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Spelling: Approaches to teaching and assessment

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... Therefore, being a proficient speller is important. Proper spelling is regarded as the mark of a 'well-educated' person, and because of this, it can affect a child's future opportunities and choices in life (Westwood, 2005). ...
... Knowledge of the alphabetic principle and decoding are presumably strengthened when children analyze the connection between the letters and sounds in words, attempt to spell unknown words phonetically, and are taught that specific letters stand for particular sounds. Finally, knowledge of the spelling system provides schemata that should help children make sense of the words they read, making them easier to remember (Westwood, 2005). Meanwhile, efficient written communication requires the writer to retrieve most spellings from memory. ...
... Westwood (Westwood, 2005) defines two categories of spelling strategy. The first strategy is based on general principles and approaches. ...
Article
p>The article is conceptualized a lesson plan for teaching English spelling to young learners at primary school. The underlying strategy is pairing student and another peer student instead of teacher-student. Previous and present studies have shown that teaching spelling to learners can enhance other language skills, to name a few, i.e., reading and listening. Thus far, little to be found a practical lesson plan provided in the Indonesian context. Having this article is hoped to be a trigger for a new idea to consider student-student activity into the material design and its methods of teaching in the EFL context. The plan will be particularly helpful for the educators who seek perspectives in teaching and researching spelling to young learners.</p
... Poor spellers are usually considered to be poor readers, and vice versa. Westwood (2005, p. 2) commented, "it is argued that an individual's literacy level is often judged by others in terms of his or her ability to spell words correctly in everyday written communications." Therefore, correct spelling displays advanced linguistic knowledge as it incorporates phonological, orthographic, and morphological knowledge (Reed, 2012). ...
... But if the word is misspelled, the student should engage in positive practice before moving to the next word (Skinner et al., 1997). The repeated writing of a word possibly helps the student establish a motor pattern for that word, which would result in an automatic correct spelling (Westwood, 2005(Westwood, , 2014. Thus, CCC puts emphasis on the repeated writing of a word, which includes proofing and immediate error correction, in order for that word to be written automatically by the learner, especially with high-frequency words (Heron et al., 1991). ...
... Other topics mentioned by students included "using words which are common and used in daily life." A list of the most common words has indeed been recommended for implementation as early as possible in spelling instruction (Roberts, 2011;Westwood, 2005Westwood, , 2014. Snowball (1997b) points out that "the one hundred most frequently used words make up about half the written English language. ...
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This interpretivist research aimed at exploring students’ opinions regarding two spelling instruction techniques, Copy, Cover, and Compare (CCC) and Flip Folder. Twenty high school students who previously received spelling instruction using one of these two techniques participated in semi-structured focus group interviews to give their opinions about each technique. They were divided into three groups for which three questions were asked to collect feedback about each technique. Student responses varied and included suggestions for improvements to these techniques: introducing a revision plan to memorize the learned words, creating word spelling lists, increasing the repetition of words, and taking a weekly test to assess their learning achievement.
... Students' data were gathered using a range of assessment measures, both before the program commenced, and then again after students had received approximately 18 weeks of instruction. All students were tested on the Burt Word Reading Test (Gilmore, Croft & Reid, 1981), Martin and Pratt Nonword Reading Test (Martin & Pratt, 2001), South Australian Spelling Test (SAST) (Westwood, 2005), and the Wheldall Assessment of Reading Passages (Wheldall & Madelaine, 2000). Approximately a third of students (n = 74) were tested on the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability -3 rd edition (Neale, 1999), and the other two thirds of students (n = 165) were assessed on the York Assessment of Reading Comprehension -Passage Reading (Australian Edition) (Snowling et al., 2012). ...
... Single word spelling was assessed using the South Australian Spelling Test (SAST) (Westwood, 2005). The student is required to write a list of real words dictated to them one word at a time by the test administrator. ...
... Test-retest reliability for the SAST is high (r = .96) for most year groups (Westwood, 2005). Spelling age equivalent scores are available, ranging from 6;0 to 15;0 years. ...
Article
The aim of the present study was to determine the efficacy of a small-group reading instruction program that was delivered over two school terms to Australian students in Years 3 through 6. A large cohort ( n = 239) of primary school children was assessed on their literacy skills before and after receiving ‘MacqLit’, a phonics-based program designed for older struggling readers. Parametric and nonparametric difference tests were used to compare results at pre- and postintervention time points. Statistically significant improvements with large effect sizes were observed on all raw score measures of word reading, nonword reading, passage reading and spelling. Statistically significant improvements were also observed on standard score measures of nonword reading and passage reading, suggesting the gains were greater than what might be expected to have resulted from typical classroom instruction. The results indicate that older middle primary school-aged students may benefit from phonics-based, small-group reading instruction.
... Students' data were gathered using a range of assessment measures, both before the program commenced, and then again after students had received approximately 18 weeks of instruction. All students were tested on the Burt Word Reading Test (Gilmore, Croft & Reid, 1981), Martin and Pratt Nonword Reading Test (Martin & Pratt, 2001), South Australian Spelling Test (SAST) (Westwood, 2005), and the Wheldall Assessment of Reading Passages (Wheldall & Madelaine, 2000). Approximately a third of students (n = 74) were tested on the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability -3 rd edition (Neale, 1999), and the other two thirds of students (n = 165) were assessed on the York Assessment of Reading Comprehension -Passage Reading (Australian Edition) (Snowling et al., 2012). ...
... Single word spelling was assessed using the South Australian Spelling Test (SAST) (Westwood, 2005). The student is required to write a list of real words dictated to them one word at a time by the test administrator. ...
... Test-retest reliability for the SAST is high (r = .96) for most year groups (Westwood, 2005). Spelling age equivalent scores are available, ranging from 6;0 to 15;0 years. ...
Article
Recently, there has been debate surrounding the potential implementation of the Phonics Screening Check (PSC) in Australian primary schools. The present study sought to investigate the child- and task-related factors influencing the PSC performances of Year 1 Australian students, who had received almost two years of systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) instruction. Non-parametric between- and within-group comparisons and correlational analyses were conducted to examine whether performance was influenced by gender, age, school site, real word status and item complexity. Approximately 82% of the students obtained or exceeded the South Australian PSC trial threshold of 28 points out of 40, which suggests the students were, on average, developing adequate word-level decoding skills. The only child- and task-related factors to emerge as statistically significant were age and item complexity.
... Thus, spelling as a part of the language will be learned as learners receive comprehensible input, in this case reading. On the other hand, several researchers have emphasized the need of explicit spelling instruction (see e.g., Graham & Santangelo, 2014;Reed, 2012;Roberts, 2011;Schlagal, 2002;Sullivan & Thomas, 2007;Westwood, 2005Westwood, , 2014. They stated that spelling should be introduced to learners as soon as possible. ...
... Practicing drilling by copying the misspelled word multiple times in class or at home is believed to lead to the habit of forming correct spelling (Morgret, Weber, & Woo, 2001b). In addition, the repeated writing of a word possibly helps the students establish a motor pattern for that word which would result in an automatic correct spelling (Westwood, 2005). Nichols (1985) explained, "Spelling is remembered best in your hand. ...
