ILA Brief Review: Teaching and Assessing Spelling

Teaching and assessing spelling holds a very important, yet often misunderstood position

in literacy. For most teachers, including myself, spelling assessments have become a mundane

and routine Friday test that does not give much in depth information. When spelling is embedded

into literacy curricula, it usually takes a backseat to other chunks of reading development that are

more easily understood, taught, and monitored. This Literacy Leadership Brief breaks down

spelling into chunks that when assessed, can provide insight into a student’s linguistic

development. According to the article, even our earliest spellers draw on multiple founts of

knowledge: phonological, morphological, orthographic, etymological, visual, and semantic,

when working with words. For many spelling programs, developing phonological knowledge

(sound-letter relationships) is commonly the focus. However, knowing sounds is only part of the

foundation for spelling. Morphological knowledge, or understanding of parts of a word that

carries meaning, as well as Orthographic knowledge, understanding letter pairs and when to use

them, are also commonly taught and assessed through spelling. Three founts of knowledge that

are not easily recognized but are just as important for spelling foundations are etymological

knowledge, visual knowledge, and semantic knowledge. Etymological knowledge delves into a

word's origins. It displays the English language as a beautiful tapestry woven together through

many other languages and cultures: Germanic, Latin, Roman, Norse, French and Greek (​ILA,

2019)​. Visual knowledge helps students store words in their memories. During exposure to

words, it's important for a student to pay close attention to words, their components and how

they are spelled. Semantic knowledge requires students to dive deep into the meaning of words

they spell. Knowing the origin, visual representation, and meaning behind words are key
components to spelling. Spelling is much more than assessing a rote list of words, it is a way of

communication that provides insight into linguistic development and strengths.

Reference

Literacy Leadership Brief Teaching and Assessing Spelling. (2019). ​International Literacy

Association.​ Retrieved from

https://literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/ila-teaching-and-assessing-spe

lling.pdf?sfvrsn=3db8b98e_4