Episode 168: Spell Check Won’t Save Your Kids Forever

Spelling isn’t a throwback to red pens and Friday quizzes; it’s the quiet engine that powers fluent reading and confident writing. I dive into the real research behind spelling instruction—what transfers, what stalls, and how families and teachers can build skills that last beyond a test or a spell checker.

I share how letter–sound knowledge, word patterns, and word structures work together to create automatic word recognition, freeing students to focus on meaning and style. I break down the pitfalls of whole-word memorizing, the resurgence of phonics in the science of reading, and why explicit, daily practice still matters. From immediate error correction to cumulative review and right-sized challenge levels, you’ll hear a practical blueprint you can use in class or at the kitchen table.

You’ll also get a clear, grade-by-grade roadmap from kindergarten through seventh grade: anchoring letter names and sounds, connecting spellings to speech, grouping irregular words, tackling multi-syllable words, and prioritizing the compound words and academic vocabulary that dominate textbooks. To make it actionable, I close with five simple at-home strategies—short dictations, pattern-focused practice, playful games, word walls, and think-alouds—that turn spelling into a daily habit tied to real reading.

If you care about reading fluency, comprehension, and stronger writing, this conversation gives you the tools to help your child crack the code of written language and keep building from there. Subscribe, share this episode with a parent or teacher who needs it, and leave a quick review to tell me which strategy you’ll try first.