... It is the memory of your fingers moving the pencil to make a word that makes for accurate spelling" (as cited in Westwood, 2005, p. 14). Frequent writing is also supposed to be helpful in storing word spelling in the long-term memory provided that students pay attention to the task and practice a few words per session (Peters, 1974a; as cited in Westwood, 2005). Therefore, CCC puts emphasis on the repeated writing of a word in order for that word to be written automatically by the learners, especially with high frequency words. ...
Article
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p> This study investigates whether teaching spelling to high school students using different techniques, i.e. copy, cover, compare and flip folder, would improve students’ spelling. Additionally, it explores students’ opinions and perceptions towards these techniques. The research conducted in Granada high school in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Thirty-six male students participated in this study whose levels according to the course book were assumed to be B1 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). In this study, a mixed research method was used where data was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The first group was taught using copy cover and compare method (CCC), which emphasizes repeated practice when errors occur in students spelling, whereas the second group was trained using the flip folder technique which is a combination of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic techniques that were believed to enhance memorization. A post-test was utilized immediately after the intervention and the results showed that the CCC group outperformed the Flip Folder group. </p
... Students, sometimes, were asked to correct the spelling errors of their own writing papers or those of their peers, too. In addition, they were expected to write each correction several times for additional practice (Westwood, 2005). It was a systematic approach in that, students spelling needs were addressed and parents and teachers knew how to handle spelling in schools. ...
... The main shortcoming was that children might memorize words from lists but often not spell them correctly when they used them later in their writing (BeckhamHungler & Williams, 2003). Meanwhile, a major limitation of the word list is that there are wide variations in children's spelling ability, and that teachers expected children to memorize words without teaching them any specific strategies to build effective spelling techniques (Westwood, 2005). ...
... It is assumed that studying isolated words will not help the child transfer and use this knowledge in writing. The underlying belief is that children can be helped to acquire proficiency in spelling simply through engaging in a great deal of daily writing with regular constructive feedback from the teacher and from peers (Westwood, 2005). ...
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Many specialists in the field of foreign language teaching consider spelling as an important and perhaps necessary part in language teaching, and observe that spelling is a significant concern among both the language arts community and the public. The teaching of spelling is an issue that provokes strong feelings and attitudes in teachers, students, and parents as well, and those involved have strong opinions about the importance of correct spelling at school. A close look at the role of spelling in the general language curriculum, makes it known that learning to write and read in the whole language can benefit greatly from teaching spelling. Searching the Net under the keywords ‘spelling’ and ‘teaching spelling’ reveals many studies on spelling and the interest of the readers. In this study, we made use of two techniques to teach spelling, which included “the Personalized Instruction Technique”, or simply the PI technique, and “the Detection Technique” or the D technique. Meanwhile, a control group was included to make up for and take into account any possible background differences.82 kindergarten children, studying at three kindergartens in Tarom, Zanjan, took part in the study. They were randomly assigned to three groups: one control group and two experimental groups. The PI group consisted of 28 kindergarten students both boys and girls, and the Group comprised 27kindergarten students, both boys and girls. The control group, too, contained 27 kindergarten students, both boys and girls. The findings indicated that both the experimental groups that used the spelling techniques performed significantly better than the control group. Meanwhile, the PI group exceeded the DT group.
... Further research is still needed to describe and explain the complex nature of spelling development; however, it seems sensible and logical to develop assessment systems that consider both non---linear and stage---like views of spelling development. Popular standardised assessment tools, such as the South Australian Spelling Test (Westwood, 2005), offer a range of words which implicitly encompass phonological, orthographic and morphological word forms and increase in difficulty; however, they do not provide teachers with the kind of diagnostic information needed to support students' improvement in spelling. An assessment system, developed in the US through qualitative analysis of students' written compositions, known as the Phonological, Orthographic, and Morphological Assessment of Spelling (POMAS) (Bahr et al., 2012), conceptualises spelling into the three word forms. ...
... It has been argued that dictation spelling tests alone do not assure comprehensive profiles of students' knowledge of the spelling system (Hammond, 2004;Westwood, 2005). Analyses of students' linguistic errors present in prescribed words may yield an effective and integral source of feedback to teachers or educational researchers; however, if accompanied by other methods of assessment, feedback is undoubtedly enhanced. ...
... The first stage involved designing a tool that was informed by current literature on spelling development and assessment. Words were selected by reviewing commonly used assessment tools, such as the South Australian Spelling Test (Westwood, 2005) and the inventories from Words Their Way Spelling (Bear et al., 2012). Consideration was also given to common spelling errors made by students in the National Assessment Program of Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) Language Conventions Test (Willett & Gardiner, 2009), as well as lists of frequently used words and "demon words" (Roberts, 2001, p. 52). ...
Article
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Stage theories of spelling development have been widely accepted since their conceptualisation in the 1970s; but, converging evidence offers support for non-linear models of spelling development. Specifically, Triple Word Form Theory (TWFT) suggests that students are capable of drawing on and coordinating phonological, orthographic, and morphological skills from quite early in their spelling development. Assumptions about the nature of spelling development have important implications for the way spelling is taught; however, many existing assessment systems currently being applied by educators and systems have failed to consider non-linear perspectives of spelling development. This paper presents the Components of Spelling Test (CoST) as a new approach to spelling assessment. The test is a valid and reliable assessment tool informed by TWFT and developed through a method of analysis suggested by stage theorists. D ata used to develop and test the CoST were drawn from students in Year 3 and Year 5 across four schools in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) (n=198). The results of the testing clearly demonstrated that the CoST can provide teachers and educational researchers with a means to validly and reliably identify individual differences in specific phonological, orthographic and morphological skills associated with spelling. NOTE: The available document here provides full details of the CoST, including norms (obtained from almost 1200 Australian children in Grades 3 to 6).
... Similar to the acquisition of writing and other skills, learners of English must also grasp the skill of correct spelling. Like every other component of the English language, spelling is mainly about communication (Hevia-Tuero et al., 2022;Westwood, 2018). Learning how to spell is one of the cornerstones of becoming proficient in the English language, as it influences and is influenced by other linguistic abilities, such as speaking, reading, and writing. ...
... This implies that there is a gap in instruction and the need to help students acquire this skill is essential for improving their written performance in any language. In this regard, a plethora of scholars emphasised that correct spelling is the key for students' success in writing (Hevia-Tuero et al., 2022;Westwood, 2018). In addition to being an essential part of the written performance, spelling is also important for reading and it improves students' reading comprehension and vocabulary. ...
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the common spelling errors made by EFL Arab learners and compare these orthographic errors in their L1 (Arabic) and L2 (English). Additionally, the study attempted to explore teachers’ perspectives regarding the main causes of these errors and examine the interference between English and Arabic among EFL Arab learners. The researchers adopted the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis, which is a qualitative corpus-based research to examine the symmetries and asymmetries between L1 and L2 spelling errors. Data were collected from 23 female EFL learners at a public school in the UAE. The corpus included 46 Arabic compositions, 23 written essays in English, and 23 sentence writing exercises. In parallel, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 3 English teachers and 3 Arabic teachers to find out the causes of spelling errors. Descriptive statistics were derived from the corpus analysis and used to interpret the findings. The results unveiled that the issue with spelling errors was not specific to L2, but it also existed in L1. Additionally, the investigation of the causes disclosed that spelling errors in English were of two categories: interlingual and intralingual. As for Arabic, the findings showed that the orthography of this language was not always as shallow as assumed. The implications of the current study emphasised that there is a gap in instruction regarding spelling errors, and assisting learners to acquire this skill is crucial for improving their written performance in any language. Likewise, the role of metalinguistic awareness should be accentuated among EFL learners.
