The effect of word study combined with cognitive and metacognitive strategy training on the spelling abilities of poor spellers in the middle and upper primary grades

Abstract

There has been a wealth of research into spelling and spelling instruction. However, the majority of studies have been theoretical in nature rather than empirical. While the quantitative researchers have sought to control variables in their studies they may have lost sight of the complexities in which the learning occurs. On the other hand while much of the qualitative research may have considered the complex nature of the classroom, they have on the whole failed to carefully describe the research design. There is mounting evidence to suggest that many students in the middle and upper grades (nine, ten and eleven year olds) fail to learn how to spell through an immersion in reading and writing alone. Serious gaps exist between current research and its application to the classroom. Teachers do not clearly understand the philosophy and the methodology behind the whole language integrated approaches and are keen to learn how they can assist their students to become better and more independent spellers. In this study, Class Teachers were trained in methods to assist the poor spellers within the regular classroom setting, so that the findings could be more easily applied in real classroom situations and hence contribute to gaps in the literature. The intervention endeavoured to blend the best of both the traditional approaches and the whole language approach in an effort to better meet the needs of individual students. The errors that students made in real writing situations were used to determine the content of group word study lessons which were specifically designed to teach the students about aspects of the English spelling system. In this way writing, spelling and word study were unequivocally linked. This spelling instruction was further supported by the explicit teaching of cognitive, metacognitive and motivational strategies related to spelling in isolation, in context and in proof reading situations.