The Effects of Teaching Spelling in Context in a Primary Classroom

Abstract

The research done in this paper seeks to determine a more effective way of teaching spelling than the current “traditional” method, which consists of handing out a list of words on Monday that are tested on Friday and usually forgotten shortly after. This was a quantitative correlational study, which used the scores on student spelling assessments to determine if there was a correlation between teaching spelling in- context and improved spelling skills and if the knowledge learned in spelling would transfer to other subjects. The research found that teaching spelling in-context did lead to improved spelling scores for students, and data was inconclusive about whether or not it helped students transfer learning to other areas. These results led to the conclusion that spelling should be taught in-context and in conjunction with reading in order to be most effective.