Are you one of those people who believe that ‘English spelling is crazy’?
Sure, at times English spelling can seem ridiculous, but usually if you have some understanding of the ‘code’ and/or some understanding of the history of the word, more often than not the spelling makes sense.
A common example given to support the craziness of English is claiming that ‘fish’ could be spelled ‘ghoti’. Yet in reality, according to the conventions of English, ‘ghoti’ would never be pronounced as ‘fish’.
- ‘gh’ is only pronounced as /f/ at the end of words and syllables. When it occurs at the beginning it is pronounced as /g/.
- ‘o’ can be pronounced /i/ but really this is very rare – perhaps only in the word ‘women’.
- ‘ti’ is only pronounced as /sh/ when it is followed by another vowel. Given that it is not followed by another vowel, the ‘t’ and ‘i’ would each be pronounced separately.
Sure, English spelling can be difficult because of the multiple letter or letter combinations that can be used to represent a particular sound. However, as the above example illustrates, spelling is not nearly as random as you might think.
Usually, English conforms to predictable patterns, and those patterns can be taught.
- Systematically and explicitly teach the sound-symbol correlation of the most commonly occurring graphemes. Once you can consistently identify the individual sounds in a word, you need to know how to represent those sounds. Underpinning this is good phonological awareness.
- Teach students how to break words into syllables and to identify the vowel letters occurring in each syllable. Every syllable contains a vowel. It is often the vowels that young spellers omit because they are not pronounced or they are not pronounced clearly (schwa), so teaching these two concepts helps students correct these types of errors. Help students identify other key features of the word.
- Explicitly teach spelling rules and conventions associated with the use of different graphemes and when adding suffixes (along with common exceptions). For example, ‘ay’ is usually used to represent the /ay/ sound at the end of words; ‘ck’ is used after a short vowel; /j/ at the end of words is represented using ‘ge’; ‘e’ at the end of stems is removed when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel. Click here for video explanations of rules.
- Explicitly teach morphemes (prefixes, stems and suffixes) and their meanings. Often in English the pronunciation of a word changes when adding a suffix (e.g., prepare-preparation). However, having this knowledge will help with correct spelling. This knowledge also helps with understanding the meaning of the word which in turn also impacts on correct spelling. For example, if you know that the word ‘mistake’ begins with the prefix ‘mis’ (meaning wrong), you are less likely to incorrectly spell the word ‘mestake’.
- For words that have less commonly used graphemes, silent letters or are ‘rule breakers’ it can be useful to know the etymology of the words and/or learn some metacognitive strategies to remember the correct spelling – just don’t overuse this strategy as most words can be spelled just with good phonic and morphological knowledge along with an understanding of common spelling rules and patterns. Click here for some useful tips for remembering ‘tricky’ words and the etymology of some common words.
Teach students the logic of English spelling and how words are encoded
- Use a step-by-step explicit, multisensory approach which focuses on sound-symbol correlations and morphology.
- Draw attention to the organised, logical patterns and conventions underpinning English spelling.
- Use interleaving whereby students are exposed to different but related topics or tasks within a single study session (i.e., don’t just focus on learning a list of words that all contain the same rule or phonic pattern together in one block).
- Do NOT use a ‘look-cover-write’ check strategy or have students spell words by letter names (l-e-t-t-e-r) where the focus is on remembering the visual appearance of the word
References
Chandler, B. W., Toste, J. R., Novelli, C., Rodgers, D., & Hardeman, E. (2025). A meta-analytic review of spelling interventions for students with or at-risk for learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities. Advance online publication. doi.org
Colenbrander, D., von Hagen, A., Kohnen, S. et al. (2024). The Effects of Morphological Instruction on Literacy Outcomes for Children in English-Speaking Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Educ Psychol Rev 36, 119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09953-3
Klimovich, M., & Richter, T. (2025). Spelling acquisition in children through interleaved practice: the role of instructional guidance. Cogn Res Princ Implic. 10(1):68. doi: 10.1186/s41235-025-00680-z. PMID: 41065883; PMCID: PMC12511507.