... Participants were asked: "How many children were assessed using the (standardized measure) considering the last 40 children who were assessed?" The response options included "no children", "few children" (i.e., 5 or less), "some children" (i.e., [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], "many children" (i.e., [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] or "most" children (i.e., 35 or more). SLPs were asked to consider the last 40 children in survey questions as it was considered that 40 was a large enough number to capture trends, but not so large that participants would be unable to accurately recall the standardized measures they used. ...
... p =0.133 or years since graduation X 2 (4, N=407) = 5.86, p =0.210. >Insert Table 1 near here< Data Analysis Data from the survey was exported from Qualtrics into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 program [30]. Descriptive statistics were used to report on the regularity with which different standardized measures used by SLPs and the domains, purposes, and reasons for which SLPs reported using specific standardized measures. ...
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Introduction: This study examined speech language pathologists' use of standardized language measures when assessing school-aged children. Method: A total of 335 Speech Language Pathologist (SLP)s provided information in a web-based survey regarding the standardized language measures they use for school-aged children. SLPs were asked to identify the domains targeted, purposes of use and reasons for which regularly used standardized measures were chosen for use. Results: Findings indicated that SLPs collectively use many standardized measures, although only a small number are used regularly. SLPs reported using standardized measures to assess domains that measures are not ideally designed for and for purposes that the measures were not ideally suited to assessing. SLPs reported selecting diagnostic measures based on psychometric properties, but not for screening measures. Reasons for choice varied depending on the particular measure. Conclusion: Overall, findings indicated that SLPs need to place greater focus on evidence-based practice recommendations when selecting standardized measures for use with school-aged children. Implications for clinical practice and future directions are discussed.
... Initial testing was conducted in February, 2009 using the South Australian Spelling Test (SAST) Test 'A' (Westwood, 2005). Each class took between 20 and 30 minutes to complete the test. ...
... All tests were marked and scored in accordance with Westwood's (2005) instructions. The SAST was selected for the test as it had been normed upon a large representative sample in South Australia in 1993 and 2004. ...
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This seven month trial was undertaken to determine if the Fonetik spelling system (Jackson, 1994) enabled students with and without spelling difficulties to enhance their regular spelling scores. A sample of 270 students aged between 8 and 13 years were involved. The students were based in 8 schools within an RTLB cluster. The Fonetik system was introduced to all the students within their regular classroom settings. The results indicate that Fonetik was successful in increasing regular spelling scores for students with spelling difficulties and that it can be successfully implemented in schools with guidance from RTLB. This matched the conclusions of the first trial conducted by Croft and Boyd with the support of NZCER (1993).
... The duration of the measurments was 1 month (October to November). The students were tested on reading skills (decoding) in L1 with the Test-A tool (Panteliadou & Antoniou, 2008), on reading skills (decoding) in L2 with " The Burt Word Reading Test " (Burt & The Scottish Council for Research inEducation, 1976), on spelling skills in L1 with " Lamda Test " (Protopapas & Skaloumpakas, 2007@BULLET Skaloumpakas & Protopapas, 2007) and on spelling skills in L2 with " The South Australian Spelling Test (SAST) " (Westwood, 2005). The reason why we examined these skills is because firstly it has shown that these skills play an important role in L2 learning (Sparks, 2012) and secondly because they have also been studied in previous research on CRT Hypothesis (Abu-Rabia & Bluestein-Danon, 2012;Abu-Rabia & Shakkour, 2014;Abu-Rabia, Shakkour, & Siegel, 2013), the design of which we will follow in order to design our intervention. ...
... The duration of the measurments was 1 month (October to November). The students were tested on reading skills (decoding) in L1 with the Test-A tool ( Panteliadou & Antoniou, 2008), on reading skills (decoding) in L2 with "The Burt Word Reading Test" (Burt & The Scottish Council for Research in Education, 1976), on spelling skills in L1 with "Lamda Test" ( ) and on spelling skills in L2 with "The South Australian Spelling Test (SAST)" ( Westwood, 2005). The reason why we examined these skills is because firstly it has shown that these skills play an important role in L2 learning ( Sparks, 2012) and secondly because they have also been studied in previous research on CRT Hypothesis ( Abu-Rabia & Bluestein-Danon, 2012;Abu-Rabia & Shakkour, 2014;Abu-Rabia, Shakkour, & Siegel, 2013), the design of which we will follow in order to design our intervention. ...
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Research has repeatedly shown a cross-linguistic skills transfer from the first language (L1) to the second/foreign language (L2) and its impact on L2 learning. In the present article we report preliminary results from a pilot study we conducted in order to examine linguistic skills transfer from L1 (Greek) to L2 (English) among secondary school students with learning difficulties (L.D.). Our results have shown that the difficulties that occur in L1 (decoding reading skills and spelling) also occur in L2. These findings are in line with previous research and enhance further the existence of the link between first and second language learning difficulties.
... Moreover, the emphasis on accountability and data-based decision making in schools has led to an increased need for reliable and sensitive measures of academic performance (Al Otaiba & Hosp, 2010). Assessment comes in different forms and can serve several purposes: (a) identify strengths and needs in student academic achievement; (b) measure improvements in performance over time; and (c) determine the efficacy of instructional approaches (Kohnen, Nickels & Castles, 2009;Westwood, 2005). This paper is concerned with the assessment of Standard English spelling achievements. ...
... In Australia, popular spelling assessment tools have broadly been characterised by dictation formats (see, for example, Westwood, 2005), as well as proof reading and editing formats (see, for example, Australian Curriculum, Assessment & Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2016). However, researchers such as Critten, Pine and Messer (2013) and Willett and Gardiner (2009) contend that these approaches measure different aspects of spelling. ...
Article
Abstract: In response to increasing data-based decision making in schools comes increased responsibility for educators to consider measures of academic achievement in terms of their reliability, validity and practical utility. The focus of this paper is on the assessment of spelling. Among the methods used to assess spelling competence, tasks that require the production of words from dictation, or the proofreading and editing of spelling errors are common. In this study, spelling achievement data from the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) Language Conventions Test (a proofreading and editing based measure) and the Components of Spelling Test (CoST) (a dictation based measure) were examined. Results of a series of multiple regression analyses (MRAs) were based on a sample of low-achieving and high-achieving spellers from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in Year 3 (n=145), Year 4 (n=117), Year 5 (n=133) and Year 6 (n=117). Findings indicated significant relationships between scores in the spelling domain of the NAPLAN Language Conventions Test and the phonological, orthographic and morphological subscales scores of the CoST. Further, the orthographic subscale of the CoST was generally the main predictor of NAPLAN spelling across year level. Analysis also demonstrated that gender was not an influential factor. Implications for assessment and instruction in spelling are discussed in this paper, and the CoST is offered as a valid, reliable and informative measure of spelling performance for use in school contexts or future research projects.
