LANGUAGE
YES OR NO TO INVENTED SPELLING
Entering a classroom, one will naturally be attracted to the writings and drawings on the wall. These written pieces are often accurately spelt, and one would be amazed by the writing aptitude of these little artists themselves. But the journey to write and spell accurately does not come easy. It is often through a lot of practice, called Invented Spelling.
“Dis is a vidyow game.” How would you feel if you saw your child penning down something like this? This phrase is actually, “This is a video game.” At first glance, you may feel perturbed and flabbergasted. You may be worried about your child’s ability to spell accurately. Well, fret not, what your child is attempting to do is Invented Spelling.
To put it in layman’s terms, Invented Spelling is the process of your children assimilating their knowledge of phonics with every speech sound they hear in a word. Their words may not resemble the conventional English spelling, but when written down, readers are able to grasp what they are trying to write. After this stage, your children progress to the Correct Stage where they can spell accurately.
As a parent or educator, there will be instances where you want to address your children’s spelling, but please refrain from doing so. Using Invented Spelling, children are encouraged to write freely and confidently. Studies have shown that with Invented Spelling, the quality of children’s writing pieces and creativity levels are heightened. Ultimately, this leads to improved language and literacy competencies which contribute greatly to children’s holistic development.
Interviews with pinnacle leaders from the early childhood profession and professionals from the National Institute of Education have confirmed the above observation. They agree that the implementation of Invented Spelling brings about a multitude of benefits, such as, children becoming self-reliant and independent in their work.
Let authors be authors
Writing should be a fun and relaxing activity for children as it allows them to be imaginative. This platform allows them to translate their thoughts and ideas into writing. While they are embarking on their writing, parents and educators can provide constructive feedback to support their literacy development. Do not be quick to point out their mistakes. Instead, tap on your children’s phonetic knowledge by stretching the words and sounding them out.
. . . implementation of Invented Spelling brings about a multitude of benefits, such as, children
becoming self-reliant and independent in their work.
Leave the eraser out
Children are often reliant on erasers. To support their journey in Invented Spelling, parents and
educators can consider keeping the erasers. This will motivate children to sound out the words
that they are trying to write. This is an opportunity for parents to track their child’s train of
thoughts since they cannot erase their mistakes. Parents can also gauge their children’s ability to
blend and use that to leverage their learning.
Play, play, play
Children learn best through play and there is no better way to promote language acquisition,
than through play. Provide your children with a variety of instructional games that will allow
them to explore letter-sound relationship. As they become more self-assured, extend it to
games where they can build and form words. Here are some games that require very minimal
resources and is easy to set-up.
- Write the 26 letters in the alphabet on a piece of Mahjong Paper. Each time you shout out the sound of a letter, your children will need to swat that letter. If you do not have a fly swatter, you can get children to make a handprint over it.
- Set up a hopscotch and in those boxes, draw a letter of the alphabet. Each time you sound out a letter, your children will need to hop to the box. When your children become more proficient at the game, sound out a series of letters and have them blend it after all that hopping.
Besides the above, parents and educators can educate children about writing conventions and
reinforce their phonetic knowledge. Exposing children to various writing styles of different authors can educate them on the different writing strategies. What are you waiting for? Fostering an interest of writing begins with us, and let us start by adopting Invented Spelling today!