The effects of breaking new spelling words into small segments on the spelling performance of students with learning disabilities

Abstract

The effects of two variables on how rapidly students learned to spell new words were examined. In the first experiment an alternating treatments design was employed to compare the efficiency of practicing spelling words by recitation versus transcription. The results indicated that both students learned the word lists taught with the recitation method in less time. In the second experiment two learning disabled students and three other students judged to be poor spellers were taught to spell four 8 to 12 letter words each session by the school resource teacher. The spelling words were taught using an oral recitation method. During the baseline condition the letters were printed with the same spacing between all the letters and the students were instructed to spell the words one letter at a time. During the treatment condition the words were broken into written syllables and the students were instructed to pause briefly between each syllable when orally spelling the words. The results indicated that the learning disabled students learned the words in one third the time and the poor spellers learned the words in half the time when they were broken into syllables. There was no difference in retention of material between the two instructional techniques.