Ten Principles of Word Study 1. Look for what students use but confuse. Students cannot learn things they do not already know something about. By examining students invented spellings, instruction can be planned to help students understand the features they are using but confusing, rather than those they totally neglect. Take your cue from the students. Look to see what features are consistently present and correct to figure out what the students already know. Look for those features that students sometimes use incorrectly and use those features to target their word study instruction. 2. A step backward is a step forward. Once you have determined the areas in which students need instruction, take a step backward and build a foundation. Contrast something new with something that is already known, and remember that it is important that students experience success. For example, students who are ready to learn long-vowel patterns, which are unfamiliar, should begin by sorting short-vowel sounds, which are familiar. Taking a step backward is the first step forward in word study instruction. 3. Use words students can read. Students should analyze words that they know how to pronounce. It is easier to look across words for consistent patterns when the words are easy to pronounce. Known words can come from any and all sources students can read, including, but not limited to, recent reading selections such as stories, poems, and phonics readers. When possible, choose words students can read out of context. 4. Compare words that do with words that don t. To learn what a crow looks like, it helps to see a hawk or a cardinal, not another crow. In defining what something is, it is also important to know what it is not. Contrasts are important in helping students build categories. Students spelling errors give clues about what contrasts will help them sort out their confusions. For example, a student who is spelling stopping as stoping will benefit from a sort that includes words with consonants that are doubled before adding -ing, as well as those that do not take double letters. 5. Sort by sight and sound. Words are examined both by the way they sound and how they are spelled. Too often students focus on visual patterns without also considering how words are alike in sound. 6. Begin with obvious contrasts. When students begin the study of a new feature, choose key words or pictures that are distinctive. For example, do not begin examining initial consonants by comparing m and n. They are too similar in sound and appearance. It is better at first to contrast m with something totally different s, for example and then work toward finer distinctions. 22
7. Don t hide exceptions. Exceptions take place when students generalize. Do not hide these exceptions. By placing these exception words into a category of their own, new patterns are sometimes found. Looking at long vowel patterns, students find exceptions like give, have, and love, which each have -ve. They form a small but consistent pattern of their own. 8. Avoid rules. Rules with many exceptions are discouraging and teach children nothing. Learning about English spelling forces students to think about sound and pattern at the same time in order to find consistencies in spelling. Students find these consistencies on their own and make generalizations, but it is the teacher s job to structure tasks to get students into the habit of looking at words, asking questions, and searching for order. 9. Work for automaticity. Accuracy in sorting is not enough; accuracy and speed are the clear signs of mastery. This automaticity leads to the fluency needed for strong reading and writing skills. As they practice, students will move from caution to fluency in their sorting. Keep sorting until they do. 10. Return to meaningful texts. After sorting, students need to return to meaningful texts to hunt for other examples to add to their sorts. This activity supports adding more words, including more difficult vocabulary, to their sorts.. 23
Meeting Individual Differences Recognizing that students in your classroom are at different developmental stages of word study as well as at different levels within a particular stage, will help you differentiate instruction for them. In addition to having them work with sorts at their developmental level, you can meet individual differences by adjusting the pace of instruction, making sorts easier, and making sorts harder. Adjust Pacing The pacing of the sorts in Words Their Way: Word Study in Action, Developmental Model is designed for average growth. However, because all students do not work at the same speed, you can adjust pacing in these ways. If students catch on quickly, move at a faster pace. Spend fewer days on a series of sorts or skip some sorts altogether. If students are not keeping up, slow down the pace. Do this by spending more time on the sorts. You can also create additional sorts using the pictures and words in the program. Making Sorts Easieer Following are suggestions for those students who need more help with word study. When beginning a new unit of study, have students sort with fewer categories. As students become adept at sorting, increase the number of categories in a sort. If an example word is unfamiliar to students, use one that is easier and familiar to students. Provide additional example words for a category. If there are unfamiliar words in the sort, put them at the end so that known words are the first to be sorted. Eliminate oddballs, the words that do not fit the targeted letter-sound or pattern feature, from the sort. At the first three developmental levels, do not include the Bonus Words. Review sorts when necessary. Making Sorts Harder Following are suggestions for those students who need a more challenging word study routine. Add more difficult words to the sort. For example, adding words with blends and digraphs (black, chest, trunk) to a short vowel sort is more challenging than simple words such as tap and set. Have students suggest additional words that fit the targeted spelling feature. Do fewer follow-up activities. Skip sorts that review. 24
