Second Language Learning and Language Teaching

Box 5.10 American or British style of spelling?
British: 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
American: 1, 3, 4, 8, 11, 12
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-or versus -our: American ‘labor’, ‘color’, ‘neighbor’ versus British
‘labour’, ‘colour’, ‘neighbour’
●
-ize versus -ise: American ‘realize’, ‘recognize’, ‘organize’ versus British
‘realise’, ‘recognise’, ‘organise’

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distinctions made in Chapter 2, this is FormS, that is to say, deliberate teaching of
spelling forms, rather than FonF (focus on form), where such discussion arises out of
other activities. Some books for native speakers, such as Test Your Spelling (Parker,
1994) and Handling Spelling (Davis, 1985), go slightly beyond this and liven up what
can be a boring topic with cartoons and quizzes. But none incorporate the basic
insights about the sound and visual routes in spelling, about mistakes specific to
particular first languages and about the actual rules of spelling. None, for example,
mentions the most obvious rule of English, the three-letter rule.
A few years ago I attempted some teaching materials called Spell It Right
(Write/Rite/Wright), which tried to provide a systematic approach to spelling but
only reached a pilot stage. A sample is shown in Box 5.11 and can be found on the
website. Exercises consisted of word tests to see what mistakes the students made.
Each wrong answer led them to a set of advice about how to avoid this mistake,
and to sets of exercises that practised the particular point.
The official syllabuses for teaching language nowadays do tend to make some
gesture towards teaching the writing system. The Malaysian Year 1 syllabus (Pusat
Perkembangan Kurikulum, 2003), for instance, specifies mastering ‘the mechanics
The writing system and language teaching 101