How well can you spell?

Exploring English by KEITH WRIGHT

Writing is easy once you have mastered the art of spelling words correctly.

REGARDLESS of how interesting the subject or substance of an article is or how well written it is in terms of sequence and style, its positive impact on a reader can be negated if it is pitted with spelling errors.

Having access to spell-checking devices and computerised automatic spelling correctors are modern blessings for today’s writers but for those communicating in English, it is still a must that they have the appropriate spelling skills.

In recent decades, the spelling proficiency has deteriorated.

While the expansion of American spelling via the Internet has had an impact and the spread of using SMS continues to have serious negative consequences, being able to spell correctly has long been a problem for many individuals.

Down Under

A few years ago, a media outlet in Australia conducted a survey-cum-spelling test of 100 teachers. They were asked to spell 100 words.

The outcome was that not one teacher could spell all of the 100 words correctly. Only a handful achieved above 90 and embarrassingly for the Australian education system, the majority scored less than 80 — some as low as 60.

Again through research in Australia, it was found that the average adult used around 15,000 different words when speaking during their whole lifetime.

In contrast, only 5,000 different words were used for the written purpose.

The reason for the difference was that while people knew how to say particular words, they did not necessarily know how to spell them correctly.

Therefore, they refrained from writing words they couldn’t spell, especially if their error may be seen by someone else.

They also sometimes used an alternative, “lesser” word they did know how to spell.

This “lesser word” strategy is a common practice when a person is confronted with spelling a difficult word.

While someone might say that “the patient had pneumonia”, when it comes to writing and they are unsure of the spelling, they might write instead that “the patient was very ill”.

Instead of “haemorrhage”, “bleed” is written. Instead of “correspondence”, “letter” is used. Instead of “accommodation”, “room” is opted for and so on.

It is a human characteristic that when it comes to writing something that is “evidential”, ie., it can be read later by others, we do not like to be wrong.

Contributing factors

Spelling problems arise because of six main factors:

(i) The words have been borrowed from other languages: chateau, repertoire, naïve, debut, chassis.

(ii) The words are homophonic: council — counsel, weather — whether — wether, way — weigh — whey.

(iii) The words contain silent symbols: subtle, column, aisle, neutron, hymn, baulk, mortgage, quartz.

(iv) The words are pluralised forms: radius > radii, volcano > volcanoes, pony > ponies, duty > duties.

(v) The words are wrongly pronounced: approach > aproch, estimation > estermashun, mirror > mirro.

(vi) The words are difficult and it cannot be remembered how they should be spelt: archaeologist.

While each of the six factors above contribute to the spelling problem experienced by individuals to varying degrees, the main reason why so many people have problems with spelling is because they have to rely on their memory as to how a word should be spelt.

The issue of memory again comes to the fore unless the more difficult words one encounters and has to deal with are constantly or repeatedly used in writing.

If not, it seems that the memory capacity of many people is inadequate to perform the spelling task required.

Practice makes perfect

Rote learning is often criticised but it is an old adage that if you say a person’s name five times, you will never forget who they are — and if you write a word five times, you will always spell it correctly.

While repetition can be used as a learning tool, there is another solution to the problem of poor spelling that can significantly aid the memory retention process, that is, to learn why words are spelt the way they are.

Just as one can learn why a word is pronounced the way it is, so too are there effective, proven, traditional, historic mnemonic rules or keys to understanding spelling.

Unfortunately, it is rare for an education system to teach “Why words are spelt the way they are” as the 4S methodology does.

In the 4S Spelling Guide, the impact of homophonic words, silent symbols, plurals and contractions on spelling proficiency is also discussed.

The Mnemonic Keys to Understanding considered in The Spelling Guide include rules that apply to “l” words such as “Double ‘l’ syllables are never followed by a consonant”, eg. pillow, bullet, jelly.

Other rules include:

·“Multi-syllabic words end in a single ‘l’ syllable”, eg. tunnel, peaceful, signal.

·“Only single words with a regular, short vowel, double the final ‘l’ syllable”, eg. will, bell, doll, skull.

Other keys deal with common spelling problems such as whether to use a “k” or “c” — “ance” or “ence” — “able” or “ible” — “ie” or “ei” and many other common spelling traps.

In the next Exploring English column, consideration will be given to the importance of business writing. n Keith Wright is the author and creator of the 4S Approach To Literacy and Language (4S) — a modern, innovative and proven method of accelerating the learning of English.

The 4S methodology and the associated Accelerated English Programme (AEP) mentioned in this fortnightly column are now being used internationally to enhance the English proficiency of people with different competency levels.

The Star online 

Sunday June 23 2013.