Have you ever wondered why children from most European countries master spelling in their languages at an early age?
It's because the letter-to-sound relationships of their alphabets are much simpler than those of English.
Spanish, for instance, is almost completely phonetic: a glance at any Spanish word and you can immediately determine how it is pronounced.
Spelling improvement among kids learning English, though, comes in trickles – mainly because there are "identical letters and graphemes for spelling different sounds, such as 'chat-character', 'supper-sugar', 'woman-women'" (Bell, 2007).
Adding to the dilemma is the use of silent letters, such as in 'learn', 'young', or 'friend'.
While learning a language such as German could be fast-tracked by the use of a simple letter-to-sounds conversion chart, the same cannot be said for learning English.
A particular movement that would have fast-tracked spelling improvement and sped up literacy became popular in the 1960s. There was a proposal in the UK to make English spelling more regular by reforming English, following a passing of Mont Follick's Spelling Reform Bill in the House of Commons, but it never really took off. And even if a renewed interest in such a reform of the language were to take place, it would take decades to implement.
Thus, there is no other choice but to focus on more effective ways for spelling improvement in the meantime.
If it would take the use of technological tools such as computers and portable spellers, then so be it – these tools have become increasingly affordable of late and are packed with features that can stimulate the interest the interest of even the most resistant spellers.
Those with special needs would benefit most from assistive technology accommodations such as computer software.
Writing, an integral component of communication, can be vastly improved with the help of personal computer spell checkers, talking word processors, and word prediction software (Cullen, 2008).
One such software is the popular Ultimate Spelling software, which provides the user with an exciting environment for learning spelling and the meaning of words.
The various features of the Ultimate Spelling software make it easy for a child to choose a word list he or she is comfortable starting with.
The features of the software are then used not just for spelling improvement but also to learn the word's meaning, pronunciation, and usages.
The tests also provide instant feedback so the user would know when he or she has made a mistake, and best of all, how to correct it.
References:
Bell, M 2007, 'The spelling of English: A new look at an old problem', English Drama Media, viewed 8 July 2010, .
Cullen, et al. 2008, 'Using software to enhance the writing skills of students with special needs', Journal of Special Education Technology, vol. 23, no. 2, p. 33.