Understanding and Teaching English Spelling

Adam Brown is Director of Research at Auckland Institute of Studies, New Zealand.

"This book offers teacher educators and future English language teachers a welcome and overdue guide for unraveling persistent challenges faced by students in their effort to master the English spelling system. Brown helpfully demystifies common spelling difficulties, offers concise insights, and supplies readers with accessible and practical classroom solutions." — John S. Hedgcock, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, USA"This is an impressive survey of English spelling. It constitutes a valuable resource for teachers of English, whether as a first language or as a foreign, second, or additional language. It’s fun to read, too."—John Wells, University College London, UK"All ESL/ELT teachers are faced with student questions about the peculiarities of English spelling. Most books (and pre-service training) assume that spelling is a peripheral matter, but it is actually central, since phonological awareness is basic to both intelligibility and listening perception. I highly recommend Adam Brown’s book because it is well-designed to give teachers a solid resource for answers to students’ questions about this difficult and crucial subject." --Judy Gilbert, bestselling author, teacher, and teacher trainer

• 1. Introduction 2. Types of Spelling System 3. Spelling, Writing and Reading 4. History of English 5. History of English Spelling 6. A Computer is Not a Typewriter 7. Technology 8. Rules of English Spelling 9. Punctuation 10. Spaces and Hyphens 11. Capital Letters 12. Silent Letters 13. Doubled Consonant Letters 14. Spelling of Unstressed Vowels 15. Variation 16. Loanwords 17. Names of Letters 18. Spelling Pronunciation 19. Pronunciation Spelling 20. Homophones and Homographs 21. Other Consequences of English Spelling 22. Morphological Strategy 23. Etymological Strategy 24. Phonological Strategy 25. Analogical Strategy 26. Visual Strategy 27. Teaching English Spelling 28. Testing English Spelling 29. Spelling Reform 30. English Spelling and Malay Spelling 31. The Future of English Spelling 32. Conclusion Appendix 1: Sound-to-spelling correspondences for British English Appendix 2: Surnames exemplifying spelling rules Appendix 3: The main uses of punctuation in English Appendix 4: Answers