Do-or-Die Spelling: Teaching without the Struggle

Abstract

Like other teachers, I have labored over how to teach spelling. I struggled to help students learn to spell the same words they use with ease in their speech. I tried to help students learn to use a more varied vocabulary, one usually more difficult to spell, by trying to show them what little rhyme and reason exist in the rules of spelling. I tried oral drill; I tried spelling lists. I tried rewards; I tried punishments. I struggled long and I struggled hard. I now also believe I struggled unnecessarily. In my search for a better idea, I came across an intriguing theory of learning from educational psychology, the theory of latent learning proposed by psychologist Edward Tolman. According to Tolman, much learning occurs just below the level at which it can be observed or demonstrated, and learning takes place without the learner being aware. Latent learning supposedly accounts for the sudden flash of insight that sometimes seems to occur when students suddenly understand what they had previously been unable to get. One famous example of latent learning is the flashing of a soft drink ad for a part of a second on a movie screen. Supposedly, this latent image led to increased sales of the beverage in the lobby. I thought this theory over. It seemed to call for little or no instruction, only easy and frequent access to the correct spelling of a word to produce latent learning of the correct spelling. But it required a strong reinforcer to bring forth the student's selection of the correct spelling. I came up with the idea of the do-or-die quiz. I gathered frequently misspelled words from papers, determined which words gave the class the most problems, and identified other words the class needed to learn to spell. Each day I wrote three of he frequently misspelled words on the chalkboard, announced that these were the do-or-die words, and described ways in which they were most frequently misspelled. Near the end of the period I erased the three words, and the class was asked to spell one, two, or three of the words on a slip of paper. The quiz was known as a do-or-die quiz because a correct spelling produced a grade of A and an incorrect spelling produced a grade of F. (In fact, my students thought up the nickname and it stuck.) The first week, the class spelled one of the three words. In succeeding weeks, they worked up to two and then all three words. Students handed in