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ED 402 548 CS 012 659

AUTHOR Miller, Edward TITLE The Case of Invented : How Theory Becomes Target Practice. The Politics of . REPORT NO ISSN-8775-3716 PUB DATE Mar 96 NOTE 4p. PUB TYPE Journal Articles (080) JOURNAL CIT Harvard Education Letter; v12 n2 p5-7 Mar-Apr 1996

EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Classroom Techniques; Elementary Education; *Invented Spelling; ; Research; *Theory Practice Relationship; Approach IDENTIFIERS Direct Instruction; *Educational Issues

ABSTRACT Of all the developments in reading research during the past 30 years, few have provided as much fodder for the wars over whole language as "invented spelling." Research on invented spelling led to a developmental theory of how children experiment with phonemic rules and patterns, and scholars urged teachers to allow children to spell inventively in the earliest stages of learning. Critics who pounce on invented spelling as a source of horror stories are not entirely off-base--some teachers have adopted practices associated with invented spelling in inappropriate ways. Early researchers never expected invented spelling to become a classroom activity in and of itself. Teachers need to be aware of the nuances of research on invented spelling and the related larger controversies. Encouraging young children's experiments with language is not inconsistent with direct instruction in phonics or with a teacher's commitment to the importance of correct spelling. (RS)

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March/April 1996 School of Education Volume XII, Number 2 Published by the Harvard Graduate

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THE POLITICS OF LITERACY The Case ofInventedSpelling: How TheoryBecomesTarget Practice spelling turns into a A new way oflooking at children'sexperiments with cause celebrefor conservative criticsof education

BY EDWARD MILLER message children sooften getin time than to try to recognizethe very to be Of all the developments in built up on school: 'Your judgments are not reading research during the word you have just carefully trusted. Do it my way whetherit makes the table in front of you?" past 30 years, fewhave pro- sense or not; forgetabout reality.' Far for Chomsky emphasized theimpor- accurate vided as much fodder attuned to the child's better to let him trust his own the wars over whole language asIn- tance of "being judgments and progressaccording to the late pronunciation" and notinhibiting pre- vented spelling." Starting in by in- them than to impose anarbitrariness Read schoolers' first attempts to write 1960s and early 1970s, Charles She told the that at this point wouldonly interfere." and other researchersnoticed that sisting on proper spelling. Research on invented spellingled to story of three-year-oldHarry, who had young children'swriting revealed im- which a developmentaltheory of how chil- learned how to spell his name, phonemic rules portant informationabout how they "IlaWwy." When he dren experiment with make sense of spokenlanguage and he pronounced and patterns, and scholarsurged teach- tried to write the word wethe chose the construct strategies to representwhat ers to allow childrento spell inventively they hear (see "TeachingSpelling," initial letter r. in the earliest stagesof learning. This "Now ris correct for him, as amatter emerging phi- HEL, Noveinber 1985).Linguists like this child's view fit neatly with the that early of fact," wrote Chomsky. "In which em- Carol Chomsky pointed out pronunciation, r and w are alikewhen losophy of whole language, and simi- phasized early andeschewed writing, with alphabet blocks initial in the syllable; Forhim wet be- lar materials, was a powerful wayto en- the repetitive drills andworkbook ex- gins the same as thesecond syllable of courage reading. ercises of strict phonicsinstruction. his name." . "Children ought,to learn how toread said 'No!' for fa- She continued: "Had I. Gone Haywire by creating theii own when Harry chose the r andinsisted on miliar words as a beginning,"Chomsky To the critics of wholelanguage and w (whichcorresponds to no reality for learning theo- wrote in 1971 inChildhood Education. that sad other "child-centered" '"What better way to read forthe first him), he would have gotten 1996 5 The Harvard EducationLetter; March/April REST COPY Ail BLE 2 ries, the very idea of "invented spelling" movement by making fun of its warm in polysyllabic Latin- and Greek-derived is ridiculous. The notion that teachers and fuzzy jargon while suggesting that words. Thus, the second syllable in should ignore spelling errorsor actu- the real reason why this philosophy has competition is spelled with an e, not ally encourage children to spell words become so popular is that teachers are because of its sound but because it is wrongconfirms their view that the lazy. related to the word compete. liberal education establishment has Invernizzi and her colleagues outline abandoned traditional values and gone Missing the Point a system of organized spelling instruc- completely haywire. The most vocal One-sided as Sykes's attack is, it is not tion that is guided by teachers' analysis critics pounce on invented spelling as a entirely off-base. Some teachers have of their students' invented spelling and source of horror stories that illustrate adopted practices associated with in- their levels of development. They give just how mindless American education vented spelling in inappropriate ways. examples such as the following writing has become. Read, Chomsky, and other researchers sample from Tasha, a sixth-grader: Charles Sykes relates one such story wrote about the value of invented spell- at the beginning of a chapter called ing in the context of very young chil- If I could be the managor of the "The New Illiteracy" in his 1995 book, dren's first attempts to write and read. cafeteriaatLinkhorne Middle Dumbing Down Our Kids, which re- They encouraged teachers to pay atten- School,Iwould make some ceived admiring reviews in the Wall tion to the systematic thinking revealed awsome changes. The instalation of a sound system would by my Street J ournal, the New York Times, and by kids' inventive spelling (rather than first decesion. The kids could ro- USA Today:"Mrs.Wittig couldn't to see only errors to be corrected) and tate bringing there own choice of fathom why her child's teacher would to use these insights to guide their musick. Then I would make write 'Wow!' and award a check-plus teaching strategies. They never ex- radacle changes in the menu like (for above average work) to a paper that pected invented spelling to become a we'd have hamburger and fries read: 'I'm goin to has majik skates. Im classroom activity in and of itself or to and no rootine school menues. goin to go to disenelan. Im goin to bin replace the organized teaching of my mom and dad and brusr and sisd. proper spelling in elementary school. The researchers note that Tasha has We r go to se mickey mouse. a free-flowing style and uses polysyl- Sykes explains that "many educa- labic words. They write that "the tionists [his term for trendy, liberal edu- Early researchers teacher needs to be able to see Tasha's cators] in charge of teaching reading spellings not as errors but as inventions and writing no longer believe that it is never expected invented that signal the next move toward cor- necessary to teach or to correct spell- spelling to become a rectness that Tasha needs to make." ing. Educationists noticed that many classroom activity in Tasha is poised, they argue, to enter the children misspelled words and realized and of itself "meaning" tier in her word knowledge, that it would take a great deal of time, but her spelling inventions "revolve effort, and commitment to fix the prob- around the pattern principle of the tier lem. Instead, they discovered 'invented before." spelling.' Children weren't getting the Yet that is just what has happened in The insights gained from such re- words wrong, they were acting as 'inde- many classrooms. Marcia Invemizzi of search are valuable, and many teachers pendent spellers,' and any attempt to the University of Virginia and col- will agree that it is important to recog- correct them would not only stifle their leagues argue that Read's findings have nize the spirit in Tasha's writing rather freedom, but smother their tender been misapplied. They say that his fun- than to focus only on its flaws. It would young creativity aboming. Such ideas damental insight, "that invented spell- be absurd to accuse Invernizzi of believ- have been widely seized upon by edu- ings provide a direct clue to a child's ing that it is not necessary to teach spell- cationists who see the natural, uncon- current understanding of how written ing. But we also see trouble brewing scious, and effortless approach to spell- words work, and that direct instruction here: to say that Tasha's misspellings ing not only as progressive and child- in spelling can be timed and targeted to are "not errors" is to guarantee that centered, but a lot less work as well." this understanding, has, for the most some sixth-grade parents will panic. Advocates of whole language, Sykes part, been missed." Thus the reasonable investigations of continues, "believe that children learn The theory of developmental word researchers become the inflammatory `naturally' that children learn best knowledge traces children's under- rhetoric of exposes and talk radio. when 'learning is kept whole, meaning- standing across three overlapping lev- ful, interesting and functional,' and that els of English spelling: sound, pattern, The Real Question this is more likely to happen when chil- and meaning. In the first stage, children Even some teacher-friendly publica- dren make their own choices as part of perceive the direct one-to-one corre- tions have obscured rather than illumi- a 'community of learners' in a noncom- spondencebetweenlettersand nated the invented-spelling feud. NEA petitive environment. Whole lan- sounds. At the second tier, they realize Today published a "debate" between guage' advocates describe 'optimal lit- that the system is more complicated two third-grade teachers on opposite eracy environments,' which they say and begin to recognize letter combina- sides of the issue. But the headline `promote risk taking and trust.'" tions and patterns that have an indirect "Can Kids 'Lin to Spel' by Misspell- Sykes doesn't bother to explain the relation to soundthat a silent e, for ing?"reveals a fundamental miscon- actual origins of "educationist" ideas example, can affect the pronunciation ception about the role of invented about invented spelling in develop- of the vowel preceding it. At the third spelling. Of course kids can't learn to mental psychology and linguistics. But level, they begin to observe the connec- spell by MissPO,111$:71ier(A1:11esti9. he adroitly skewers the whole-language tions between spelling and meaning, as is, "CiraeaCliekSjiaiiaor

