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Tips from an ESL writer

English spelling can be extremely difficult to learn. There are a few rules that I found helpful to learn, but there are many exceptions to each rule.

In native-speaking schools, English is usually taught primarily through the study of phonology. Students are taught which letters make which sounds. However, there are several different ways to write nearly any sound, and the student's own pronunciation may be incorrect and contribute to misspelling.

Devonshire & Fluck (2010) have shown that it is helpful to learn the broad patterns and rules that govern spelling, as well as the origin and development of the individual words. Many English words are derived from other languages, and often these languages have more rigid spelling rules.

Therefore, words that are derived from Greek language may be spelled similarly and fall under specific spelling rules, while words that are derived from French language may be spelled like each other, but very differently from the Greek-derived words.

According to Hathaway (2004), three-fourths of the words in the English language are derived from Latin. Most scientific terms are derived from Greek. Verbs derived from Greek usually end in -ize, like fossilize, sterilize, and oxidize. Many words derived from French end in -ise, even though some of them are pronounced like the Greek words.

Studying the etymology of the words helped teach me English spelling, as I became familiar with the similarities and differences between words derived from different languages. Learning etymology also helped me figure out on my own how to conjugate different words and add the appropriate prefixes and suffixes.

There are several memory tricks that can help you learn English spelling. Mnemonics are a useful tool for words you have consistent trouble with. A mnemonic is a simple trick that helps you remember how to spell a word. You can help trigger your memory by pairing a difficult word with an easy word. For example, “Add your address to your address book” helped me remember that the word add has two d’s.

Rhyming is another good way to remember similar words. Collect a string of rhyming words that end the same way, like fell, tell, shell, smell, well, bell, yell.

I also spent time reading books, magazines, and other material in English. When you see the words often, you will become more familiar with them. I started with easy books written for small children, and I really feel this helped teach me English spelling.

Lastly, make a note of words that you consistently have difficulty spelling, and focus on those. English is an incredibly complex language, and sometimes there are simply no rules or reasons for the way words are spelled. For the really difficult words, I simply had to memorize the spelling.

REFERENCES

Devonshire, V & Fluck, M 2010, 'Spelling Development: Fine-Tuning Strategy-Use and Capitalising on the Connections between Words,' Learning and Instruction, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 361-371.

Hathaway, BA 2004, '1001 Questions and Answers on Orthography and Reading,' The Burrows Bros Company, Cleveland, OH.