Monitoring Progress in Spelling Improvement

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the Spelling Sensitivity System (SSS), an accuracy metric basedon the level of linguistic knowledge evidenced by student spellings. The procedure can beused by SLPs to baseline and monitor their students' progress associated with word-levelliteracy instruction. The SSS has the relative speed of a binary scoring system yetincorporates facets of the multilinguistic theory of spelling development. Use of the SSSsystem to represent baseline performance and monitor progress of the clinical case isillustrated.

Preliteracy Speech Sound Production Skill and Linguistic Characteristics of Grade 3 Spellings: A Study Using the Templin Archive

“…Third, most contemporary spelling assessments simply classify spelling errors as binary (i.e., either correct or incorrect), thereby missing important information about the linguistic deficits underlying those errors and making relative differences of spelling skill within a population difficult, if not impossible, to discern (Bourassa & Treiman, 2003;Calhoon, Greenberg, & Hunter, 2010;Masterson & Apel, 2013). For example, both SAK and SAINK are incorrect spellings for the word sank, but both reflect different types of linguistic knowledge.…”

Morphological Awareness Assessment and Intervention to Improve Language and Literacy

“…Without an awareness of how to apply morphological knowledge in writing, spelling errors may occur such as those in which affixes are spelled phonetically (e.g., counten for counting) or a base word and affix knowledge is not integrated in a related morphologically complex form (e.g., majishun for magician). 43,49,50 Researchers have shown that typically developing students integrate morphological awareness in their spellings in the early school years, 5 and morphological awareness appears to contribute uniquely to spelling success in children with speech and language deficits. 13,47 MORPHOLOGICAL AWARENESS ASSESSMENT Despite its documented importance to language and literacy success, no standardized tasks are available to analyze morphological awareness thoroughly.…”

“…13 Word analogies require students to complete a targeted example, at the word level (e.g., "anger: angry:: strength: _____," or the sentence level (e.g., "Peter plays at school: Peter played at school:: Peter works at home: _____."). 3 Finally, spelling analysis can provide a linguistic tool to determine whether morphological awareness breakdowns are potentially contributing to breakdowns in literacy success (see elsewhere for full explanation 43,49,50 ). First, a spelling sample focused on morphological awareness can be obtained and should include common words with a wide variety of base words and corresponding inflected and derivational forms.…”

“…An assessment that includes a morphological spelling analysis using the previously described considerations may provide insight into whether or not a student is applying a morphological awareness strategy in writing production and can help guide intervention focused on linking this strategy to the act of spelling (for a full explanation of a languagebased spelling assessment and intervention, see elsewhere 43,49,50 ).…”

Exploring spelling ability in school-aged children with literacy learning difficulties using data collected in a clinical setting

“…For example, the spelling attempt kot for ‘cot’ could be viewed as evidence of sufficient phonological awareness and/or incomplete orthographic awareness because it encodes the phonemic structure of the target but does so using a letter which violates spelling conventions. Scoring metrics based on these types of analyses may be sensitive measures of spelling proficiency and useful in monitoring the impact of literacy interventions (Bourassa and Treiman, 2001; Masterson and Apel, 2013). Spelling analyses have also proven useful in studies profiling the literacy skills of children with and without developmental disabilities.…”