Why is Spelling Important

Starting in grade 1 , our students have regular spelling tests. Let’s look at some of the reasons why spelling is important :

Communication: good spelling facilitates communication. By following the same rules for spelling words, we can all understand the text we read.

Comprehension: good spelling avoids confusion. In a way spelling is a bit like sports. It’s up to the person passing the ball to make sure the receiver actually catches it. The same goes for spelling. If you write with intent and proper spelling, the receiver of that text will understand it.

Future: let’s face it, university applications and job resumes littered with spelling errors don’t make it very far.

Computer error: we can’t rely on computers to check our spelling. They get it wrong too.

Distraction: poor spelling distracts the reader and they lose focus. It’s hard to read a text for comprehension when it’s full of spelling errors.

Impressions last: when you have people read something you’ve written and that text is full of spelling errors, it does not leave a good impression. We should care about the fundamental part good spelling plays in our language.

 

How can you improve your spelling ?

 

The best way , for spelling tests , is to practice for 5 minutes every day with mum or dad , a brother or sister , a friend , or even by yourself.

Here are some other ideas :

 

 Learn a few rules

Sometimes the best way to learn is to know the rules. Start by learning a few. Then, as you learn new words, you can add more and more rules. Before you know it, you’ll be able to spell most words!

You can find short lists of basic spelling rules at smc.edu, YourDictionary and About.com. Don’t try to learn them all at once! Instead, learn and practice one or two at a time until you understand them.

The next time you find a word that you can’t spell, try finding out if it follows a rule.

For example, why does the y in “friendly” turn into an i in “friendliness”?

Well, when you add a suffix (a word ending like “-ness”) to a word that ends in the letter y, that y is changed to an i. But that’s not the case if the suffix starts with an i (like “-ing”).

So someone can be “trying” but that same person “tries.” You can be “partying” or go to many “parties.” Thanks to knowing one word, you can learn how to spell many others that follow the same rule!

Make a list of the words you have trouble spelling

Maybe you already know how to spell most commonly misspelled words (great for you!). Or maybe you just don’t use the word “vacuum” too often when you’re writing.

Instead of studying a list of words made by someone else, why not make your own? Write down words that you have trouble spelling, even if they seem simple. Then learn their spelling rules or memorize them with mnemonics.

You might find that you have trouble with certain groups of words. For example: “percent,” “preview,” “presentation”… when do you write “pre”and when is it “per”? Knowing what you need to learn is an important part of learning!

 

Chunk it

Sometimes words are difficult to spell just because they are long. In these cases, you can use the chunking method. Chunking is when you separate the word into “chunks,” or shorter parts. This way, you’re not memorizing the spelling for one long word, but just a few short ones!

The word “embarrassed,” for example, can be chunked like this:

em
bar
ras
sed

Just remember the spelling for these four short “words,” and you’ll spell “embarrassed” correctly every time.

You can do this with any word you have trouble spelling—it makes them much easier to remember!

 

 

 

Sound it out

This is a spelling trick that is often taught to little kids, because it’s so simple. If you’re not sure how to spell a word, say it out loud, very slowly. Then write down what you hear.

Of course, this won’t work with every word. The word “friend,” for example, doesn’t sound the way it’s written. For words that don’t sound the way they’re spelled, you will need to use a different method.

In many simpler words, you should be able to get the correct spelling (or very close to it) by sounding the word out. So if you’re getting similar words like “blink” and “blank” confused, sound them out, letter by letter. This will help you spell and improve your pronunciation.

Play word games

Playing word games is a fun way to test your new spelling skills. It’s also a good way to learn new words.

Classic board games like Scrabble and Scattergories are great for spelling practice.

Apps like Spelling City and SpellTower are fun ways to test yourself even more.

Now that you know how to improve your English spelling, you just need to work on it.

Before you know it, spelling will become much easier for you!

 

References

http://www.k5learning.com/blog/why-spelling-important

http://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/how-to-improve-english-spelling/