How are children taught to spell?
Children are rarely taught how to spell. They are made to learn spellings by heart and are tested rigorously on them, but it is rarely explained to them what they have learned. Children are generally not told why spellings are the way they are or about how the spellings relate to the way words are pronounced. Spelling often is regarded as a memory task that is not fun. Learning spelling is very different from learning to read and there is no simple correlation between spelling and reading ability. Spelling involves a set of active, conscious processes that are not required for reading. Spelling is a letter-by-letter act and learning to spell is actually thought to be harder than learning to read. The key to understanding spelling is in learning about the predictable links between spelling and pronunciation. This involves finding out about the predictable as well as the exceptions. Spelling is not just memorizing.