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Transcript

Why Spelling Still Matters

What Types Of Instruction Work

Spelling’s Place In Modern Classrooms

Phonics Over Whole Language

How To Teach Spelling Well

Rote Practice: Limits And Uses

Grade-By-Grade Spelling Goals

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Welcome to another episode of K-12 Public Education Insights, Empowering Parents of Color Podcast. The podcast that converges at the intersection of educational research and parental actions. It's about making the trends, topics, and theories in public education understandable so that you can implement them into practical, actionable strategies that work for your children. My name is Dr. Kim J. Fields, former corporate manager, turned education researcher, and advocate, and I'm the host of this podcast. I got into this space after dealing with some frustrating interactions with school educators and administrators, as well as experiencing the microaggressions that I faced as an African-American mom raising my two kids who were in the public school system. I really wanted to understand how teachers were trained and what the research provided about the challenges of the public education system. Once I gained the information and the insights that I needed, I was then equipped to be able to successfully support my children in their educational progress. This battle-tested experience is what I provide as action steps for you to take. It's like enjoying a bowl of educational research with a sprinkling of motherwit wisdom on top. If you're looking to find out more about the current information and issues in education that could affect you or your children, and the action steps you can take to give your children the advantages they need, then you're in the right place. Thanks for tuning in today. I know that staying informed about K-12 public education trends and topics is important to you, so keep listening. Give me 30 minutes or less, and I'll provide insights on the latest trends, issues, and topics pertaining to this constantly evolving K-12 public education environment. How sharp are your spelling skills? No, I'm not talking about the spelling that's corrected by grammarly or some other spell checker. I'm talking about your actual spelling skills. Do you consider yourself to be a proficient speller or a poor speller? And what about your children? Do your children have good spelling skills? Meaning, can they determine how a word is spelled by its pronunciation when heard? Research indicates that there's a link between spelling and how it improves reading skills. You and I have memories from elementary school recalling that spelling was central to our literacy instruction, but that's not necessarily the case anymore. The truth of the matter is that spelling plays a fairly significant role in our daily lives, especially when we perform activities such as filing alphabetically, looking up words in the dictionary or thesaurus, writing notes that others can read, and even recognizing the right choice from the possibilities presented by a spell checker. In this episode, I explore the interconnection between spelling and reading, why the type of spelling instruction matters, as well as why it still needs to be part of literacy instruction and the key spelling content that students should master in kindergarten through seventh grade. Stay tuned to the end of this episode because I provide five ways you can reinforce spelling skills at home. Let's gain some insight on this. Recent evidence suggests that some types of spelling instruction offer bigger payoffs for reading when compared to other types of spelling instruction. Spelling, as a part of early literacy, is about how children can crack the code of written language, so to speak, and build a mental dictionary that makes word reading automatic. States seem to constantly be passing laws mandating evidence-based reading instruction, but most of those laws don't explicitly mention spelling or writing, for that matter, alongside other components of literacy like vocabulary or fluency. Research indicates that learning to read words and learning to spell words are two sides of the same coin. Spelling well frees up the brain space for children while they are writing based on their knowledge of letter sound connections to sound out words in reading. If students don't know how to spell a tricky word that they might use regularly, they have to pause and try to figure it out every time, which potentially interrupts their thoughts about what to write next or how to structure a sentence or paragraph. Some spelling instruction interventions focus on letter sound knowledge or phonets. Other interventions have students memorize the spelling of whole words, and yet other interventions teach students explicit spelling rules, like teaching students to spell word parts such as common prefixes and suffixes that carry clues to a word's meaning. Lessons aimed at having students memorize whole words have the largest positive effect, but only on students' ability to spell the specific words they memorized. Some of the studies showed evidence that the effect did not transfer to spelling ability in general. Interventions that used multiple approaches, like teaching letter sound connections and spelling rules, for example, had a small positive effect on spelling ability. The important thing to remember is that lessons focused solely on letter sound connections were the only type that had a positive effect on students' word reading. In the kindergarten or first grade classroom, this kind of spelling instruction would be integrated into how teachers teach phonics. For example, a teacher might ask students to break down a word orally, stretching it out to hear the different sounds. Then the teacher could link letters to each sound in the word and ask students to participate and practice writing the word. It's not about just memorizing words. Children need to unlock the pattern in the words. Spelling's prominent role in literacy instruction has dwindled significantly in recent years. Similar to cursive writing instruction, hundreds of schools and districts have dropped spelling tests and explicit spelling instruction from their curriculum. Spelling also no longer appears on all state standardized tests. For skeptics of spelling instruction who support the use of spell check techniques and technologies, including artificial intelligence, as proof of students no longer need to know how to spell. But what happens when the technology goes down or is unavailable? Students still need to know how to spell. Spelling is a highly accurate window into children's understanding of language and literacy. It's predictive of their understanding of how words work and the interplay of spelling, vocabulary, and word knowledge. Spelling is a necessary component of literacy and literacy instruction. It kickstarts the process of reading and writing, and it does this by connecting sounds and pronunciation of words to spoken language. Being able to spell accurately drives automatic reading, which in turn allows for fluency and greater comprehension. If a student can spell a word automatically and have the word sound and meaning in their spoken vocabulary, they can map the spellings on the page or screen to their already existing spoken language. Some critics argue that the English language's unpredictable nature makes it too difficult to expect students to become proficient spellers. Now, personally, I always find these types of idiotic statements interesting because we've been used to English language for centuries. Why is it so difficult now for students to become proficient spellers when we've been spelling the same words for generations and we learned how to become proficient spellers? It makes no sense. One of the reasons these critics feel supported in their position is that for many years, primarily through the 1980s and 1990s, the whole language movement dominated literacy instruction, and it downplayed or outright dismissed the importance of teaching students to spell phonetically. Now I have to take a detour here. I had a, let's just say, lively discussion with one of my professors in graduate school when she mentioned supporting the whole language movement. I found it to be illogical because my main question was what happens when a student encounters a word they've never seen before? How would they go about pronouncing that word? They couldn't unless they were taught phonics. In my opinion, whole language or whole words may sound good, but it is not effective in teaching children how to read. Isn't it interesting that the quote unquote science of reading has gotten back to teaching phonics, not whole words? Anyway, back to the current discussion. A large body of literary research concluded that skilled readers rely heavily on knowledge of letter sound correspondences when learning new words, and that exactly is the knowledge that is integral to spelling. This type of spelling instruction should be ingrained into phonics lessons. They should also be practiced for 20 minutes during spelling instruction every day in the classroom. Teaching spelling has a strong effect on reading fluency among students in grades 1 to 7 and word reading skills of students in grades 1 to 5. Proficiency in spelling actually supports reading. Spelling instruction should be given in an integrated approach, organized by introducing letter sound correspondences, syllable patterns, word structure patterns, and strategies for long, unfamiliar words. These correspond to the elements of reading instruction as well. Researchers recommend