A
useful example of the importance of error analysis for both
teachers and parents:
Spelling
Test
| A |
B |
| Cat |
Cat |
| Dog |
Dog |
| Luft |
Elefant |
| jrf |
girarffe |
Both
these children had a 2/4 score, but one child is in the semi-phonetic
phase of spelling and the other child is in the transitional
phase. This demonstrates the need to constantly look at the
ways children write words rather than the score they receive
on a test. A close analysis of a child's spelling of each word
provides the key to the stage of spelling development they have
attained. Developmental phases signify which spelling strategies
need to be emphasised in the teaching program.
Spelling
analysis chart
Taken
from Learning Phonics and Spelling in a Whole Language Classroom
by D. Powell and D. Hornsby, Scholastic1993
| Developmental
spelling test |
Using
the following Developmental Spelling Test will give teachers an
opportunity to analyse the spelling strategies students use and
indicate the appropriate phase of spelling development.
Read each word to the students and ask them to write the words.
Analyse student attempts according to spelling phases. The following
chart gives examples of the type of spellings students may attempt.
There will be a multitude of other spellings.
| Word |
Sentence |
Child's
spelling |
Semi-phonetic |
Phonetic |
Transitional |
| monster |
The
boy was eaten by a monster. |
|
MTR |
MOSTR |
MONSTUR |
| united |
Have
you been to the United States? |
|
U |
UNITD |
YOUNIGHTED |
| dress |
The
girl wore a new dress. |
|
JRS |
JRAS |
DRES |
| bottom |
A
big fish lives at the bottom of the lake. |
|
BT |
BODM |
BOTTUM |
| hiked |
We
hiked to the top of the mountain. |
|
H |
HIKT |
HICKED |
| human |
Miss
Piggy is not a human. |
|
UM |
HUMN |
HUMUM |
| eagle |
An
eagle is a powerful bird. |
|
EL |
EGL |
EGUL |
| closed |
The
little girl closed the door. |
|
KD |
KLOSD |
CLOSSED |
| bumped |
The
car bumped into the bus. |
|
B |
BOPT |
BUMPPED |
| type |
Type
your story on the computer. |
|
TP |
TIP |
TIPE |
Gentry
& Gillet, Teaching Kids to Spell, Heinemann, 1993
| ....%
semi-phonetic |
....% phonetic |
....%
transitional |
....%
correct |
