Unlocking the art of spelling
From the Crowther CentreJunior School teachers have been taking part in spelling workshops as they prepare for a new Word Study (spelling) program that will commence in 2025.
A common perception surrounding the written English language is that its spelling is random, unpredictable and therefore not worth learning.
It is true that English spelling is complex, for it does not have the 100% transparent orthography of languages like Finnish and Italian.
In those languages, words can be spelled fairly accurately based on just their pronunciation.
English is a morpho-phonemic language. One of the key components to understanding the spelling of the English language is to understand a word’s anatomy – its morphology.
Morphology is the study of morphemes, the smallest meaningful units of language and the structural components of both written and spoken words.
Learning the meaning of prefixes, bases and suffixes unlocks a large family of related words, expands a student’s vocabulary and deepens their reading comprehension.
Zoe Picton
Literacy Coordinator ELC-Year 6