that students be taught using lists of words that exemplify targeted spelling rules or patterns, and on which they score 50 to 85% accuracy at pretest. Too little knowledge of lower level or easier spelling rules or patterns can lead to frustration, and too much existing knowledge proceeds to lower the challenge to foster new learning. So teachers should include a cumulative review of words and spelling rules or patterns that build retention and greater proficiency. Immediate correction of errors and misspellings helps students practice to become better spellers. The bottom line is this a skilled speller is a stronger reader and writer. Some researchers have suggested that the wrote method, like writing each spelling word multiple times correctly from a weekly list, has some weaknesses. These researchers stressed that this approach lacks emphasizing application of what has been learned and that there's nothing that relates the spelling of the words correctly to situations in daily life. Now I agree that rote learning or spelling words may not apply to specific situations in daily life, but I disagree that rote learning is ineffective. I consider myself to be a proficient fellow. I think it works well for spelling words, that is rote learning, and especially when spelling rules are learned as well as math facts. Rote learning works well for math instruction and learning as well. I mean, this is how I learned my multiplication tables by rote learning, and even to this day I can recall my timetables with precision in seconds. Okay, back to the spelling discussion. Rote learning of spelling words by writing each new word correctly a certain number of times has its merit. The key to this method is to make sure that students pronounce each new word correctly and that they use each new word correctly within a sentence. Wrote learning may be out of style, so to speak, at this point, but it doesn't mean that it needs to be thrown out entirely. What seems to be most effective in helping students learn to spell well is an integrated approach using phonics, word meaning, and word patterns, depending on learning styles. There are a few state standards that specify what a student at each grade level should be able to spell, and most of these state standards put spelling under broad topics like written composition and language proficiency. However, research has shown that learning to spell and learning to read rely on much of the same underlying knowledge, and that spelling instruction can be designed to help children better understand key knowledge that results in better reading. There's also a strong relationship in the research between spelling and writing. Writing is a mental juggling act that depends on automatic use of basic skills such as handwriting, spelling, grammar, and punctuation so that the writer can keep track of such concerns as the topic, organizing the work, word choice, and audience needs. Poor spellers may restrict what they write to either words they can spell or they lose track of their thoughts when they get stuck trying to spell a word. These are the key content and strategies for spelling instruction for students in kindergarten through seventh grade to master. In kindergarten, the focus should be on letter sounds and letter names because this awareness helps train children in the early stages of learning to spell. In kindergarten, fluency with letter names and forms facilitates spelling and is an indicator that children are likely to develop oral reading fluency. In first grade, the focus should be on letters and letter combinations in words to the speech sounds they represent. In second and third grades, the focus is on irregular spelling of words and grouping those words with some memorable similarity, like the irregular spelling of the word two, may be more memorable if it's grouped with regular words like twin, twice, and twenty. This grade group also focuses on multisyllable words, compound words, and common prefixes and suffixes. In the fourth grade, the work is extended on prefixes and suffixes so that the Latin roots of words are examined. For example, the root nat in A T, which is to mean to be born, can be studied through familiar words like native, nation, national, multinational, international, etc. You get the drift. In the fifth and sixth grades, students organize word study around more complex roots once prefixes and suffixes are recognized. And in the sixth and seventh grades, the focus is on compound words rather than root words because students encounter hundreds of compound words in math, science, and history textbooks. The teacher should reinforce these concepts at each grade level for 15 to 20 minutes a day or 30 minutes three times per week in specific, allocated spelling instructional time. In the end, research clearly indicates that for young children, spelling helps to support learning to read. And for older children, it's likely that learning about relationships between words will contribute to vocabulary growth as well as reading comprehension. So, what can you do with the information that I shared about how spelling improves reading? Here are the action steps you can take regarding this topic. Let me give you a little background first. My son once had a teacher who thought that giving oral spelling tests using a tape recorder was a good idea. I mean, what in the world was she thinking? One of the main activities of the teacher during oral spelling tests is to walk around the room to gauge student progress on writing out the words. Now, how are you going to do that if you're sitting at a desk and pushing the play button on a tape recorder? This situation to me was just laziness beyond measure. Oh, this was going to be one of these years, I said to myself. She has placed herself on my hit list, meaning high interactive touch. And I'll be watching. Fast forward, my son did move on to the next grade level and out of her class. She told me at the end of the school year that she was getting out of teaching. I applauded her decision, but also asked her why she waited eight years to make that decision because of the less than optimal impact she'd had on the students, especially students of color, that were in her care. No answer was given. Just a deer in the headlights look. Want to help your kids become better spellers? These five tips may help. One, make spelling an integral part of your at home reading. Activity by reading books from your home library. Two, give your children dictation based on the sound letter principle that you're focusing on. Have them write down words that might cause problems and spelling errors, and study those words for mastery in learning to spell. 3. Model the thought process of sounding out words and keep an accurate record of words that have been misspelled from your activities. Practice the correct spelling of those words. 4. Make it fun. Play games. Use friendly competition like spelling bees, or even incorporate movement as your children spell each letter of a word. And five, provide opportunities to learn words that your children want to know how to spell. Perhaps words they've seen on a billboard, on a street sign, or in a new book. You can also create a word wall to highlight the words that have been difficult to spell by placing these words with their correct spelling on the word wall and having your child say the word and spell the word as they pass by the word on the wall or on a wall board. Try it out. Here are this episode's takeaways. Recent evidence suggests that some types of spelling instruction offer bigger payoffs for reading when compared to other types of spelling instruction. Spelling, as a part of early literacy, is about how children can crack the code of written language, so to speak, and build a mental dictionary that makes word reading automatic. Research indicates that learning to read words and learning to spell words are two sides of the same coin. Spelling is a necessary component of literacy and literacy instruction. It kickstarts the process of reading and writing, and it does this by connecting sounds and pronunciation of words to spoken language. Being able to spell accurately drives automatic reading, which in turn allows for fluency and greater comprehension. Teaching spelling has a strong effect on reading fluency among students in grades 1 to 7 and word reading skills for students in grades 1 to 5. Proficiency in spelling actually supports reading. In the end, research clearly indicates that for young children, spelling helps to support learning to read. And for older children, it's likely that learning about the relationships between words will contribute to vocabulary growth as well as reading comprehension. The bottom line is that a skilled speller is also a strong reader and writer. Now it's my turn to hear from you. What are your thoughts on how spelling improves reading? Let me know by leaving me a text comment on my podcast website, K12Education Insights.bussproute.com. Here's how you can leave that text comment. Go to the episode description page and click on the Send Me a Text Message link. Again, it's K12Education Insights.bussproute.com. If you enjoyed this episode, why not listen to another episode from my catalog? It can take as little as 15 minutes of your day. And remember, new episodes come out every Tuesday. Thanks for listening today. Be sure to come back for more insights on K-12 educational topics that impact you and your children. And remember to share my podcast with anyone that you think will find it valuable. That includes your friends, family, and community. Until next time, learn something new every day.