... The educational tests used in the current research were based on the recommended tests for a LDs assessment in Victorian Government schools. The areas that need to be assessed using the Progressive Achievement Test in Reading (PAT-R; Australian Council of Education Research, ACER, 2001) and the South Australian Spelling Test (SAST; Westwood, 2005), which are both group-administered standardised tests. ...
... The total time for all testing, including the administration, scoring, interpretation and report writing, was around three months. Participants completed two educational tests, namely the PAT-R (ACER, 2001) and the SAST (Westwood, 2005), a comprehensive intelligence assessment including either the WISC-IV (Wechsler, 2003) or WAIS-III (Wechsler, 1997), and two intelligence screening tests, the KBIT-2 (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2004) and the SPM (Raven et al., 2000). Participants were group-administered the educational tests and the SPM by their classroom teacher. ...
Article
This study examined the validity of using teacher-administered educational and intelligence tests to screen students for learning disabilities (LDs). Twenty-seven Technical and Further Education (TAFE) students from regional Victoria who were enrolled in a program that was designed to reconnect school dropouts with education via TAFE participated in the study. The findings from this study provide preliminary evidence for the validity of using the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test - Second Edition (KBIT-2) and limited evidence for using the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) as measures of intelligence for the screening of students with LDs.
... Instead of viewing spelling as a memorization task, more teachers are exploring spelling as a subject of instruction and as a linguistic task for reading and writing (Templeton & Morris, 2001). Westwood (1999) states, "A perspective is emerging now that a well-balanced combination of a direct instruction approach and incidental approach is required to ensure that all students have the opportunity to become proficient spellers" (p. 1). Spelling skills can be strengthened through both explicit activities or lessons, and authentic writing tasks in the classroom. ...
... Public schools are still exhibiting limited enthusiasm toward spelling instruction (Templeton & Morris, 2001). Many teachers have resorted back to, or kept using, spelling lists and tests because they are unsure as to how to implement a better approach into the curriculum (Westwood, 1999). Johnston (2001) reports that in a survey given to 42 public classroom teachers, grades 2-5, 57% taught spelling through workbook exercises; 53% used pretests at the beginning of the week; 33% did activities that required the students to use the spelling words in a sentence; 29% of the teachers had their students put their list of spelling words in alphabetical order; 29% had their students write their spelling words five times each, and 24% of teachers had their students look their words up in the dictionary. ...
... South Australian Spelling Test (SAST) (Westwood, 2005) The SAST is a standardised spelling achievement test of real words that increase in difficulty. ...
... The SAST has a test-retest reliability of .96 (Westwood, 2005). (Martin & Pratt, 2001) (Martin & Pratt, 2001). ...
Article
Recent inquiries into the underachievement of boys in reading have called into question whether they require different forms of reading instruction from girls. A number of reading programs and initiatives have been developed to address this issue, including programs based on increasing boys' motivation, improving behaviour, embracing the use of computers, and so forth. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that effective remedial reading instruction is equally effective for boys as well as girls. The sample comprised 398 low-progress students (239 boys, 159 girls) in Years 5 and 6, who attended an off-site tutorial centre for two school terms between the years 2005 and 2010. All boys and girls in the sample participated in the Schoolwise Program, a non-categorical, empirically-based reading program, for three hours daily. Participants were assessed pre- and post- intervention on five reading and related measures. Both boys and girls made substantial gains, analyses of covariance confirming that their rates of progress were very similar. Small effect sizes were also reported. It is concluded that boys and girls do not require different forms of reading instruction if both are provided with effective systematic remedial reading instruction.
... The complex nature of spelling with its links to creativity is discussed by Kress (2000) in his research on British children. Spelling needs to matter and this can be achieved, to some extent, by clear assessment and the specific teaching of concepts (Westwood 1999). ...
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This paper presents the results of a research concerning the application of educational software in classroom and its’ possible correlations with pedagogical considerations and teaching behavior towards the software. It’s been presented the application of the technical and computer environment features of the Verb Train software as well as some remarks concerning pedagogical perspectives during its’ application in classroom. More specifically, Verb Train is educational software that facilitates teaching and learning the conjugation of Ancient Greek verbs at secondary school level. The rationale stems from the need to codify verb conjugations in alternative ways and is based on contemporary teaching methods that can be used in the classroom and as home study. The structure and organization of the curriculum is based on three functions:LEARN & GRASP, PRACTISE & APPLY 1, and PRACTISE & APPLY 2. The program is accompanied by a CD-ROM Teacher’s Handbook, which contains teaching tips and instructions, an extensive bibliography and worksheets with educational activities that cover the whole range of the curriculum, along with three Student’s Books. School practice of this software showed a significant difference in the performance of students using it in order to understand and learn items of a “dead”, classic language compared to those who didn’t belong to a technology-oriented classroom. Important correlation between pupils’ scores in learning to conjugate ancient Greek verbs and their teachers’ perspective of ICT teaching has also been notified.
... Similar improvements in conventionality were not present in the control group. However, in a standardised spelling test, the South Australian Spelling Test (SAST); (Westwood, 2005), whilst the intervention group had higher mean scores than the control group at both pretest (m = 25.75) and post-test (m = 28.75), the difference in progress made between the two groups did not reach significance (f(1.13) = 2.91, p = .112) ...
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Recent research in literacy acquisition has led to an elaboration of instructional programmes that focus on supporting children’s progress through successive developmental levels. An example of such an approach is analogy instruction, the basis of which is that children develop a system of recognition of shared patterns within words and strategies for applying them to reading and spelling in context. This study evaluated the implementation of a modified analogy strategy-based programme. A group of Y3 and 4 children with reading and spelling difficulties were taught, for eight weeks, specific phonological skills and analogy strategies for reading and spelling. The key finding was that the intervention significantly improved children’s letter-sound knowledge, phonemic awareness decoding (non-word reading), and invented spelling skills compared with that of a control group. This finding suggests that an analogy strategy-based programme may be effective in improving children’s decoding and encoding skills.
... Dictation was used as a tool to measure spelling proficiency on a word level. Dictation format was proved efficient to assess early literacy (Westwood, 2005;Wong & Leeming, 2014), since it allows students to concentrate only on encoding processes of one word at a time. The choice of the words used in the dictation was based on a previous study on paragraph writing at a boys' school, whose results showed that the most committed type of errors were related to spelling (Antropova et al., 2019), a list with the 15 most misspelt words was elaborated. ...
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Within the field of education, there is controversy as to whether the gender of students and the type of school they attend have an impact on the processes of teaching and learning a second language. The aim of this study is to determine whether these elements might be related to the writing of certain high-frequency words in English, which appear in both the Dolch and Fry lists, in 623 Spanish students aged 8 and 9 years. Based on the SPSS analysis of the errors made by these students, a subsequent and more in-depth study was carried out. For this purpose, the following instruments were used: the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to identify the significant differences; the Kruskal-Wallis test to compare errors according to schooling (single-sex and co-ed schools); and the Mann-Whitney U-test to compare the errors according to students' gender. The results show that the type of school that students attended influenced the spelling of certain high-frequency words more than their gender. To have a stronger basis for conclusions, further collaboration among EFL teachers in all types of school and a systematic follow-up on the writing of high-frequency words over the course of the following school years would be necessary.
