Download Playing with Words: An Introduction to Word Study

Playing with Words:
An Introduction to
Word Study
HPS Summer Conference
June 15, 2009
Melissa Park and Ellen Douglas
What is Word Study?
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Process for addressing students’ developmental
spelling needs
Based on research by Read, Henderson, Beers,
Templeton, Invernizzi and others
Lets students discover and verbalize spelling
patterns at their own rate, at their own capacity
Research behind Word Study
(see Bear et al., “Words Their Way”)
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Stage-like progression of spelling
development
Students move from noting concrete soundsymbol associations to developing more
abstract connections between patterns and
meanings
Development is similar across groups
(children with disabilities, children learning
English, etc.)
Relatedness of reading and writing, reading
level to spelling ability
If we can address developmental needs
in spelling and in reading, we can move
students down the road to fluency and
grade level performance more
efficiently and more quickly than if we
ignore those needs.
Stages in learning spelling
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Emergent spelling
Letter Name
Within Word
Syllable Juncture
Derivational Constancy
Emergent spelling
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Corresponds to emergent
readers
Students are not yet
writing—pre-phonetic
writing
Students acquire the
alphabetic principle via
development of phonemic
awareness and concept of
word
Students eventually notice
the most prominent sound
in a word—semi-phonetic
writing
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Sample spellings:
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[Scribbles] (early)
BLZIB [random letters]
(mid-stage)
V for elevator, D for down
(late)
Letter Name spelling
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Reading and writing are
both labor intensive
Students rely on the names
of letters to spell words:
“bed,” “jrip”
Move from initial/final
consonants, to blends and
digraphs (bl and st) to
short vowels, to affricates (j
and ch) to final consonant
blends and digraphs
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Sample spellings
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B, bd for bed (early)
L, lp for lump
Bad for bed (middle)
Lop for lump
Bed, lump spelled correctly (late)
Plas for place
Within Word spelling
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Students have developed
sight word vocabularies
Able to “chunk” parts of
words and process them
more automatically than in
LN
Begin to understand long
vowel spellings (ai, ay, aCe
ight...)
Begin to learn complex
consonant clusters (scr,
tch...)
Homophone study is useful
at this stage
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Sample spellings
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Flote for float (early)
Plais for place
Spole for spoil (middle)
Driev for drive
Chued for chewed (late)
Syllable Juncture spelling
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 Sample spellings
Proficient readers
 Shoping for shopping (early)
Reading and writing to
learn
 Damige for damage (middle)
Are learning to apply
 Confedent for confident (late)
pattern knowledge within
syllables and across syllable
boundaries, e.g. “hopping,”
“butter,” “motel”…
Learning the difference
between spelling in stressed
and unstressed syllables e.g.
“contain,” “villain”
Derivational Constancy spelling
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Beginning to understand
relationships of words with
same root, for example,
music/musician, compose/
composition, haste/
hasten, volcano/ volcanic
Usually find students in this
stage in middle school,
though there are some in
the upper elementary
grades
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Sample spellings
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Oppisition for
opposition (early)
Prohabition for
prohibition (middle)
Spells most words
correctly (middle and
late)
So, how do you figure out where
a student is?
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Use Kathy Ganske’s assessment system found in
Word Journeys
First, give the screening inventory to get a
general idea of where each student is.
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First and second grades can probably skip this
inventory, as most students will be at the Letter
Name level.
Then, give the appropriate Feature Inventory.
Letter Name Feature Inventory
jet
ship
bet
got
cap
drum
bump
much
with
map
hop
plan
that
slid
mud
…etc… 25 words total, 5 per feature
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Feature A words: got, map
Feature B words: ship, plan, that, slid
Feature C words: bet, cap, hop, mud
Feature D words: jet, drum, much
Feature E words: bump, with
The black letters are the targeted
feature
If the student spells the word correctly,
she gets 2 points
If she spells the targeted feature
correctly but otherwise misspells the
word, she gets one point--e.g. “bomp”
instead of “bump” gets one point
Stages and their features
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Letter name
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A: Initial and final
consonants
B: Initial consonant
blends and digraphs
C: Short vowels
D: Affricate
E: Final consonant blends
and digraphs
rope
rack
read
rain
ring
sun
six
sink
socks
book
bat
boat
boy
bed
box
milk
moon
man
map
Feature A, List 1: m, b, s, r
Stages and their features
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Letter name, Feature B:
Initial consonant blends and
digraphs
Contrast s, h, and sh using
pictures
Stages and their features
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Within word
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F: Long vowels
G: r-controlled vowels
H: Other common long
vowels
I: Complex consonants
J: Abstract vowels
rest
sweep
peach
chief
lie
clean
sleet
seat
friend
desk
priest
squeal
brief
beak
peep
beef
lend
yield
elf
Feature H, List 6: e, ee, ea, ie, ?? WJ pp. 133-135
Stages and their features
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Syllable juncture
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K: Doubling and e-Drop
with –ed and –ing
L: Other syllable-juncture
doubling
M: Long vowel patterns
(stressed syllable)
N: R-controlled vowels
(stressed syllable)
O: Unstressed syllable
vowel patterns
mustard
soccer
because
afford
spicy
dessert
reward
surprise
instead
decide
ignore
private
zebra
include
puppet
number
skinny
comic
enjoy
silent
event
Feature L, List 4: VCV open, VCCV, doublet, ?? WJ pp. 152-157
Stages and their features
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Derivational constancy
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P: Silent and sounded
consonants
Q: Consonant changes
R: Vowel changes
S: Latin-derived suffixes
T: Assimilated prefixes
remedial
expose
comedian
compete
restore
remedy
disposition
comedy
restoration
position
exposition
gene
genetic
competition
pose
dispose
Feature R, List 4: long o, o (schwa), long e, e (schwa)
And what do you do once you know
your students’ levels?
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Group them according to levels
Give them weekly sorts according to their level
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Different routine each day (blind sort, speed sort, buddy sort,
word search)
Can use sorts for weekly spelling tests
Apply what they are learning to their guided reading
material or content area reading
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Can use some sorts that are at a higher level on a limited basis
to teach useful spelling concepts, such as contractions or past
tense spelling rules
Beware…
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Tricky scoring on feature inventories:
give partial credit for a mis-spelled word IF the
targeted feature is correct:
 for example: “drom” for “drum” gets partial credit
because the “dr” is the targeted feature and was
spelled correctly.
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Incorrectly-scored feature inventories can put a
student at a much easier level than she should
be—which makes for boring word sorts!
References
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Bear, Donald R., Marcia Invernizzi, Shane Templeton, Francine
Johnston Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and
Spelling Instruction. 4th Edition: 2007.
Bear, Donald R., Lori Helman, Shane Templeton, Marcia
Invernizzi, Francine Johnston Words Their Way with English
Learners: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction.
2007.
Ganske, Kathy Mindful of Words: Spelling and Vocabulary
Explorations 4-8. 2008
Ganske, Kathy Word Journeys: Assessment-Guided Phonics, Spelling,
and Vocabulary Instruction. 2000.
Ganske, Kathy Word Sorts and More: Sound, Pattern, and Meaning
Explorations K-3. 2006