Orthographic Analysis
1.2 Defining Orthographic Competence
Determining Orthographic Competence
Proper evaluation of the extent of a student’s orthographic competence demands a clear and exact picture of what such competence actually is. From our analysis of orthography we can proceed to specify what proper mastery of orthography will be. That whole picture will be termed ‘orthographic maturity’. This analysis will allow us to identify and reject false models of spelling competence.
A common view of spelling maturity to be roundly rejected
Simplistic statements like, “A mature speller is one who never, or only infrequently, writes words incorrectly,” betray absence of any understanding of what spelling actually is.
Competence is not merely a matter of performance
Spelling is not a behaviourist rehearsal retrieval process. It is a semantically representative construction.
Our job is not to stuff students' heads with a multitude of words and give a series of tricks and ruses to be able to retrieve them: it is to give them a system of thinking that enables them to spell any word they need to write.
Mere accuracy in spelling is not necessarily orthographic maturity
I was once told by an educational researcher (a presenter at conferences too), “I donʼt need your help because I can spell < accommodation >!”
“Ah,” said I, “but can you tell me why it is spelled as it is?”
He couldnʼt, and even asserted that it didnʼt matter why. “It just is spelled like that and I can always remember that spelling. Thatʼs all that matters to me.”
That researcher may have been an accurate speller but he was certainly not a mature one! Furthermore, if he ever went into a classroom to teach (which he never did or had done) he would be a catastrophic teacher of spelling.
A parallel from arithmetic would be the person who knows all the multiplication tables from 1 to 12 and can rattle them off — very useful for the Inspectorsʼ visit. But when you ask, “What are thirteen eights?” the answer is, “I donʼt know: I only learned up to twelve eights.”
That person knows the number tables, but is not an arithmetician.
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