... On the other hand, there is substantial evidence that explicit SI should be on the focus of educational practices to observe a sizeable difference in children's performance (Graham, 2000;Graham & Santangelo, 2014). To this direction, a wealth of spelling practices can be found in the related literature (indicatively, Berninger et al., 1998;Gillingham & Stillman, 1997;Graham & Freeman, 1986;O'Connor & Jenkins, 1995;Pollock et al., 2004) that is provided concisely in the works of O'Sullivan and Thomas (2007) and Westwood (2018). For instance, the systematic search of Williams et al. (2017) concerning the impact of several spelling and reading interventions on spelling outcomes for English-speaking children with LD, concluded that self-correction was effective for the improvement of children spelling skills. ...
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The development of spelling skill is an intricate process for children with or at risk of Specific Learning Disabilities and requires targeted interventions. This problem exacerbates in the Greek orthographic system owning to its high complexity. The current study presents a novel spelling intervention program for Greek 3rd graders at risk of Specific Learning Disabilities, which was founded upon the principles of Direct Instruction and encompassed evidence-based practices. The effectiveness of the proposed 16-h intervention program was investigated via its implementation in Greek resource rooms by the corresponding teachers. The children were randomly assigned into the intervention (n = 39) and the comparison group (n = 34). Standardized tests were used for children’s assessment during pretests, post-tests I, and post-tests II. Importantly, the results obtained via ANOVA demonstrated that the children of the intervention group showed a statistically significant improvement in spelling contrary to the comparison group. Additionally, the impact of the intervention program on children’s decoding and fluency skills was examined, yielding enhanced, yet, no statistically significant outcomes. The educational implications of the related findings are also discussed. Overall, the proposed study provides tangible evidence that spelling can be taught effectively to SLD children.
... *Duration of intervention (in weeks) also represents the approximate number of weeks between pre-and post-test time points. (Gilmore, Croft, & Reid, 1981); TOWRE = Test of Word Reading Efficiency (Torgeson, Wagner, & Rashotte, 1999); SPAT-R = Sutherland Phonological Awareness Test -Revised (Neilson, 2003a); AIST = Astronaut Invented Spelling Test (Neilson, 2003b); SAST = South Australian Spelling Test (Westwood, 1999); WIAT-II = Weschler Individual Achievement Test 2 nd ed. (Wechsler, 2007); WARL = Wheldall Assessment of Reading Lists (Wheldall, Reynolds, & Madelaine, 2015); Martin & Pratt = Martin and Pratt Nonword Reading Test (Martin & Pratt, 2001); PPVT-IV = Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test 4 th ed. ...
Article
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Information about effective interventions for students with early reading difficulties is essential when deciding about how best to provide support. MiniLit, a small-group intervention for young struggling readers, was released in 2011 after several years of development and trials. This paper provides a rationale for MiniLit, a brief history of its development and implementation, and a summary of evidence collected from various efficacy studies. Pre- and post-test group data from program trials and experimental research indicate that MiniLit has produced large gains in students’ phonemic awareness, phonic decoding, word reading, and spelling. Experimental studies yielded lower effect sizes than program trials for phonic decoding and word reading skills, with effect sizes for these dimensions in the medium or large range. Program revisions in response to evidence from studies, feedback from practitioners, and findings from recent research about early reading have been undertaken, resulting in the development of MiniLit Sage.
... On the other hand, there is substantial evidence that explicit SI should be on the focus of educational practices to observe a sizeable difference in children's performance (Graham, 2000;Graham & Santangelo, 2014). To this direction, a wealth of spelling practices can be found in the related literature (indicatively, Berninger et al., 1998;Gillingham & Stillman, 1997;Graham & Freeman, 1986;O'Connor & Jenkins, 1995;Pollock et al., 2004) that is provided concisely in the works of O'Sullivan and Thomas (2007) and Westwood (2018). For instance, the systematic search of Williams et al. (2017) concerning the impact of several spelling and reading interventions on spelling outcomes for English-speaking children with LD, concluded that self-correction was effective for the improvement of children spelling skills. ...
Book
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION TO BASIC TERMINOLOGY AND IDENTIFICATION OF LEARNING DISABILITIES CHAPTER 2. ASSESSMENT AND READING DIFFICULTIES CHAPTER 3. WRITING DIFFICULTIES CHAPTER 4. INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACHES AND METHODS CHAPTER 5. BEST PRACTICES IN READING CHAPTER 6. EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS IN WRITING CHAPTER 7. ADAPTING AND ACCOMMODATING MATERIALS
... It can be hypothesised that implementing effective instruction in spelling is at least partly contingent upon whether or not assessments are sufficiently sensitive to identify strengths and weaknesses in spelling (Bahr et al., 2009;Daffern et al., 2017b;Kohnen et al., 2009). However, popular measures of spelling ability are based on models of spelling development that do not necessarily align with contemporary understandings of how children learn to spell (see, for example, Bear et al., 2012;Gentry, 2012), or they merely offer a summary of words that are correct and those that are not (see, for example, Westwood, 2005). ...
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Empirical evidence supports the view that explicit teaching can make a positive difference to learning; however, further research is needed to understand the impact on learning to spell if spelling error analysis is used to inform explicit spelling instruction. This paper presents findings of an intervention study involving 572 students in Years 3 to 6 from 31 classes across four Australian schools. Fourteen teachers from two of the participating schools engaged in an intervention. This involved utilising spelling error analysis data to systematically plan and implement explicit and targeted spelling instruction. Sixteen teachers from the two comparison schools followed a “business-as-usual” pedagogy which appeared less targeted and explicit. Results indicate that all classes in the intervention group demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in spelling while only one comparison class demonstrated a statistically significant improvement. The promising findings highlight the power of using assessment-informed practices to explicitly teach spelling skills that are relevant to student needs.
... Concerning their spelling skills in Greek, the dyslexic students had already been given the standardised test for Greek spelling (Mouzaki et al., 2007) by their special instructors, so both groups of students were further assessed through a list of words taken from the younger participants' (5 th Graders) Greek Language School Books (Appendix I). Regarding spelling skills in L2, the children with dyslexia were also found to have serious difficulties according to South Australian Spelling Test (Westwood, 1979(Westwood, , 1994(Westwood, , 2005. They all obtained a low score (mean score 38 -from 36 to 39-out of 70) according to which their spelling age was classified between 9.7 and 10.7 years of age (Appendix II). ...
... Examples of popularly known tests are Ganske [4], Vincent & Claydon Corresponding Author: Fabrizzio Soares -fabrizzio@inf.ufg.br [5], and standardized, norm-referenced The South Australian Spelling Tests [6]. ...
