Developmental Word Knowledge

The Braid of Literacy See figure 1-1 on page 2 of the Words Their Way book

Invented Spelling: A Window into Developing Word Knowledge Researcher found the preschooler’s attempts to spell were not just random displays of ignorance and confusion, but a systematic, phonetic logic to preschooler’s categorizations of English speech sounds Henderson developed an instructional model to complement this development called Word Study

Why is word study important? In order to become fully literate, a student must become dependent on fast, accurate recognition of words and their meanings in texts, and fast, accurate production of words in writing so that readers and writers can focus their attention on making meaning

Students need hands-on opportunities to manipulate word features in a way that allows them to generalize beyond isolated, individual examples of entire groups of words that are spelled the same way The best way to develop fast and accurate perception of word features is to engage in meaningful reading and writing and have multiple opportunities to examine those same words out of context

What is the purpose of word study? The purpose of word study is to examine words in order to reveal consistencies within out written language system and to help students master the recognition, spelling, and meaning of specific words.

Three Layers of English Orthography Alphabet Pattern Meaning

Alphabet Our spelling system is alphabetic because it represents the relationship between letters and sounds. The alphabetic layer is the first layer of information at work.

Pattern The pattern layer overlies the alphabetic layer. English does not have a single sound for each letter under all conditions. Single sounds are sometimes spelled with more that one letter or are affected by other letters that do not stand for any sounds themselves. There is consistency in patterns that guide the grouping of letters, e.g., CVC, VCV, etc.

Meaning When students learn that groups of letters can represent meaning directly, they will be much less puzzled when encountering unusual spellings. This is the third layer of English orthography called the meaning layer.

The Development of Orthographic Knowledge Developmental spelling research describes students’ growing knowledge of words as a continuum or a series of chronologically ordered stages or phases of word knowledge Students move hierarchically from easier, one-to-one correspondences between letters and sounds to more difficult, abstract relationships between letter patterns and sounds, to even more sophisticated relationships between meaning units (morphology) as they relate to sound and pattern.

For each stages, students’ orthographic knowledge is defined by three functional levels that are useful guides for knowing when to teach what: Students do correctly - an independent or easy level What students use but confuse - an instructional level where instruction is most helpful What is absent in students’ spelling - a frustration level where spelling concepts are too difficult

Stages of Spelling Development Stage I: Emergent spelling Stage II: Letter name - alphabetic spelling Stage III: Within word pattern spelling Stage IV: Syllables and affixed spelling Stage V: Derivational Relations Spelling

Stage I: Emergent Spelling This encompasses the writing efforts of children who are not yet reading conventionally, and in most cases have not been exposed to formal reading instruction This stage is prephonetic

Stage II: Letter name - alphabetic spelling This encompasses the period of time during which students are formally taught to read, typically during kindergarten and first-grade years and extending into the middle of second grade.

Early letter name - alphabetic stage Students apply the alphabetic principle primarily to consonants They often spell first sound and then last sound of single-syllable words When they use the alphabetic principle they find matches between letters and the spoken word by how the sound is made or articulated in the mouth

Middle to late letter name - alphabetic spelling Students can spell many high-frequency words correctly but also makes spelling errors typical of a students in this stage. Students are also learning to segment both sounds in a consonant blend and begin to represent the blends correctly. By the end of this stage, students are able to consistently represent most regular short vowel sounds, digraphs, and consonant blends because they have full phonemic segmentation.

Stage III: Within Word Pattern Spelling Students can read and spell many different words correctly because of their automatic knowledge of letter sounds and short-vowel patterns. This level typically begins as students transition to independent reading toward the end of first grade and expands through the second and third grades and even into fourth grade.

Because basic phonics features have been mastered, within word pattern spellers work at a more abstract level than letter name - alphabetic spellers. During the within word pattern stage, students first study the common long-vowel patterns and then less common patterns such as the VCC pattern in cold or most. Students must also consider the meaning layer to spell and use homophones.

Stage IV: Syllables and affixes spelling This stage is typically achieved in the upper elementary and middle school grades, when students are expected to spell many words of more than one syllable. This is when students consider spelling patterns where syllables meet meaning units such as affixes.

Stage V: Derivational Relations Spelling Students move to the derivational stage as early as grade 4 or 5, however, most derivational relational spellers are found in middle school, high school, and college. Students examine how words share common derivations and related base words and root words.

Early derivational relations spellers spell most words correctly. Frequent errors have to do with the reduced vowel in derivationally related pairs. Students spelling errors often have to do with using but confusing issues of consonant doubling in absorbed prefixes, the convention of changing the last consonant of a prefix to the first consonant of the root word.

The Synchrony of Literacy Development Emergent readers Beginning readers Transitional readers Intermediate and advanced readers See figure 1-13 on page 19 of text