Silent ‘b’
Learning to spell many English words correctly can be a long and difficult journey. Why for example do we have a silent ‘b’ in words like bomb, climb, debt and doubt? Often the answer lies in tracing the word back … Continued
Comprehension in the Early Years
The ultimate goal of reading instruction is for students to read with understanding. Yes, the focus of initial instruction should be on teaching sound-symbol correlations so students can decode and encode words fluently. However, instruction also needs to include understanding text … Continued
Creating Writer’s Checklists
Jagaiah et al. (2019) suggest developing a series of checklists as a way of supporting students who find the writing process difficult. Ideally, these checklists should be constructed in conjunction with the student. The construction of the checklist is a … Continued
Spelling in Middle English
If you are a poor speller, you may wish that you were a scribe in the 13th century. During this Middle English period there was a huge amount of variation in the spelling of words. For example, in that era … Continued