Conference Paper
Assessment of children’s spelling development stages is an activity frequent in literacy classrooms. Usually, teachers adopt dictation sessions, using a paper-and-pencil based method, which has to be conducted individually with each child. As there are many students in a class, the activity becomes laborious to be offered frequently, pushing teachers to opt to a sub-optimal amount of tests. Moreover, the number of tests to be performed in person is now limited. In this context, we aim to develop a method for conducting automated word dictation sessions for an in-person and remote assessment. Besides, our proposal aims to support teachers, parents, and other literacy professionals in identifying children’s spelling development stages. In this paper, we report the conception of our computational artifact through the Design Science Research Methodology. After reviewing the existing studies, we developed a high fidelity prototype and evaluated the concept during a focus group discussion with literacy teachers. The collected qualitative result indicates the feasibility and utility of our approach, and evident limitations in existing apps to assess children’s spelling, contributing to future research in this area.
... In this approach, spelling deals with context in daily writing since studying words in isolation does not help the student to transfer and use this knowledge when writing. (Westwood, 2004) Finding innovative approaches, strategies, and techniques has been one of the core tasks for teachers of English as a Foreign Language; for that reason, this study presents an effective and entertaining tool which is crossword puzzles. ...
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El artículo titulado Uso de crucigramas para mejorar la habilidad de deletreo de los estudiantes del Nivel Uno de inglés, tiene como objetivo mejorar las habilidades de deletreo mediante la implementación de crucigramas en los estudiantes del Nivel A1 de la Escuela Superior Política de Chimborazo. El diseño de la investigación fue cuasi experimental en el que participaron dos grupos, el de control y el experimental. Para la recopilación de datos, se diseñó y administró un cuestionario de 20 ítems a 60 estudiantes pertenecientes al Centro de Idiomas de la ESPOCH. El instrumento utilizado para recopilar datos de investigación fue el cuestionario. La investigación tuvo un enfoque cualitativo-cuantitativo, mismo que permitió analizar el problema, demostrar la relación entre variables, simplificar y regular los resultados obtenidos de la muestra, así como los grupos estudiados. Adicionalmente, una prueba previa y una prueba posterior fueron aplicadas para medir la efectividad de la implementación de crucigramas en la adquisición de la habilidad de deletreo en inglés y los datos fueron tabulados mediante la aplicación del paquete estadístico SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). Las respuestas de los estudiantes al cuestionario mostraron que la actitud hacia la destreza de ortografía y el uso de crucigramas fue extremadamente positiva. Por lo tanto, el estudio concluye que el uso de crucigramas fue una de las formas más efectivas para ayudar a los estudiantes a desarrollar, mejorar y consolidar sus habilidades de ortografía, además de estar motivados para aprender.
... In developing and validating this instrument we sought to reduce a gap in spelling ability research literature by providing the first pseudo-word metric to assess 8-to 12-year-old students' phonological, orthographic and morphological spelling skills in one instrument. Compared with widely used dictation spelling tests such as the Words Their Way Inventories (Bear et al., 2012) and the South Australian Spelling Test (Westwood, 2005), the CoST: Pseudo-word version assesses a comprehensive range of spelling subskills. The test is user-friendly as it can be administered to a whole class of students at one time or to an individual student within approximately 40 minutes. ...
Preprint
Building on current theoretical understandings of how children learn to spell, this paper reports the design and validation of a new pseudo-word dictation test (labelled the Components of Spelling Test: Pseudo-word version) to measure three spelling components underpinning Standard English: phonology, orthography and morphology. For the first phase of the study, the instrument was tested on a calibration sample of 381 students from Grades 3 to 6, aged between 8 and 12 years. Two versions of the test were recursively developed for Grades 3 and 4 (Pseudo-word-G-3-4) and Grades 5 and 6 (Pseudo-word-G-5-6). In the second phase of the study, the calibrated instrument was validated on a different sample of students in Grades 3 and 4 (n = 224) and Grades 5 and 6 (n = 233). The instrument shows high reliability (0.79-0.92) across the spelling components. A key feature of the instrument is that it affords three specific measures of spelling to align with Triple Word Form Theory. This instrument can be used by teachers to screen students with difficulties in spelling and resultantly plan for targeted instruction in school contexts. It can also be used as a measure of spelling ability for experimental, developmental and correlational research purposes. This novel instrument fills a gap in spelling ability research literature by providing the first pseudo-word metric to assess 8-to 12-year-old students' phonological, orthographic and morphological spelling skills.
... In developing and validating this instrument we sought to reduce a gap in spelling ability research literature by providing the first pseudo-word metric to assess 8-to 12-year-old students' phonological, orthographic and morphological spelling skills in one instrument. Compared with widely used dictation spelling tests such as the Words Their Way Inventories (Bear et al., 2012) and the South Australian Spelling Test (Westwood, 2005), the CoST: Pseudo-word version assesses a comprehensive range of spelling subskills. The test is user-friendly as it can be administered to a whole class of students at one time or to an individual student within approximately 40 min. ...
Article
Full-text available
Building on current theoretical understandings of how children learn to spell, this paper reports the design and validation of a new pseudo-word dictation test (labelled the Components of Spelling Test: Pseudo-word version) to measure three spelling components underpinning Standard English: phonology, orthography and morphology. For the first phase of the study, the instrument was tested on a calibration sample of 381 students from Grades 3 to 6, aged between 8 and 12 years. Two versions of the test were recursively developed for Grades 3 and 4 (Pseudo-word-G-3-4) and Grades 5 and 6 (Pseudo-word-G-5-6). In the second phase of the study, the calibrated instrument was validated on a different sample of students in Grades 3 and 4 (n = 224) and Grades 5 and 6 (n = 233). The instrument shows high reliability (0.79–0.92) across the spelling components. A key feature of the instrument is that it affords three specific measures of spelling to align with Triple Word Form Theory. This instrument can be used by teachers to screen students with difficulties in spelling and resultantly plan for targeted instruction in school contexts. It can also be used as a measure of spelling ability for experimental, developmental and correlational research purposes. This novel instrument fills a gap in spelling ability research literature by providing the first pseudo-word metric to assess 8- to 12-year-old students’ phonological, orthographic and morphological spelling skills.
... The dyslexic children attained a low mean score (22 -from 21 to 24-out of 40), compared with the higher score attained by the chronologically younger non dyslexics (28 -from 26 to 29-out of 40). Concerning spelling skills in L2, the children with dyslexia also had serious difficulties according to South Australian Spelling Test (Westwood, 1979(Westwood, , 1994(Westwood, , 2005). They all obtained a low score (mean score 38 -from 36 to 39-out of 70) according to which their spelling age was classified between 9.7 and 10.7 years of age (Appendix II). ...
Article
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In our study spelling skills of 40 dyslexic (mean age 13,2 years) and 40 non dyslexic children (mean age 10,9 years) matched on the basis of their general level of language proficiency and foreign language acquisition, were assessed through a dictation passage spelling test and the composing of picture elicited narratives, in both Greek (L1) and English (L2). Results indicate that spelling performance is affected by the distinct nature of each orthographic system. In both groups, phonological errors were the least frequent type of spelling errors, while the predominance of morphological and etymological errors indicates both groups' persistent difficulties with applying linguistic rules and systematicities. As expected, dyslexics made more errors of all types despite the fact that the two groups' error profiles did not differ qualitatively. Finally, both groups‟ revising and pausing behaviour indicated that spelling has been the main concern for both dyslexic and non dyslexic writers and confirmed the dyslexics' deficient error detection mechanism.
