Spelling words = Encoding = transposing the spoken form of a word into its written form.

Reading words = Decoding = transposing the written form of a word into its spoken form.

Good readers are able to spell at levels close to their word reading ability. This is not surprising because both abilities require the same skills: phonemic awareness, word analysis, and visual memory.

Assessment

The Test Bank lists standardized tests that are available to assess spelling. Published tests have one of two formats:

Written Presentation

1. A word meaning is presented followed by four possible spellings only one of which is correct. The learner marks the correct spelling. Spelling words are at word recogntion and sight word grade levels.

Example: Apples, grapes, and bananas are kinds of:

a. frute

b. fruit

c. froot

d. friut

Oral Presentation

2. A spelling word is spoken by the examiner, who follows with a sentence that makes the word's meaning clear (to distinguish homonyms such as wait and weight). The learner writes the word.

Oral presentation with written response has the advantage of not confounding the learners' ability to read a written presentation with their ability to spell a target word. Both formats can be group administered.

The DAR Spelling subtest was given to ARCS learners. Spelling averages for each of the 11 ARCS Comparison Profiles are calculated from participants' scores on this oral presentation, written response test.

Test makers choose words that represent spelling rules as well as those that require phonemic awareness and visual memory (either to recognize or to write the correct spellings). For example: in GE 1-3, high frequency sight words with the sound of long a are encoded in different ways: wake, train, and weight. Even though these may be sight words, the three spelling skills of phonemic awareness to distinguish the sounds, and of rules that govern possible encodings of those sounds, (as well as of visual memory) all play a part in spelling them correctly.

Criterion-referenced, teacher-made tests can be constructed like the standardized tests, but criterion-referenced tests are better suited to ongoing, diagnostic purposes of learners' progress. A teacher may want to know if learners have mastered particular spelling conventions or have memorized patterns of irregular words. The oral presentation, written response is the easiest and most common format to use.

Asking general questions about a learner's mastery of the prerequisite spelling skills is an important initial assessment. Together, these five steps give a teacher an idea of a learner's phonemic awareness, word analysis, and visual memory. Try several words at the learner's reading level.

1. Is the word pronounced correctly?

2. Can the learner identify the number of syllables in the word?

3. Can the learner separate sounds of a syllable in sequence?

4. Can the learner spell each syllable either correctly, or at the least, phonetically? Does the learner remember to include a vowel (even if it's the wrong vowel) in each syllable?

5. Visual Memory: Can the learner remember specific spelling patterns such as -ight, -tion...? What teaching techniques are required to impress the pattern of a word in memory for this learner?

It makes most sense to teach learners to spell word parts and words as they are learning to read them and to teach them to read words of adult interest that illustrate basic spelling rules. Learners, then, will have exposure to three reading components: decoding, encoding, and word meaning - all in one lesson.