How to Develop Your Own Sequential Spelling Tests
By: Don McCabe
Those who have tried Sequential Spelling know that the method works. It's simple and it follows solid principles of learning. However, there may be times in which the word family being presented has already been learned by your student or students or you may want to use your own sequence of word families to be learned.
The Basic Sequential Technique
This technique is based on the concept that the natural way of learning is by making mistakes in which immediate self-correction takes place. This is the way we learn to walk, talk, feed ourselves, and ride a bike. Therefore, rather than having a teacher or tutor correct the test after it is given, we insist that each student correct each word as the test is being given.
To make it easier for students to immediately apply (or transfer) what they learn from one word to the spelling of another, we present the words in word family sequences, which has been referred to by some educators as "vertical word processing." For example:
* All
* Tall
* Stall
* Install
* Installer
* Installment
* Installation
To retain what they learned we present the different structural forms of the same word in following lessons. Some educators call this "horizontal word processing."
Steps in Giving a Sequential Spelling Test
1. Give the word. Use the word in a sentence. Repeat the word.
2. Have students repeat the word and/or sentence. This step may be eliminated when working with older students.
3. Have students attempt the spelling. It is essential that each student makes an attempt.
4. Show the correct spelling by writing it on a dry erase board while calling out the word and the letters.
5. If a mistake has been made, the student erases his incorrect spelling and then writes the word correctly.
Students must never make a check mark. Pace is essential. The greatest music is boring if it is dragged out. Speed and liveliness of presentation is vital. Have fun. Repeat Steps 1 through 5 for each word
Important: Do not give the words to your students to study. When students study words for a test and then miss them, they have only learned that they are not smart. Students don't feel dumb if they miss a word they weren't given for study, but if they get one right that they know they didn't know the day before--wow! They know they have to have some "smarts" after all.
Determining Which Word Families ("RIMES") to Teach
Use any controlled word list to test your students' ability to spell the ending sounds of words (rimes) by giving them the initial letters (onsets). For example:
* Pain: The first letter in pain is the letter p. Spell pain as in "Correcting papers is a pain in the neck.
* Sail: The first letter in sail is s. Spell sail as in "I would like to sail a boat on a lake."
* Chair: The first two letters in chair are ch. Spell chair as in "Go sit down in your chair.
After you have found three word families (rimes) that need to be mastered, make out your list of words that belong to each word family. In your diagnostic tests, all you have to do is use the index of The Patterns of English Spelling to locate the page on which you can find all the words in the family you have selected. When you look at all the words listed on the page, you may elect to skip some of them. Also, you can construct your own by simple trial and error. Just try adding letters (onsets) in front of the ending (rime) and keep the real words that you want to use.
Note: Tests can be varied in length from five to 25 words according to your students' needs, enthusiasm, and time available.
For variety, you may elect to mix up the endings so that the students will have to be alert and not just automatically add the -s or the -ed or the -ing as the case may be.
Don McCabe is the research director for AVKO Spelling & Dyslexia Research Foundation, www.spelling.org.