... To spell words correctly, it is essential for a child to master the skill of connecting individual phonemes with corresponding orthographic units. The process of spelling makes a child aware of the units of meaning (morphemes), and the grapho-phonic knowledge of a language (Weeks, Brooks, & Everatt, 2002;Westwood, 2005). However, strong impact of the phonological domain has been observed over the orthographic domain, which suggests that both the domains are not on a par. ...
Article
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Current research exploits the orthographic design of Brahmi-derived scripts (also called Indic scripts), particularly the Devanagari script. Earlier works on orthographic nature of Brahmi-derived scripts fail to create a consensus among epigraphists, historians or linguists, and thus have been identified by various names, like semi-syllabic, subsyllabic, semi-alphabetic, alphasyllabary or abugida. On the contrary, this paper argues that Brahmi-derived scripts should not be categorized as scripts with overlapping features of alphabetic and syllabic properties as these scripts are neither alphabetic nor syllabic. Historical evolution and linguistic properties of Indic scripts, particularly Devanagari, ascertain the need for a new categorization of its own and, thus preferably merit a unique descriptor. This paper investigates orthographic characteristics of the Brahmi-derived Devanagari script, current trends in research pertaining to the Devanagari script along with other Indic scripts and the implications of these findings for literacy development in Indic writing systems.
... With regards to spelling, as Brooks (2013) states, programmes for pupils who struggle with spelling have better results when they are highly structured. Westwood (2005) argues that the use of multisensory approaches, the small amount of work at each session, the motivation and the frequent revision can have a positive impact on spelling. ...
Thesis
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The purpose of the present study was to examine the knowledge of primary school teachers from Greece about dyslexia and to explore the factors that might be related to better understanding of it. During the last decades, several studies have focused on teachers’ knowledge and preparation in Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) showing that primary school teachers do not have adequate knowledge about dyslexia and they do not seem appropriately prepared to teach pupils with reading and spelling difficulties.Towards the investigation of this topic, a non-experimental mixedmethods design was used in order to answer the research questions of the study. A questionnaire was constructed based on the existing literature. Two hundred and four primary school teachers in mainstream public and private schools of Greece were administered the questionnaire. The results indicated that teachers’ understanding of dyslexia varies greatly and there are gaps in their knowledge as well as misconceptions about this topic. Also, the findings showed that there is lack of awareness concerning the strategies and intervention programmes for pupils with dyslexia. Finally, this dissertation makes recommendations concerning teachers’ preparation as well as future research directions.
... Investigations into spelling difficulties in children to date have primarily focused on difficulties in learning and applying sound-letter rules (i.e., phonological dysgraphia, see Campbell & Butterworth, 1985;Snowling, Stackhouse, & Rack, 1986), difficulties acquiring orthographic representations (surface dysgraphia, see Brunsdon, Coltheart, & Nickels, 2005;Temple, 1985), and difficulties in learning and applying mor- phological spelling rules (e.g., Egan & Tainturier, 2011;Westwood, 2005). However, these difficulties would also be predicted based on other types of spelling models-most notably, developmental stage theories, where learning progresses through sound-letter, orthographic, and morphological stages (e.g., Ehri, 2000;Frith, 1985;Gentry, 1982). ...
Article
A single case study is reported of a 10-year-old, English-speaking boy, L.S., who presented with spelling errors similar to those described in acquired graphemic buffer dysgraphia (GBD). We used this case to evaluate the appropriateness of applying adult cognitive models to the investigation of developmental cognitive disorders. The dual-route model of spelling guided this investigation. L.S. primarily made "letter errors" (deletions, additions, substitutions, transpositions, or a combination of these errors) on words and nonwords and in all input (aural and visual) and output modalities (writing, typing, oral spelling); there was also some evidence of a length effect and U-shaped serial position curve. An effect of lexical variables on spelling performance was also found. We conclude that the most parsimonious account is an impairment at the level of the graphemic buffer and without systematic cognitive neuropsychological investigation, the nature of L.S.'s spelling difficulty would likely have been missed.
... The South Australian Spelling Test (SA-ST) (revised) consists of two forms containing 70 words, differing in level of difficulty (e.g., from the word "on" to the word "seismograph"; Westwood, 2005). The student is read the words and must write them down. ...
Article
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Purpose This paper argues that in a well-organised school with strong leadership and vision coupled with a concerted effort to improve the teaching performance of each teacher, student achievement can be enhanced. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate that while macro-effect sizes such as 'whole of school' metrics are useful for school leaders in their professional development roles, there are important micro-conditions that can be uncovered in a more detailed analysis of student achievement data. Design/methodology/approach Evidence of student achievement in a variety of standardised and non-standardised assessment tasks was subjected to examination in a post-hoc, case study design. The assessment tasks were the South Australian Spelling Test Waddington Reading Test, a school-wide diagnostic writing task, teacher running records and national assessment program for literacy and numeracy (NAPLAN). Performance in selected classrooms was compared on these tests utilising a variety of parametric quantitative statistics. Findings School-based reform initiatives require external criteria on which to base decision-making. Without such criteria based on data and the capacity to interpret it, interactions in the school culture have unanticipated consequences that have the potential to neutralise school improvement strategies. Further, findings suggest that fewer but sharper and quicker data collection tools are more valuable in such teacher decision-making, but these require expertise to produce and interpret them.
... Another version of incidental teaching was promoted by whole language advocates who believed that spelling progresses naturally without the need for systematic assistance ( Cambourne & Turbill , 2007 ; Goodman , 1989 ) , or that written English is too irregular for instruction in spelling correspondences to be effective ( Smith , 1985 ) . Hence , there was little instructional time devoted to it , and spelling attainment declined ( Bruck , Treiman , Caravolas , Genesee , & Cassar , 1998 ; Westwood & Bissaker , 2005 ) . There may also be a belief that spelling simply evolves from reading and / or writing . ...
Article
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There has been concern about student literacy expressed in the community in recent years, following the results of national and international assessment. In spelling, there are insufficient hard data, but the perception is that our students are not receiving the exemplary spelling education they require. A number of possible reasons have been canvassed, including suboptimal teacher literacy and literacy knowledge, the inadequacy of teacher education, and a lack of attention to spelling instruction in the classroom. There is increasing evidence about the components of instruction that best aid students to become skilled spellers, though fewer well-designed evaluation studies to help consumers choose which programs are optimal. The three components that have received much research attention are: the phonemic, whole word, and morphological techniques. Spelling Mastery and Spelling through Morphographs are two programs that specifically emphasise these components and hence are worthy of investigation.
... It has been suggested that the stages of learning to read and learning to spell may have a reciprocal relationship and that progression in the early stages of reading can help the child progress in the early stage of spelling. As spelling ability develops, this, in turn, positively affects progress in reading (Frith, 1985;Westwood, 2005). This is evident in the strong positive associations usually observed between reading and spelling ability in typically developing children (e.g. ...
