Job Discussion Forums

[Chasgul]

Pedagogy?

[Chasgul]

Wow, is that my first Case-in-Point on this forum?

[Henry_Cowell]

[donfan]

[Gregor]

I am now relatively unrepentant about my poor-ish spelling.
A few things drive me nuts. Mind you, the spelling mistakes that drive me nuts are the ones that I tend to make, myself. "Rediculous" is one of them. "It's" for the possessive pronoun is another. But English is such an enfuriatingly difficult language to spell correctly on a regular basis that I have just decided to let it go.
Some of my students CAN spell better than me, and I suffer not the slightest twinge of guilt or feelings of incompetence when I write a word on the board and ask my students if I have spelled it correctly. It has helped my spelling tremendously, and it's helped my students to relax about it a bit. Not that I don't want them to try to spell words correctly, but rather, they shouldn't stress out on spelling every single word, and instead focus more on word choice and syntax and structure - FAR more important considerations, in my opinion, than spelling. After all, there IS still spell check, and it works a lot better than syntax check (the green underlines in word docs).

[Henry_Cowell]

[JonnytheMann]

[Chris_Crossley]

[EnglishBrian]

Exactly. An isolated minor spelling mistake in clear context given as an example isn't a practical problem, but spelling has a vital role in reading too. All these people who say that it's communicating, not spelling that's important are missing the point. Spelling in the real world is communication. Yes, it's easy to find one minor mistake and say it doesn't really matter - because it doesn't, but how many mistakes are we allowed to make before it isn't ok? One a sentence? Two or three a sentence? A whole sentence or paragraph of mistakes? I can't be the only teacher who's read student writing where almost every word is misspelled and have had to more or less give up reading 'cos I just couldn't follow it. This problem is made even worse for learners because they aren't going to be using perfect grammar or syntax either. Plus, the kinds of misspelling native speakers make tend to be the sort of mistakes we recognise as common, like the first vowel sound in 'ridiculous' - we can still easily recognise the word. A learner's error is less likely to follow the accepted pattern of mistakes or alternate spellings. They're more likely to write something like 'redikyoolas' which isn't immediately obvious when put in a sentence with other such errors and bad grammar too.

One further point before this rant finishes. In my experience too, learners are very forgiving of teachers spelling mistakes to their face. They accept the difficulties, go with the "Ah, you spotted my deliberate mistake" jokes etc. But we as teachers need to understand that in many peoples' native language correct spelling is very important. It is a sign of intelligence, education and social position. Some feel a real shame, to the point of actually not wanting to write anything, because they have bad spelling. Many students would not understand the kind of inverse snobbery that sometimes goes with bad English among native speakers - the way some of us aren't embarrassed to say they have bad spelling and sometimes even take a peverse pride in it.

I'd have to say to a teacher of anything - from a language, to philosophy to brick laying or house framing - they should take a pride in knowing their craft.

No spelling is not the most important part of English, but it is important.

[Chasgul]

Dr Cowell your CIP is duly applauded and sung throughout the realm. It is a tribute to your humility and moderation that you included a quote to encourage the learning process in all concerned.

[JonnytheMann]

Good spelling is very important for communication. I agree.

In this thread, we're talking about commonly misspelled words. Those commonly misspelled words are just difficult to spell. Period.

If native or non-native speakers write "seperate" or "definately", no one's going to be dumbfounded. Everyone is going to understand. Right? (I sure hope so.)

If you're spelling is so bad that you're writing "kumyoonikashun", then yes, you need help. But if you're writing "prominant", then who cares?

Again, a person can suck at spelling even though he may be a genious (e.g. Shakespeare (sp?), JFK, etc.).

[Henry_Cowell]

[JonnytheMann]

Wait, you're name is not Henry Cowell? LOL. I didn't realize. Who is Henry Cowell?

[Chasgul]

a.k.a. Cowell: merely a tribute to your obvious erudition. Besides I've seen in other threads that you don't like him to be referred to as 'Dr.' and yet you continue to inform all and sundry of the facts. Admirable obstinacy.

Jonny - the genius was on purpose, right? Or do you mean genus? Genuous? Genies?

The problem with bad spelling is that the more words you know, the easier it is to be confused, especially if the pupil is intelligent and may well be attempting to use a broader vocabulary than the coursebook provides. If my pupil is writing an essay on water systems and I see the word 'systen' I should wait and figure out from context whether they mean system or cistern, not correct to system and then look like an idiot and embarrass the student who will be utterly discouraged and probably stop trying. The fact that many teachers have a poor vocabulary is another topic.

[Henry_Cowell]

I am not "Henry Cowell". That is simply my screen name. How many hints do you people need?