The study by Ehri and Ocal suggests that a person’s command over spellings can improve their fluency and vocabulary. A student’s vocabulary will expand their abilities as they learn more words. One reason why a student’s command over spellings increases is because they are more likely to correct mispronunciations. The researchers say that students with this skill are more likely to achieve fluency in language learning.
In addition to improving vocabulary, a student’s ability to master spellings improves the ability to understand the context of the word. Using contextual cues, a student can identify a common word pattern and apply that to their own vocabulary. For example, the -able ending is more likely to be used in sentences compared to -ible. This technique is helpful in writing and in speech because it can help students remember the word’s pronunciation, which can improve their grammar and vocabulary.
For example, the first segment of /fah/ in the word “fah” is pronounced as /fah/, while the second segment is pronounced as /fahj/. For this reason, students can also focus on identifying the differences between -able and -ible endings in words. This strategy is especially useful for silent letters.
This approach is useful in two situations. When a word has multiple variations, the learners are asked to match the spelling of each letter with the corresponding speech sound. This method requires the students to memorize the full word instead of the shorter version. Moreover, it is important to remember the phonological rules that govern the pronunciation. The research also demonstrates that mastering the rules of the grammar allows a student to learn a new language much faster.
While there are many benefits to mastering misspelled words, the study also shows that it is essential for language learning. The study conducted by Ocal and Ehri on the same topic found that the treatment group had better memory of the full versions of words than the control group. It is also important to remember that the treatment group practiced the incorrect pronunciations of the word, because it helped them to learn the language.
In addition to this, a student’s mastery of words should also include visualisation. While visualisation is essential for language learning, some learners will find it difficult to spell words correctly. Therefore, a student should avoid putting a lot of emphasis on the process of visualisation. By improving their vocabulary, they will become more confident in speaking and understanding their native language. Once they have learned the rules of spelling, they will be able to write sentences with more confidence.