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Irk by seeing misspellings in a different mu ltaneou s lydevelopsphonemic For Further Information way?" The defender of invented spell- awarenessandpromotesunder- M. J. Adams. Beginning to Read: Thinking and ing in this debate, unfortunately, did standing of the alphabetic principle is Learning About Print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, nothing to clarify the point. extremely promising, especially in view 1990. Advocates of whole language have of the difficulty with which children are M. Invemizzi, M. Abouzeid, and J. T. Gill. "using Students' Invented Spellings as a Guide for Spelling been bludgeoned with the dub of in- found to acquire these insights through Instruction That Emphasizes Word Study" Elemen- vented spelling abuses, but many ex- other methods of teaching." tary School Journal 95, no. 2 (November 1994): perts who are convinced of the value of Teachers need to be aware of the nu- 155-167. invented spelling actually favor a bal- ances of research in invented spelling L. Kelly and E. Sheridan-Regan. "Can Kids 'Lrn to Spel' by Misspelling?" NBA Today 12, no. 4 (Novem- anced approach to the teaching of read- and the larger controversies they relate ber 1993): 39. ing that combines whole-language and to. Methods for teaching reading and C. Sykes. Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American direct phonics instruction (see page 1). writing are not all-or-nothing proposi- Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't "The process of invented spelling is es- tions: encouraging young children's ex- Read, Write, or Add. New York: St. Martin's Press, sentially a process of phonics," writes periments with language is not incon- 1995. Marilyn Jager Adams in her landmark sistent with direct instruction in phonics study Beginning to Read. "The evi- or with a teacher's commitment to the dence that invented spelling activity si- importance of correct spelling.

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