Spelling

“ Object of Teaching Spelling Ever since the school of early days spelling has accompanied “reading, ’riting, and ’rithmetic” as a part of the curriculum. The day when reading was taught by the “spelling method,” so called, is not far back in the past. “How can one learn to read if one does not know his letters, that he may be able to spell out the words that he meets in his reading?” Not until recently has the question been asked, “Why do we study spelling at all?” Do we need it in our reading? Modern methods have shown us that we do not. We need to know how to spell only when we wish to write. ”

“ Written Spelling Ability to spell a word means the carrying out of certain habits which have already been formed. If these habits are right then the word is spelled correctly. If children have not formed the right set of habits, if their pronunciation is wrong, if their mental picture is distorted, if imperfect vision causes them to see the word indistinctly, if their hearing is not normal, or if the coördination of the muscles is poor, any or all of these things will lead to the misspelling of a word. ”

“ English spelling, under the guidance of the printers, has become a mere system of marks and symbols, arranged upon no principle, selected with no rational purpose, each of which by a separate effort of the memory is associated with some sound or word. ”

“ So much attention is given to spelling that children obtain false ideas of its importance. The spelling, or representation, becomes to them the word, while the real word is called the pronunciation, and is thought of as an appendage. They learn to despise the poor speller, a prejudice which is never outgrown, and above all they become so absorbed in the manipulation of words that they have little chance to grasp the ideas which the words stand for. ”

“ The teaching of spelling should aim to give the pupils complete mastery over those words which they need to use in writing and it should instil in them the permanent habit of watching their spelling as they write. Drill on lists of isolated words should give way to practice in spelling correctly every word in everything written. The dictionary habit should be cultivated, and every written lesson should be a spelling lesson. ”

“ CHAPTER IV.—OF SPELLING. Spelling is the art of expressing words by their proper letters. This important art is to be acquired rather by means of the spelling-book or dictionary, and by observation in reading, than by the study of written rules; because what is proper or improper, depends chiefly upon usage.
The orthography of our language is attended with much uncertainty and perplexity: many words are variously spelled by the best scholars, and many others are not usually written according to the analogy of similar words. ”

“ The vitalising power is in the rhythm of the sentence, the turn of phrase, the knowledge of idiom, and of, beyond all, the attitude of mind. A laborious system of spelling exasperates the reader, jades the eye, and fails to convince the ear. ”

“ The next 'reading at sight' lesson will begin with a hunt for the familiar words, and then--
"Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky," should be gone through in the same way. As spelling is simply the art of seeing, seeing the letters in a word as we see the features of a face--say to the child, 'Can you spell sky?'--or any of the shorter words. ”

“ The result is the conventional spelling which only since the eighteenth century has been stereotyped in the form now so familiar to all educated people. And not even yet, as we know, has English orthography had its perfect work. As late as Doctor Johnson's time, N the spelling of many English words had not yet been crystallized, and not a few words could be spelled in two distinct ways, either of which was recognized as correct. ”

“ Study each word by this method. Take special pains to attend closely to each step in the method. Hard and careful work is what counts.
Take Pains with Your Spelling in all Writing.—Take pride in having your compositions and letters free from spelling errors. When you are in the slightest doubt as to how to spell a word, look it up in the dictionary before you write it. When you have found the word in the dictionary, learn it by the method by which you study your regular spelling lessons. ”

“ In the beginning children should learn to spell by writing, not as a drill in penmanship, but for the purpose of calling attention to the form of the word.
Elements. Spelling is a complex and difficult art and requires (a) training in elementary sounds and their symbols, or phonic drill; (b) training of eye and hand in forming the letters of a word, or written spelling; (c) training of ear and voice in naming the letters of a word, or oral spelling. ”

“ Of course it would be a good thing if our English spelling could be more uniform, but at present the best way for your friend and yourself, and for a Postmistress too, is to spell according to the standard dictionaries. The English language is derived from many sources, and there is danger that in spelling words by their sound we may lose some of their sense, as we find it, by tracing the word back to its root. ”

“ BAD SPELLING.—When those who from faulty education, or forgetfulness are doubtful about the correct spelling of any word, it is best to keep a dictionary at hand, and refer to it upon such occasions. It is far better to spend a few moments in seeking for a doubtful word, than to dispatch an ill-spelled letter, and the search will probably impress the spelling upon the mind for a future occasion. ”

“ Spelling must not be lost sight of in the children’s other studies, though they should not be teased to spell. It is well to write a difficult proper name, for example, on the blackboard in the course of history or geography readings, rubbing the word out when the children say they can see it. The whole secret of spelling lies in the habit of visualising words from memory, and children must be trained to visualise in the course of their reading. ”

“ There are some niceties in spelling and style that have to be passed with slight notice. The formation of foreign words in the plural number, obsolete or little-used forms of past tenses and participles, and the use of accents and diacritical marks for words in English, belong to grammar rather than to typography. ”

“ Our British cousins assume an exasperating air of superiority when they mention the matter of our spelling and, as self-appointed conservators of the language, point out what they are pleased to style the offensive eccentricities of American spelling. The British journals ever and anon draw attention to our manner of writing such words as favor, honor, center, program, almanac, tire, curb, check and criticize and the like, which they spell favour, honour, centre, programme, almanack, tyre, kerb, cheque and criticise. ”

“ The three principal elements of English—viz. Saxon, French, and Latin—have, each, and all, had some influence on the formation of our words; and this will account for the various forms of our spelling. A word, [121] when introduced into a language, is at first spelled in accordance with the genius of the nation from which it comes. By degrees, and generally by slow degrees, it is moulded into a new form by the genius and instinct of the language in which it is at length naturalised; still, however, retaining sufficient of its original form to indicate its source and etymology. ”