Article
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A written single word spelling to dictation test and a single word reading test were given to 68 severe-profoundly oral deaf 10–11-year-old children and 20 hearing children with a diagnosis of dyslexia. The literacy scores of the deaf children and the hearing children with dyslexia were lower than expected for children of their age and did not differ from each other. Three quarters of the spelling errors of hearing children with dyslexia compared with just over half the errors of the oral deaf group were phonologically plausible. Expressive vocabulary and speech intelligibility predicted the percentage of phonologically plausible errors in the deaf group only. Implications of findings for the phonological decoding self–teaching model and for supporting literacy development are discussed.
... Differentiation involves adapting instruction, content, processes, products and contexts (Maker, 1982; Westwood, 2001). Differentiation aims to maximise all students' individual learning outcomes (Gartin, et al. 2002; Ivey, 2000; Tomlinson, 2001; Westwood, 1999). Additionally, the literature suggests a strong link between instructional differentiation and achievement (Good & Brophy, 2003). ...
Article
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The last four decades have seen profound challenges and changes to education and learning within Australia. One such challenge is the diversity that is found in our student populations in the regular classroom. This diversity has resulted in an increase of variance in student ability and support needs, and the subsequent requirement for variance in teacher instruction and contexts. Within these educational contexts, research suggests that literacy difficulties are still major concerns within Australian primary schools. The literature also suggests a strong link between instructional differentiation and achievement. This paper presents part of the results of a PhD study investigating reading instruction in Stage 2 classrooms. In investigating the relationship between student diversity and instructional differentiation, the methodology involved observing students with low, average and high-reading ability during literacy lessons, the assessment of classroom ecologies, teacher instruction and student responses to instruction. The research process, key features of the method, including participant selection, amendment of the published observational coding instrument, its field-testing and subsequent analysis and assessment for reliability as an observational instrument and some results will be presented. Whilst the results suggested some limited differentiation between instructional practice, classroom ecologies and student responses, there were very little inappropriate student behaviours.
... The South Australian Spelling Test (SAST; Westwood, 1999) is a standardised spelling achievement assessment using real words that increase in difficulty. Each word is presented by itself and then used in a sentence (provided to the assessor). ...
Article
This study examined whether boys and girls in the early school years differed in reading and related skills, and their rates of progress. Gender ratios were calculated to ascertain whether there were more boys than girls who struggle with different facets of reading, and whether the variability of boys’ scores resulted in more boys being identified as poor readers, as evidenced by previous studies. A sample of 335 students in Years 1 and 2 were administered six reading and related assessments. Boys and girls did not significantly differ on any of the measures, and differences in gains were negligible. Boys did not consistently demonstrate significantly greater variability in scores (with the exception of single-word reading and spelling in Year 1 only). These differences, however, did not affect gender ratios for poor performance. Gender ratios were relatively low across measures, but increased with years of schooling. Implications of the results are discussed.
... Focus Question 2: Evaluate the Extent to Which Pre-Service Teachers Were Able to Successfully Employ Running Records to Inform Their Teaching oReading The field site experience was invaluable to students as the practical work engaged them in a problem-solving situation . This system worked well as it provided a direct relationship between theory and practice; it provided a forum for pre-service teachers to operate in a semi-autonomous way while fully supervised, and allowed direct instruction teaching methods to be amended as a result of regular monitoring (Marsh, 2004; Westwood (1999)). One key aspect of the project was to teach second year pre-service teachers the core basic skills to implement , monitor and evaluate an individual reading program based on the use of running records. ...
Article
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This article explores second year pre-service teachers’ ability to work with Indigenous students and their families during a small-scale project conducted in an Indigenous community. Supported field placements offered the pre-service teachers valuable opportunities to engage with the teaching of reading to Indigenous students ‘on their turf’. Given the high likelihood that pre-service teachers will be employed in schools with Indigenous populations, it is important that they develop an understanding of the reading process, the factors that impact on learning how to read, as well as cross-cultural aspects that affect the learning process. Pre-service teachers need to develop understanding of the factors that impact on the literacy development of students and how to engage them in culturally responsive pedagogical practices that focus on the positive aspects of the learner. Following the field placement, analysis of the data demonstrated that pre-service teachers were able to engage with the reading process through the use of running records, and develop field knowledge through understanding the impact of relationships on the learning environment. This information can be used by others to support field placements in Indigenous communities.
... The test was included in the study because it is widely used in NSW schools and because it provides information about phonological awareness, a set of basic understandings and skills that has been found to be of great importance for young readers (Adams, 1990;. (Westwood, 1999). This standardized test measures spelling achievement, giving an estimate of spelling age from 6 years to 15 years. ...
Article
It is now widely acknowledged that early intervention programs should be provided for young students who are experiencing difficulty in learning to read. It is important, therefore, to have efficient ways of identifying students who are most in need of intervention. The aim of this study was to establish preliminary performance benchmarks to identify the bottom 25% of year 1 and year 2 students in NSW schools at two key points in the school year. Students from grades 1 and 2 (n = 335) at two schools nominated as performing at state average levels were assessed on a battery of tests assessing various aspects of reading and related skills at the beginning and in the middle of the school year. Preliminary estimates of benchmarks for determining the bottom quartile of students were thereby obtained together with estimates of average performance at these two points in the school year to serve as performance goals for intervention.
Conference Paper
識字能力與正確的閱讀理解息息相關,而識字量的推估標準化更與教材教法、教 學目標以及學習成就表現等各個教育環節緊緊相扣。本研究目的是開發國內第一套台 語識字測驗。國內、外識字測驗相關研究,有早期的拼讀測驗如 SGWRT、Burt Vernon;拼寫測驗如 SAST;拼讀的流暢性測驗如 TOWRE 以及以大型語料庫為根基的 閱讀理解式識字測驗如 BNC 等類型。本研究採字音和造詞兩項作業作為識字能力判斷 的依據。本研究採用的字詞來源為整合真平、康軒、翰林等不同版本的國小台語教材 課文內所有用字,並採用教育部尚未公開的計畫案(程俊源 2016)但具有一定質量和 詞頻資料的台語詞頻資料。在測驗的架構上參考洪儷瑜等人(2008)的詞頻分層抽樣 方式編製 1~9 年級的台語識字測驗;在識字量推估的方法上以統計分析的方式計算。第 一次預試以台南市四間小學以及三間國中為樣本,研究參與者為國小男生 222 人、女 生 193 人;國中男生 55 人、女生 52 人,總共為 522 位學童;並以電腦呈現試題,測驗 學生字音以及造詞。該預試結果顯示,台語羅馬字字音測驗的 Cronbach's α 值介 於.658~.833 之間,台語詞頻字詞測驗的字音測驗 α 值介於.859~.936 之間;造詞測驗 α 值介於.902~.951 之間;顯示試題皆具不錯的內部一致性信度。建構效度的考驗也顯示 出國小各年級之間的顯著差異,而國中台語識字能力大致與國小中年級能力相近。識 字量推估結果顯示,台語識字量的天花板為國小六年級的 1012.5~1208.4 字。根據本次 識字測驗結果,我們建議台語教育應延長時數及教育年限,並選擇適當教材。 關鍵詞:台語、閱讀、理解、識字測驗、識字量 a 國立成功大學台灣文學系。 b 中華大學人文社會學院進修學士班。 c 國立成功大學統計學系。
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