Word Study with English Language Learners Many challenges face students learning to read and write in a new language. However, it is important to remember that although students are new to English, they do have proficiency in another language. In addition, two students who are the same age and speak the same home language may be on different levels with word study, just as English-speaking students might be. When you form groups for word study, consider students developmental levels, but also take into account whether or not students are English learners who need additional language support. For students to benefit from hearing each other speak, form heterogeneous language groups so that you have a range of oral proficiency in your small groups; at other times group together students who are the least proficient in oral English skills in order to help them build those skills. At the early stages of language learning, picture sorts are most appropriate for English learners. Concept sorts with pictures or objects are the least demanding. When doing picture sorts for sounds, keep in mind that students need to know the names of enough pictures to demonstrate the sound relationship being sorted. Always name the pictures before the sort begins and have students repeat the picture names. When moving on to word sorts, ensure that students are making oral-written language connections by reading the words aloud. Go over all the words before sorting, pronouncing them and talking about their meanings. Continue saying the words aloud during the sort. It is also important for English learners to say the words aloud as they sort; this ensures that students connect spelling patterns to what they hear in spoken words. With Words Their Way: Word Study in Action, Developmental Model, here are additional ways you can support English language learners. Provide explicit vocabulary instruction. Pronounce picture names and words before, during, and after sorting. Explain word meanings, and use words in sentences that give strong context for the meaning. Have students illustrate words with simple drawings to remind them of meanings. Provide additional picture support for words in sorts to help English learners build background knowledge and vocabulary. Check for understanding of sorting words as you meet with students. Encourage students frequent oral use of the sort words. Have students use the words orally in sentences or phrases, depending on their proficiency. Incorporate multimodal strategies, such as chanting, tapping, and movement. Pair English learners with English-speaking partners in buddy activities. Set a tone that will encourage English learners to ask questions about words whose meanings or pronunciations they do not know. See Words Their Way with English Language Learners: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction, 2nd ed., for more comprehensive information about English language learners and additional activities. 25
School-Home Connection Word Study Homework and Parental Expectations Classrooms are busy places and many teachers find it difficult to devote a lot of time to word study, so homework can provide additional practice time. A letter such as the one below is a good way to encourage parents to become involved in their children s spelling homework. Parents are often firm believers in the importance of spelling because it is such a visible sign of literacy. Unfortunately, invented spelling is often a scapegoat because some people associate the acceptance of it with a lack of instruction and a lack of expectation of accuracy in children s writing. Communicate clearly to parents that their children will be held responsible for what they have been taught. Homework assignments also help parents see what is being taught in phonics and spelling. Dear Parents, Your child will be bringing home a collection of spelling words that have been introduced in class. Your child is expected to do these activities to ensure that the words and the spelling principles they represent are mastered. These activities have been modeled and practiced in school, so your child can teach you how to do them. Remind your child to sort the words into categories like the ones we did in school. Your child should read each word aloud during this activity. Ask your child to explain to you why the words are sorted in a particular way what does the sort reveal about spelling in general? Ask your child to sort the words a second time as fast as possible. You may want to time him or her. Do a blind sort with your child. Lay down a word from each category as a header and then read the rest of the words aloud. Your child must indicate where the word goes without seeing it. Lay it down and let your child move it if he or she is wrong. Repeat if your child makes more than one error. Assist your child in doing a word hunt, looking in a book he or she has already read, for words that have the same sound, same pattern, or both. Try to find two or three for each category. Do a writing sort. As you call out the words in random order, your child should write them in categories. Call out any words your child misspells a second or even third time. Thank you for your support. Together we can help your child make valuable progress! Sincerely, 26
Word Study Implementation Checklist Yes No Is your small-group instruction differentiated and developmentally appropriate? Are your word study materials well organized and accessible? Do your word study lessons include teacher modeling? Do you use teacher talk that will help students scaffold their thinking and facilitate self-correction? Do you set up instruction so that students become familiar with your word study routines? Do your word study routines facilitate the discovery of how words work through hands-on exploration and student discussion? Do you help students develop and articulate hypotheses about how words work? Do you guide students to develop automaticity in decoding and encoding words? Does your instruction help students deepen their understanding of word meanings? Do you help students extend and transfer their learning about how words work to other reading and writing activities? Do you promote the use of word study folders or notebooks in order for students to record their thinking about words? Do you guide students to become purposefully engaged? 27