“ Synonyms Much of the work of the seventh grade consists of a careful study of synonyms. Spelling is closely correlated with language and one of the results of good spelling teaching should be not only an ability to spell common words correctly, but a normal and continuous growth in the written and spoken vocabularies of the children. This growth can be increased very materially by the study of derivatives and synonyms. This study also furnishes the very best exercises in the use of the dictionary for which the pupils have been prepared in preceding grades. ”

“ Require him to pronounce the words he makes with such finish and distinctness that he can himself hear and count the sounds in given way.
Early Spelling.--Accustom him from the first to shut his eyes and spell the word he has made. This is important. Reading is not spelling, nor is it necessary to spell in order to read well; but the good speller is the child whose eye is quick enough to take in the letters which compose it, in the act of reading off a word, and this is a habit to be acquired from the first: accustom him to see the letters in the word, and he will do without effort. ”

“ In all oral spelling, save time by having the children respond in turn without being called upon by name. Perhaps the best way is to go up and down the rows.
Copying a Spelling Lesson Spell the first word very softly and write it on the blackboard as you pronounce each letter. The children look at the written form on the board, and copy the word, saying to themselves each letter as they write. Do the same with other words.
It is not necessary to copy each word more than once. ”

“ Here a genuine difference in sound conveyed to the ear was represented to the eye by a difference of orthography. The modern speech has made one of its usual compromises. It has retained the spelling of the one form and the pronunciation of the other. ”

“ Pronunciation, and the proper way of representing it in spelling, and the ways in which it has been represented at various periods—these are subjects which demand long and severe study before one has a right even to state facts. ”

“ Wherever a word differs from the modern word only in spelling, I have, for the sake of readier comprehension, substituted the modern form, with the following exception:—Where the spelling indicates a different pronunciation, necessary for the rhyme or the measure, I retain such part of the older form, marking with an acute accent any vowel now silent which must be sounded. ”

“ Design'd Chiefly for Persons of Maturity, Teaching Them How to Spell and Write Words by the Sounds Thereof. And to Sound and Read Words by the Sight Thereof, Rightly, Neatly, and Fashionably. I. It Will Instruct Any Person, That Can Read and Write, to Spell and Write Most Languages, That He Can Speak, and Uses to Read, in a Few Hours, by a General Rule, Contain'd in Two or Three Lines, and the Use of Spelling Alphabet, Which May Be Writ on the Twelfth Part of a Sheet of Paper, to Carry About Them. ”

“ The most difficult work for children appears in words which are spelled alike and pronounced differently, or in words pronounced alike and spelled differently, or in the various equivalents of the same sound which our language affords. Chair, their, where, etc., suggest the problems of this nature. This work should be introduced not earlier than the third or fourth year. It should come in connection with the spelling lesson, and not with the reading. The mastery of these difficulties in English spelling doubtless requires many months of careful teaching. ”

“ The alphabetical list of words in a spelling-book, contains many which are not in common use, and the pupil forgets these as fast as he learns them. We have found it entertaining to children, to ask them to spell any short sentence as it has been accidentally spoken. ”

“ And now, at the age of seventy-five, with uncounted millions, and ten United States Senators, and a fourth young wife all in his pocket, he proposed to hand his name to Immortality by simplifying the spelling of English all over the earth. ”

“ The use of a theoretical, rather than the practical, vocabulary of children and adults.
The teaching of spelling must be done from a spelling book in the hands of the children, since the individual teacher does not have the time to prepare lists of words which will produce as good results as the lists given in a spelling book, the selection and preparation of which are the result of years of special observation and testing. ”

“ Why should we keep their spelling, having lost their speech, and why should they not still keep their spelling of old, who still keep the speech? ’Tis this thought by some of the Learned, that English is the hardest Language in the World ”

“ Spelling, generally, is not ‘corrected’, given the age of the text, unless there is a clear preponderance of an alternate more standard spelling. ‘Knowledge’ appears three times as ‘knowlege’, but more than twenty times with the ‘d’. ”

“ Dough can't be doe, do, dow, but doa.
Well, if they purposed to reform our spelling, which has always been a mere rag-bag of lawlessness, I hoped that they would do it right; but I was too deeply immersed in completing the index of my forthcoming volume to spend thought upon this question ”

“ What is needed is an awakening to the fact that our spelling, so far from being immaculate at its best, is, at its best, hardly less absurd than the haphazard, rule-of-thumb, funnily phonetic spelling of Artemus Ward and of Josh Billings. What is needed is anything which will break up the lethargy of satisfaction with the accepted orthography, and help to open the eyes of readers and writers to the stupidity of the present system and tend to make them discontented with it. ”

“ Spelling rests on the habit of the eye, which is best acquired as the result of reading. In attempting to teach reading through spelling, the effort of the pupil in trying to find out the word by naming the letters that compose it distracts the attention from the thought intended to be represented by it; the mind becomes chiefly absorbed with spelling instead of reading. When properly taught, reading furnishes natural faculties for teaching spelling; but spelling does not furnish a suitable means for teaching reading. ”

“ We shall not labor this point, altho we conceive a great improvement might be effected in this department of learning. My only wish is to select from all the forms of spelling, the most simple and consistent. Constant changes are taking place in the method of making words, and we would not refuse to cast in our mite to make the standard more correct and easy. We would prune off by degrees all unnecessary appendages, as unsounded or italic letters, and write out words so as to be capable of a distinct pronunciation. ”