SPELLING AND
RELATED ISSUES (FROM
QUESTIONNAIRES)

It is interesting to note that students link

spelling performance to speaking. This
could be explained by the fact that in the mind
of my students, spelling is a sound/letter
association and therefore is very much related to
speaking. It could also be explained by the fact
that speaking is very important for students;
they perceive it as the key to success in L2.
 Why spelling in English is difficult

w hy spelling in English is difficult

4
# students

control group
3
experiment group
2

0
too many silent too many English is I am not good
letters phonograms difficult at speaking
English
 FEEDBACK FROM STUDENTS’
QUESTIONNAIRES

My students’ reactions represented an

important source of information as they helped
me have a better understanding of their insights
about spelling as well as direct and help them in
their learning: For instance, since most of my
students mentioned the silent letters difficulties
in spelling, I included a section in the remedial
exercises where they had to identify silent
letters in both spoken and written words.
 REMEDIAL EXERCISES/ PUNCTUATION &
PARAGRAPH FORMAT

For punctuation markers, I spent some time

with the experiment group helping them study,
remember and review mechanics aspects.
I also used production and recognition types of
activities that emphasize problematic areas
such as:
1. non-equivalent graphic symbols (the comma
symbol/ question mark symbol)
2. the rules governing the conventions for using
these punctuation markers.
 REMEDIAL EXERCISES/
SPELLING

The remedial exercises emphasized problematic

areas based on the results of the diagnostic test
administered at the start of the semester and
included:
1. Minimal pairs based exercises
2. Phoneme recognition and production exercises.
(I followed Gerber who said: “The key to spelling
strategy instruction is through demonstrating
patterns and forming generalizations”)
CRITICAL THINKING APPLIED TO SPELLING
RULES ANALYSIS

I encouraged my students to analyze:

1. spelling rules and conventions.
2. phoneme/grapheme correspondences.
 USE OF DICTATIONS

I used intensive dictations to account for

Davis who said: “Decoding the sounds
and recoding them in writing is a major
learning task.”, and Frodesen who also
perceives dictation as an important
spelling learning tool.
HELPING STUDENTS CHOOSE SUITABLE
LEARNING METHODS

Another vital point was related to the methods

used by students in studying spelling; every now
and then, I would ask my students to use their
favorite method (mentioned in their
questionnaire) at home and an assigned method
(chosen from the list of methods mentioned by
students in the questionnaires) in class.
DISCUSSION OF THE START & END OF
TERM DIAGNOSTIC TESTS RESULTS

The main improvement that was noticed was in

minimal pairs involving short vowels versus long
vowels counterparts. Students seemed to be
able to master the phoneme / grapheme
correspondences occurring in short and long
vowels. Another area that also showed
improvement was in the consonants that usually
pose problems to native speakers of Arabic;
namely /p/ and /b/ as well as /∫/ and /t∫/.
DISCUSSION OF THE START & END OF
TERM DIAGNOSTIC TESTS RESULTS

With punctuation markers and paragraph

formatting, it was noticed that students were
starting to pay more attention to important
features of writing such as leaving adequate
spaces between the words.
 Consonantal phonograms / start and end of
term diagnostic tests.

consonantal phonograms / start of term diagnostic test consonantal phonograms / end-of-term diagnostic test

60% 90%
80%
50%
70%
40% 60%
%of right answers

%of right answers

control group 50% control group
30%
experiment group 40% experiment group
20% 30%
20%
10%
10%
0% 0%
/p≠b/ (p - b) /g≠dӠ/ (g-j) /f≠v/ (f -v) /tʃ≠ʃ/ (ch - sh) /p≠b/ (p - b) /g≠dӠ/ (g-j) /f≠v/ (f -v) /tʃ≠ʃ/ (ch - sh)
 Vocalic phonemes / start and end of term
diagnostic tests.

vocalic phonemes / start-of-term diagnostic test vocalic phonemes / end-of-term diagnostic test

80% 100%
70%
60% 80%
% of right answers

50%
control group 60%

%of right answers

40% control group
experiment group experiment group
30% 40%
20%
10%
20%
0% 0%
/I/ vs. /i:/ /ʊ/ vs./u:/ /i/ vs. /e/ /e/ vs. /a/ /I/ vs. /i:/ /ʊ/ vs./u:/ /i/ vs. /e/ /e/ vs. /a/
 Phoneme/grapheme correspondences / start
and end of term diagnostic tests.

phoneme/grapheme correspondences / start of term diagnostic test phonem e-graphem e correspondences / end of term diagnostic test

80% 80%

70% 70%

60% 60%

% of right answers
% of right answers

50% control group 50%

experiment group control group
40% 40%
experiment group
30% 30%
20% 20%
10% 10%
0% 0%
ea, ee = /i:/, /I/, /e/
ea, ee = /i:/, /I/, /e/
 Diphtongs / monophtongs/ start and end of
term diagnostic tests
diphtongs/monophtongs / start of term diagnostic test diphtongs / m onophtongs / end of term diagnostic test

70% 90%
80%
60%
70%

%of right answers

50% control
%of right answers

60%
group
40% control group 50%
30% experiment group 40%
30% experiemnt
20% group
20%
10%
10%
0% 0%
/a/≠ /ei/ /ai/≠ /ei/ /i/ ≠ /ai/ /a/≠ /ei/ /ai/≠ /ei/ /i/ ≠ /ai/
 Silent graphemes / start and end of term
diagnostic tests.

silent graphemes/ start-of-term diagnostic test silent graphemes / end-of-semester diagnostic test
60%

50%
80%

40% 60%
%of right answers

control
30% control group 40% group
experiment
20% 20% group
experiment
10 %
group 0%
0% e l t
e l t
 Mechanics aspects / start and end of term
diagnostic tests.

mechanics aspects / start-of-term diagnostic test mechanics aspects / end of term diagnostic test

80%
100%
70%
60% 80%

%of right answers

%of right answers

50% 60% control group

control group
40% 40% experiment group
experiement group
30%
20%
20%
10% 0%
0% spaces indent capital full stops
spaces indent capital full stops betw een letters
betw een letters w ords
w ords
 REFLECTIONS

The results showed that students benefit greatly

from extra practice in class and not just outside
class. However, there was an unexpected turn in
the situation to find out that the control group
did quite well in the “mechanics” portion of the
diagnostic in start and end of term tests. This
could be linked to the fact that the rules of
paragraph formatting are straightforward and
simple to grasp and be remembered by
students.
 REFLECTIONS

It was also noticed that the experiment group

students responded very well when exposed to
the aural perception of sounds and oral
repetition of words in isolation and in context
during the remedial exercises phases which later
on helped do well in the end of term diagnostic
test. As a whole, students were starting to
distinguish between various consonantal entities
such as the problematic consonantal pairs
represented by /f/ and /v/, /p/ and /b/, /dʒ/ and
/g/
 REFLECTIONS

An important aspect that rose from the research

was related to paragraph formatting; spaces
between the words, in this area, some degree of
awareness started to show in the way students
dealt with this vital feature of writing in English.
Overall, students do much better at words in
isolation and/or in a sentence context than in a
paragraph context.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

 practice and students’ awareness will help students

improve.
 work to be done in the areas of students’
understanding of the association between sounds and
graphemes.
 continuous drilling by using exercises that emphasize
the relationship between phonemes and graphemes.
 students should be exposed to more
listening/speaking activities and drills. This will
definitely improve their spelling.
 Intensive reading would also help them better their
spelling.
THE END…THANK YOU