This document discusses different approaches to teaching spelling in middle years. It defines key terms related to spelling like orthography, phonics, morphemes, and etymology. When teaching spelling, teachers should make it engaging, increase discussion and analysis, provide explicit instruction on strategies, increase awareness of language patterns, introduce rules and resources, regularly test students, cater to different learning styles, and incorporate multi-literacies activities.

1. The Different
approaches to teaching
spelling in the middle
years
Introduction and key
terms

2. • Spelling - The act or process of writing words
by using the letters conventionally accepted
for their formation; orthography (Farlex,
2013).
• During the middle students must master the
elements of English orthography.
• Orthography- refers to alphabetic, writing
and spelling system of a language.

3. How is spelling learnt
Spelling is learnt through ….
• Phonics- knowledge of the sound of words
• Visual cues- how the word looks (shape,
length ect… big
• Morphemes- how words are constructed from
meaningful elements
• Etymology- word history and origin
(Winch, 2010)

4. Key terms when teaching and
learning spelling
• Syntactic- word function knowledge
• Semantic- meaning knowledge eg: link
between happy and happiness
• Vowels- a,e,i,o,u
• Consonant- the letters of the alphabet other
than the vowels
• Homophones- different words that sound the
same

5. When teaching spelling in middle
years, teachers should…..
• Make spelling instruction engaging and fun
• Increase amount of discussion, analysis and
thought
• Provide explicit instruction and practice with
spelling strategies
• Increase student awareness and the use of
important language patterns
• Introduce spelling strategies, rules and
resources

6. • Regularly test students and to find specific
problem areas (formal and informal)
• Cater for all learning styles and provide
strategies to suit all learning styles
• Provide a routine or steps that students follow
when they cannot spell a word
• Incorporate multi-literacies into lessons
(power points, interacting whiteboard
activities, videos and recordings)

7. References
• Farlex. (2013). The Free Dictionary. Retrieved
from
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/spelling
• Winch, G &Johnston, R & March, P &
Ljungdahl, L & Holliday, M. (2010). Literacy:
Reading, Writing and Childeren’s Litereature.
Australia & New Zealand: Oxford University
Press.