Making a Difference

Spelling
Spelling is best taught within the context of real writing tasks. Students who are 
older and already know the rules of their 
fi
rst language also may bene
fi
t from 
direct instruction in the general rules of English spelling along with related 
strategies.
Individualized spelling lists can be pulled from:
students’ personal lists of spelling words
• 
words that students are using in their daily writing
• 
content words that are being used in different subject areas
• 
a teacher-written passage that includes many examples of a speci
fi
c 
• 
spelling pattern or rule
high-frequency word lists.
• 
5. Adapted from Susan Earle-Carlin, “Providing Language Feedback in Writing 39,” 
Program in Academic 
English/English Language, University of California, Irvine
, n.d., https://eee.uci.edu/programs/English 
language/feedback.html (Accessed June 2009).

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Chapter 9–English Language Learners (ELL)
166
Invented spelling
Asking a beginning English language learner to use “sounding out” as a strategy 
to 
fi
nd the spelling of a word is often very frustrating, because a sound in the 
student’s 
fi
rst language may not have a corresponding sound in English. It takes 
time for students to learn to hear the difference, so that they can eventually use 
sounding out as a spelling strategy.
English language learners can use invented or temporary spelling approximations 
quite successfully with some initial support from the teacher and their peers. It 
may be necessary to work closely with students during several writing sessions, 
including scribing dictated stories, so that they understand the process and trust 
that their invented symbols and spelling are accepted.
Students may be encouraged to use a straight line or a wiggly line when there are 
whole words or parts of words that they cannot spell, or they can be encouraged to 
write one letter for a sound they can hear. They also may want to write the word 
in their 
fi
rst language or use drawings or symbols.