Schoolchildren studying English have been observed to progress in developing literacy skills at less than half the rate of children developing literacy skills in other languages, such as Italian or Spanish, that use transparent, consistent orthographies. English, by contrast, is a language that utilizes an opaque, inconsistent orthography (Olmanson, 2007).
Learning how to spell in English thus becomes time-consuming and comes nowhere near the rates of learning achieved by learners in some other particular languages.
What makes the dated, conventional ways of teaching spelling too slow in producing positive results in schoolchildren?
Critics of the Dolch spelling lists, for instance, have observed that the lists "become outdated since new words continually enter the scene which are salient for student mastery in spelling" (Ediger, 2001).
Words related to computer technology, for example, are not included in the lists that were developed several decades ago.
Moreover, when learning how to spell, word lists should be customized according to the child's ability and mastery of the words.
A research-based list is based on the needs of a large number of spellers, yet different children have various needs for words that are to be mastered. What happens is that they are tested on the same words – including those they already know by heart – repeatedly, depriving them of the opportunity to move on and learn more advanced spelling words.
A perfect solution to these problems is choosing spelling software that could be customized to tailor-fit the words to the user.
The popular Ultimate Spelling software is one such program that allows a child to create his or her own list of problematic words and select the appropriate grade level for his or her own spelling proficiency.
In addition, because of the "opaque, inconsistent orthography" of English, described above, we cannot easily throw the concept of Dolch out the window.
Instead, spelling lists should be more interesting to make learning how to spell more about fun rather than drudgery.
With the Ultimate Spelling software, multiple usages are provided for each word, plus a host of other features such as the Visual Wordnet (this is similar to a mind map where related words emanate from the word being studied, producing a useful visual diagram), illustrations, and progress tracking where the user can easily monitor any improvement they have made.
These multiple features all contribute to minimizing the time it takes for a child to master new words, helping them move on to the next level.
References:
Ediger, M 2001, 'Assessing student achievement in spelling', Reading Improvement, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 183-187.
Olmanson, J 2007, 'Review of eSpindle Vocabulary & Spelling Program Online', Language, Learning & Technology, vol. 11, no. 3, p. 18.