English Language Arts and Reading.4.2.B.ii

The student is expected to

demonstrate and apply spelling knowledge by:

 

spelling homophones;

beginning reading writing teks talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--beginning reading and writing. The student develops word structure knowledge through phonological awareness, print concepts, phonics, and morphology to communicate, decode, and spell.

Both decoding and encoding skills are needed to build a foundation in reading. Decoding is sounding words out according to letter-sound relationship conventions. Encoding is the process of using letter-sound knowledge to write or spell words. Students must understand the various spelling patterns and rules of the English language to correctly construct words in their written products. It is important that students apply or demonstrate these rules consistently instead of using invented spelling because they may unknowingly write a real word that they did not intend, causing confusion for their reader.
Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have completely different meanings (e.g., blue and blew). Students should be able to distinguish between the different spellings of words that sound the same. For example, if the teacher is giving a spelling test and uses the tested word in a sentence like “My favorite color is blue,” students should spell the word as blue, not blew.

Research

Heggie, L., & Wade-Woolley, L. (2107).  Reading Longer Words: Insights Into Multisyllabic Word Reading. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. SIG 1, 2( 2). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lindsay_Heggie/publication/318848767_Reading_Longer_Words_Insights_Into_Multisyllabic_Word_Reading/links/5985064da6fdcc75624fc329/Reading-Longer-Words-Insights-Into-Multisyllabic-Word-Reading.pdf

Summary: This study considers the value of and approaches to building readers' multisyllabic word skills through explicit  instruction in syllables and morphemes.